Kyle Haustveit, SPE, has been confirmed as the 16th Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE). He will oversee FE and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, managing a $5-billion R&D portfolio spanning coal, oil, natural gas, and critical minerals with the goal of advancing affordable and reliable energy solutions.
Before joining the DOE, he served as a professional petroleum engineer in various technical and leadership roles at Devon Energy. Haustveit led teams in developing and commercializing diagnostic techniques now used globally to optimize hydraulic fracturing and resource development. He also directed an Energy Ventures team, focusing on investments in next-generation energy technologies, including geothermal, carbon utilization, lithium extraction, and produced-water treatment.
A 15-year SPE member, he was named an TWA Energy Influencer in 2022. In the same year, he was recognized with the SPE Regional Completions Optimization and Technology and the Regional Management awards for Mid-Continent North America. Kausveit has served as program chairperson or co-chair for the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and as a committee member for several other SPE conferences. He was a Distinguished Lecturer and has coauthored more than 20 SPE technical papers.
A native of North Dakota, Haustveit represents a third generation of energy workers.
He holds a petroleum engineering degree from Montana Tech and an MBA in energy from the University of Oklahoma.