From Elizabeth Bluemink --

Thomas Barrett

A top former federal pipeline regulator has been selected as the new president of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.

The decision was announced Tuesday during a meeting of the trans-Alaska pipeline’s owners committee, made up of BP, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips and other companies with a stake in the North Slope oil fields.

Alyeska said Thomas Barrett is the first president of the company who did not come on loan from one of the owner companies. He replaces Kevin Hostler, a longtime BP executive who ran Alyeska from 2005 to September 2010.

Barrett is the deputy federal coordinator for the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects and manages its Alaska field office, which is charged to assist development of the multibillion-dollar North Slope natural gas pipeline project.

Before that, Barrett was the administrator for the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — an agency that routinely has cited Alyeska for pipeline safety violations in recent years — and he was deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Bush and Obama administrations.

He served 35 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, reaching the position of vice commandant.

In a prepared statement, Barrett said he enjoyed working on the Alaska gas pipeline project, but “Now, I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead a company that is so critical to Alaska’s future. I’m eager to meet the people of Alyeska and work together with them to ensure the continued safe delivery of oil to the American people.”

Chuck Coulson, the BP official who chairs the trans-Alaska pipeline’s owners committee, said in the statement, “Tom brings many years of transportation experience to Alyeska and has a strong commitment to Alyeska’s mission of providing a safe, environmentally responsible, cost-effective and reliable means to move Alaska’s liquid hydrocarbons to market. He is committed to Alaska and to our industry and has the proven leadership ability needed to move the company forward.”