Isramart : Business Digest: AEP joins carbon dioxide effort and more

Isramart news:
AEP Southwestern Electric Power Co. has committed $2 million to support the commercial development of advanced compression technology for carbon dioxide as part of an initiative that includes the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Lab, Ramgen Power Systems and Dresser-Rand.
The goal is developing a supersonic shockwave compression system that will reduce the cost and energy use associated with compressing carbon dioxide for storage in deep underground rock formations.

Isolating carbon dioxide in underground formations requires compressing the gas to more than 1,500 pound-force per square inch. Existing compression technology represents a big part of the capital and operating costs of developing carbon dioxide capture and storage systems. The advanced compression system being developed by Ramgen will use supersonic shockwaves to compress carbon dioxide for capture and storage. If successful, the shockwave compression technology is projected to reduce the capital cost of carbon dioxide compression equipment by as much as 50 percent and reduce operating costs by at least 15 percent.

ETBU selects eight board members

Eight new members have been selected to the board of trustees of East Texas Baptist University. New members are David L. Anderson of Carthage, Don Anthis of Houston, Penny Carlile of Marshall, Dan Cunningham of Longview, Monty Pierce of Hallsville, Ben Raimer of Galveston, Vic Schwartz, Jr. of Marshall, and James Thompson of Marshall. ETBU has 36 trustees on the board.

Anderson, a graduate of Baylor University, serves as county judge of Panola County.

Anthis is the owner of Anthis and Co. CPA's and a deacon and member of Champion Forest Baptist Church in northwestern Houston. He holds a bachelor of science degree from East Texas Baptist College and a master of business administration degree from West Texas State University. Anthis is an adjunct professor of accounting at Lone Star College. Carlile, a graduate of Baylor University, is the founder and board member of Celebrating Home and a board member of Marks Hill Consulting and Casey Pottery Co.

Cunningham is the sales manager for Equipment Depot of Texas.

Pierce is the associate pastor and education/administration minister of First Baptist Church of Hallsville. He is a graduate of East Texas Baptist University and received his master's and doctoral degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Raimer is the senior vice president for health policy and legislative affairs for the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Raimer holds a bachelor of science degree from ETBU, a master of arts degree and medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Schwartz is the general manager of Panola-Harrison Electric Cooperative Inc. He is a graduate of East Texas Baptist University.

Thompson is a financial adviser with Edward Jones and Co. He holds a bachelor of business administration degree in finance from Sam Houston State University.

Austin Bank Longview employees honored

Austin Bank recently honored 16 Longview employees for their outstanding work and years of service with the company. They were recognized at the bank's 2009 Service Award Luncheon held Dec. 9 in Tyler.

This year's annual luncheon recognized 45 Austin Bank employees who completed five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service in 2009. The overall group represents 515 years with Austin Bank.

They included 25-year service awards to Donna J. Bobo, assistant vice president, lending, and Billy Mullins, senior executive vice president, risk management.

Bobo is a loan specialist based in the Longview Oak Forest location. She has worked at Austin Bank in the credit, loan, payroll and insurance departments as a loan secretary, retail office manager, executive assistant and loan officer.

Mullins has 35 years banking experience in lending, loan review, risk management and loan operations.

Debbie Conner, administrative officer, and Dennis M. Hettinger, building maintenance, received 20-year service awards.

Conner works in loan administration at the Longview Oak Forest location. She has been with Austin Bank for 20 years, but has 33 total years of banking experience in bookkeeping, teller operations and lending.

Hettinger, a 20-year employee, handles the bank's building maintenance and mail service at the Longview location on West Marshall.

Fifteen-year service awards went to Tammy G. Howell, computer operator, and Jacqueline Valentine, bookkeeping supervisor.

Howell began her banking career 15 years ago in Big Sandy working in bookkeeping and as a teller. She transferred to Longview in 1999 and moved to the technology department in 2000.

Valentine has experience as a proof operator, teller, bookkeeper, IT item processor and supervisor.

Ten-year service awards went to Tina M. Bogenschutz, PC technician; Natalie Lynch, location president/senior vice president at Longview Loop; John B. Orr, chief information officer, senior vice president; Jennifer M. Payne, help desk representative; Janet M. Read, document imaging clerk; Lisa D. Sampson, vice president and loan operations manager and Becky Shannon, document imaging clerk

Bogenschutz works in the bank's Information Technology Department.

Lynch joined Austin Bank in 1999 and developed the bank's credit analysis department. She is a senior vice president handling consumer and commercial real estate loans.

Orr is the lead technology officer for Austin Bank. He is a graduate of Denham Springs High School in Louisiana and Louisiana Tech University with a degree in electrical engineering and a master's in general counseling.

Payne works in the bank's technology department providing computer assistance to fellow staff members. She was the 2006 Winners Circle Award recipient for handling the highest number of calls.

Read first worked at Austin Bank as a customer service representative. She moved to document imaging in October 2003.

Sampson began her bank career 35 years ago through a high school work program, vocational office education. Initially a switchboard operator, she later worked in bookkeeping, teller, loan teller, loan assistant and branch operations manager.

Shannon first worked as a bank teller, then was promoted to customer service representative and handled new accounts. She is in the bank's bookkeeping department.

Five-year service awards went to Brad East, PC technician; Reagan L. Ford, administrative assistant and Tara Hughes, loan assistant.

East works in the banks' technology department.

Ford handles administrative work in branch operations and risk management.

Hughes has experience in bookkeeping and worked as a customer service representative.

She is a loan assistant at the Longview Oak Forest location.

East Texas Spa wins national award

East Texas Spa has received the Spasearch magazine 2010 Certified Retail Store award. Proving its longtime commitment to excellence, East Texas Spa has met all the standards of the certification process.

Based on merit, hot tub retailers earn the certified retail store status by demonstrating excellence on every level, from employee training to consumer satisfaction.

Retailers are evaluated based on audited results related to sales, service, operations and customer satisfaction as well as random on-site inspections by independent auditors.

Financial adviser opens new office

Stoney Thomas of the financial services firm Edward Jones opened a new office Monday at 2304 Judson Road, Suite C in Longview. The phone number is (903) 234-8087.

Thomas, who has been serving the area since 2006, said, "We are excited about our new location, and we are eager for our clients to visit us."

Edward Jones provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada.

32 more rigs drilling for oil, natural gas

HOUSTON — The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose by 32 this week to 1,193.

Baker Hughes, based in Houston, said Friday that 773 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 409 for oil. Eleven were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 1,764.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 20 rigs, Colorado gained six and New Mexico and North Dakota each gained two. Louisiana lost four rigs while Arkansas and Pennsylvania each lost one. Alaska, California, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming were unchanged.

The rig count tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom.