FTS International’s Lanham steps down as CEO

Greg Lanham is stepping down as chief executive officer of FTS International in Fort Worth, one of the nation’s largest hydraulic fracturing service providers.

In an announcement Friday, the company said that Lanham was leaving his post and will be replaced in the interim by Michael J. Doss, who previously was chief financial officer.

Lanham was appointed CEO in November 2013, after previously serving on the company’s board of directors. Besides issuing a statement confirming his immediate departure, the board didn’t have any other comment, said Lynaia Lutes, a spokeswoman for the company.

Lanham’s departure comes as the company has been adjusting to the sharp decline in drilling activity this year with lower oil prices.

In May, Moody’s Investors Service gave a B1 rating to FTS International’s $350 million senior secured notes due in 2020. It also downgraded its corporate rating.

While FTS had adequate cash to carry it through the middle of 2016 as the company endured the sharp downturn in demand for oilfield services, Moody said FTS’s rating was lowered “to reflect the depressed fundamentals of the oilfield services business.”

Moody said FTS generated a negative $12 million in the first quarter of 2015 as a result of lower demand for oilfield services, and was operating 25 of its 32 fleets. It also said that the average price for its services had dropped 18 percent.

In an interview with an oil and gas industry website in June, Lanham said FTS “hasn’t been immune to the drop in oil prices.” The interview came about the same time Lanham was named Southwest Entrepreneur of the Year in the energy category by the Ernest &Young accounting firm.

FTS, whose owners include Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and Chesapeake Energy, moved its corporate headquarters to Fort Worth from Cisco in 2011. In January, FTS said it had more than 4,400 employees in the United States, with 800 in Tarrant and Parker counties.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 5:17 PM with the headline "FTS International’s Lanham steps down as CEO."