Western Energy CEO to retire

DRILLING • Drilling industry veteran Dale Tremblay says his retirement from Western Energy

Services Corp. really is a retirement — he’ll consider no business pitches for at least six months.

Western announced Tuesday that Tremblay will retire as chairman and chief executive as of Dec. 1, an announcement that caught observers off-guard.

In an interview Wednesday, the 58-year-old said the timing was right. And he wants to make a trip to Australia he has been putting off for years.

“I got through everything I needed to do here because this company is going to be more about building rigs and running them,” he said, referring to his record of acquisitions since he led the recapitalization of Western in 2009. “When is the right time? The company is healthy, I’m pretty comfortable it can run without me.”

Tremblay was the chief financial officer of Precision Drill

ing until 2005 when he left to become president and CEO of

Saxon Energy Services Inc., a company that was taken private in 2008 via a $592-million sale.

Western reported operating revenue of $235 million through the first nine months of 2013, a $28 million increase over the same period of 2012. It operates 46 drilling rigs in Canada and five in the U.S.