Oil Patch Bits: Nabors expands its board to include Crane and Linn

Nabors Industries Ltd. said Feb. 27 that its board of directors voted to expand the board to nine members from the current seven and has appointed James R. Crane and Michael C. Linn to fill the newly created vacancies.

Crane and Linn will join the board as Class III Directors with a term through the company’s 2012 annual general meeting of shareholders.

Crane is the chairman and CEO of Crane Capital Group Inc., an investment management company he founded. Prior to that time, he was founder, chairman and CEO of Eagle Global Logistics Inc., a Nasdaq-listed global transportation, supply chain management and information services company from 1984 until its sale in August 2007. Crane Capital Group currently invests in transportation, power distribution, real estate and asset management.

Linn is the president of MCL Ventures LLC, an investment company. He also serves as a director of LINN Energy LLC, a Nasdaq-listed independent oil and natural gas company that he founded in 2003 after a 20-year career in the oil and natural gas industry. He served as LINN’s chairman and CEO from June 2006 to January 2010, and as its president and CEO from March 2003 to June 2006. He serves on the National Petroleum Council, and on the boards of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, America’s Natural Gas Alliance and the Independent Petroleum Association of America.