Black Elk Energy CEO John Hoffman had long career with BP ...

Prior to starting Black Elk Energy LLC in 2007, John Hoffman -- the CEO of the company whose platform caught fire 25 miles southeast of Grand Isle early Friday -- had a long career at a corporation that was acquired by BP. Hoffman for many years worked with Amoco Corp., which merged with BP in 1998.

He then worked with Gulf of Suez Petroleum in Egypt, described as a joint venture between BP and Egyptian General Petroleum Corp., as well as with BP Americas. He retired from BP in 2006, according to his biography on Black Elk Energy's website and a profile of him by Houston Business Journal. The Houston Business Journal profile says Hoffman, a native of Missouri, subsequently landed a job with Stone Energy Inc. of Lafayette, La., to learn how things run at a smaller energy operation.

He launched Black Elk after 18 months with colleagues he had worked with in Egypt, the Houston Business Journal says. Black Elk Energy holds interests in various offshore properties in the Gulf located within Louisiana and Texas state and federal waters, with depths ranging from less than 10 feet up to over 6,000 feet, according to the company's website.

Black Elk has at least one tie to New Orleans. Tad LeBlanc, its vice president of health, safety, environmental & compliance, spent time at Freeport McMoran.

When the fire on Black Elk's platform broke out Friday, there were 22 workers on board. Officials have said employees were performing "shutdown platform work," and a pipe with oil inside ignited while being cut.

Eleven of those aboard were transported to four area hospitals. Nine others were evacuated from the platform uninjured, and two remain missing, officials have said.

Asked to comment on the situation by a KHOU-TV news crew in Houston, Hoffman remarked, "It's very tough, we're almost like a family, when something like this happens, it tears at everyone's heart."

"It's just a horrible day," he added. "We're going to heal together, but first and foremost, we have to take care of those who were involved."

Less than a day before Black Elk's platform went up in flames, BP admitted to felony manslaughter charges in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers.

Source: http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2012/11/john_hoffman_ceo_of_black_elk.html

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