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Roger L. Abel has served as our chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors since August 15, 2005 of the Company effective August 15, 2005. Mr. Abel has over 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Between 1968 and 1996, Mr. Abel held a number of domestic and international positions at Conoco, most recently serving as Chairman of Conoco Exploration and Production for Europe where he was responsible for all of Conoco's upstream activities in Europe and Russia. Prior to that, he served as Vice President and General Manager, Dubai Petroleum Company, Manager of Operations for the U.K. and Europe, Manager of Planning, Administration and Engineering for North America, Vice President and General Manager of Conoco's Engineering and Research Department, and Vice President and General Manager of Russia. From 1997 through 1999, Mr. Abel served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum and Executive Vice President of Occidental in Bakersfield, CA where he lead Occidental's oil and gas operations through a major restructuring. During this time, Occidental Petroleum disposed of a number of less profitable assets, consummated major property exchanges, acquired significant new interests in several large producing assets, streamlined its organization, and completed the acquisition of the U.S. Government's interests in the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum reserve.
Since retiring from Occidental in 1999, Mr. Abel has continued to actively participate in oil and gas exploration and development projects in the United States. Before joining the Company, he served as the President of Rio Nuevo, Ltd., a private company engaged in developing water resources for distribution and sales to municipalities in West Texas and obtaining certain water rights in state owned lands along the Rio Grande River. Mr. Abel also served as President of Austex Production Company, LLC before joining the Company. Mr. Abel earned a M.S. degree in Management from MIT's Sloan School of Management and a Petroleum Engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines. | 