Name Lachlan Vass | ||
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Lachlan Maury Vass (born in New Orleans in 1925) is a retired petroleum industry executive noted for increasing existing petroleum reserves and off shore exploration. He was selected by the Carter administration as one of the representatives to China to exchange information on how to better develop existing petroleum reserves in China.
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Military service
Vass was accepted to Tulane University in the summer of 1942 and enlisted that fall in the Navy V-12 program. In 1943, he was transferred to Pre-Midshipman training at Asbury Park, NJ, then in the fall to Officers Candidate School at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. In January 1944, at the age of 19, he was commissioned Ensign, USNR, one of the youngest United States commissioned officers in World War II.
Following training at the Navy Minewarfare School, Yorktown, VA, he served in the Pacific aboard USS Skirmish, the command vessel of Mine Squadron 12, a unit that was credited with sweeping 2,117 mines during World War II. In 1946, he returned to Tulane to complete his degree, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Geology in February 1948.
Civilian career
He then joined Amerada Hess Corporation in Lafayette, LA. In 1971, he was named Vice President of Exploration in Tulsa, OK, and was later transferred to Houston as Vice President of Offshore Joint Ventures. In October 1974, he joined Mitchell Energy Corporation, Woodlands, TX, as Senior Vice President of Exploration. He joined Transco Energy Corporation of Houston in 1981 as Senior Vice President, Exploration & Land until his retirement in 1984 While at Transco, Mr. Vass recruited and hired Kenneth Lay as his replacement.
He was a Certified Petroleum Geologist of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and served on the Exploration Affairs Committee of that organization.