Board of
Directors
Blair is the Chief Executive Officer of EIG and chairs the firm’s Investment and Executive Committees. EIG was formerly part of Trust Company of the West, where he was a group Managing Director and a member of the Board of Directors of TCW Asset Management Company.
Prior to joining EIG in 1998, he was a senior investment officer with the Inter-American Development Bank, a project finance attorney at the law firm of Brown and Wood in New York, and served in the administration of President George HW Bush as an advisor on energy and budget policy.
He serves as a member of the Board of Directors and the Investment Committee of FS/EIG Advisor, the investment advisor to FSEP, a non-traded business development company focused on the energy sector. He is the Chairman of Prumo Logistica SA, a private company. He is also the Chairman of Harbour Energy plc (HBR.L), a London Stock Exchange listed global independent oil and gas company, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Avantus and HIF Global.
Blair holds a BA from the University of Virginia, a JD from New York Law School and an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. Venter is the CEO of MidOcean Energy, EIG’s LNG focused investment vehicle. He joined EIG in 2022 after 20 years with Shell where he was, amongst other roles, the Global Head of LNG and a member of the leadership teams of Shell’s Upstream and Integrated Gas and New Energies directorates. He started his career in the mining industry with a variety of strategy, sales, marketing and distribution roles with Samancor and Billiton. Over the course of his career the Venter family has lived in South Africa, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the USA. Mr. Venter holds a Bachelor degree in Finance and Accounting from the Northwest University in South Africa, a Honours Degree in Investment Management from the University of Johannesburg and an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Mr. Blackwell served as executive vice president, technology and services for Chevron Corporation, a position he assumed in 2011. He was responsible for the oversight of technology, major capital project management, procurement and other corporate operating and support functions. Previously Mr. Blackwell served as president of Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company. He was responsible for Chevron’s exploration and production activities in nine countries across the Asia-Pacific region. From 2003-2007, Mr. Blackwell served as the managing director for Chevron’s Southern Africa strategic business unit, based in Luanda, Angola. He was responsible for exploration and production activities in the southern region of Africa. From 2002 to 2003, Blackwell was the president of Chevron Pipe Line Company, based in Houston, Texas. Mr. Blackwell began his career in the energy industry in 1980 as a roustabout with Gulf Oil, offshore Louisiana. Mr. Blackwell serves as a trustee at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, and is a director for KBR. Mr. Blackwell previously served as a director of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, and the National Bureau of Asian Research. He is a member of the CSIS U.S.-China Policy Roundtable and the CSIS U.S.-ASEAN Strategy Commission. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in biology and environmental technology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1980 and a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Tulane University in 1984.
Mr. Farris served as chairman and chief executive officer of Apache Corporation, an oil and natural gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea, Egypt, and Australia. Mr. Farris was named chairman of Apache in January 2009, upon the retirement of company Founder Raymond Plank. He was promoted to president in 1994 and chief executive officer in May 2002. Farris joined Apache in June 1988 as vice president of domestic exploration and production and was promoted to senior vice president in May 1991. Prior to joining Apache, Mr. Farris was vice president, finance and business development, of Terra Resources, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy. Before working at Terra, he was executive vice president of Robert W. Berry, Inc., an independent exploration and production company. Mr. Farris began his career with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells as a Certified Public Accountant, earning his CPA license in 1972. Mr. Farris is the former chairman of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, the American chairman of the U.S.-Egypt Business Council, a member of the Business Roundtable, a member of the Executive Committee of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors, and a member of the Fund for Teachers Board of Directors. He holds bachelor’s degrees in history and accounting from Oklahoma State University.
Mr. Hill is President and Chief Operating Officer of Hess Corporation, a global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. Prior to joining Hess in 2009, Mr. Hill spent 25 years at Shell in a variety of operations, engineering, technical and business leadership roles in Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. This included serving as Executive Vice President – Exploration and Production of Singapore-based Shell Asia Pacific, Vice President of Production for Shell E&P Europe, and Senior Vice President of Aera Energy, a California-based joint venture affiliate of Shell and Mobil. Mr. Hill holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming. He is the chair of the Wyoming Governor’s ENDOW initiative to develop a 20-year economic diversification plan for the state of Wyoming, co-chair of the Wyoming Governor’s Energy, Engineering, STEM Integration Task Force and the Chairman of the University of Wyoming Foundation Board. He also is a Board member of the Greater Houston Partnership, a founding member of CEO’s Against Cancer – Gulf Coast Chapter, Board Member of the Wyoming Business Council and a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources created in 2014 by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA).