DR. STEPHEN A. HOLDITCH
Dr. Holditch, age 65, was a shareholder in and advisor to Matador Petroleum Corporation and is an original shareholder in Matador Resources Company. He was first elected to our board of directors in January 2004 and currently serves as chairman of the board’s Engineering Committee. He is a professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University and is Head of the Texas A&M University Energy Institute. From January 2004 to January 2012, he was Head of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University.
Prior to that, he was with Schlumberger Limited, a leading oilfield services provider, as a Fellow, one of only a handful of technical experts so recognized with this title in that company. In this position, Dr. Holditch advised top management within Schlumberger Limited on production and reservoir engineering matters. Dr. Holditch joined Schlumberger in 1997, following Schlumberger Limited’s acquisition of S. A. Holditch & Associates, Inc., the consulting company he founded and grew over 20 years into a preeminent engineering firm worldwide in the analysis of low permeability natural gas reservoirs and the design of hydraulic fracture treatments. During the latter half of the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, Dr. Holditch expanded the services offered by S. A. Holditch & Associates, building the company from three employees in 1977 to more than 80 employees in 1998. At the time of its sale to Schlumberger in 1997, S. A. Holditch & Associates had become a full-service petroleum engineering consulting company.
From 1974 to 1976, Dr. Holditch worked as an independent consulting engineer on reservoir studies, well completions and fracture treatment design for numerous clients in east and south Texas. During that period, he also attended Texas A&M University to earn a PhD degree in Petroleum Engineering and conducted research in reservoir flow behavior in fractured, low permeability natural gas reservoirs. From 1970 to 1974, he was a Production Engineer with Shell Oil Company, an integrated energy company, where his responsibilities included production engineering for numerous oil and natural gas fields, well completions and massive hydraulic fracture treatment designs in several deep, geopressured fields in south Texas. From 1968 to 1969, he worked for Pan American Petroleum Corporation as a field engineer on various projects in east Texas.
Dr. Holditch received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1969 and 1970, respectively, and a PhD degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1976. Dr. Holditch was President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, International (SPE) in 2002 and served on the Society’s board of directors from 1998 to 2003. In addition, he served as a Trustee for the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers from 1997 to 1998. He was also on the board of directors of Triangle Petroleum Corporation, an oil and natural gas exploration corporation, from February 2006 to December 2011.
He has received numerous awards in recognition of his technical achievements and leadership. In 1995, Dr. Holditch was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional honor awarded to an engineer. In 1997, he was elected to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and in 1998, Dr. Holditch was elected to the Petroleum Engineering Academy of Distinguished Graduates at Texas A&M University and was recently named distinguished alumnus of engineering. Dr. Holditch received the SPE Distinguished Service Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 1981 and held the Shell Distinguished Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University from 1983 to 1987. He was awarded the R. L. Adams Professorship in 1995. He teaches graduate level courses in formation evaluation, well stimulation and production engineering, and has actively performed and supervised research at Texas A&M University since 1974 in a wide range of engineering areas. Dr. Holditch is a member of numerous professional societies and serves as a board member and/or trustee for several business affiliations. He has been an SPE Distinguished Lecturer and has co-authored or edited three books and more than 100 technical papers; he has made more than 80 invited technical presentations to petroleum industry audiences.
His position as Professor and Head of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, his prior positions with Schlumberger and S. A. Holditch & Associates, Inc. and his prior service on the board of directors of Triangle Petroleum Corporation provide our board of directors with additional perspective on our completion and stimulation operations and other business and engineering matters.
Dr. Holditch recently wrote an article that was recently published in The Houston Chronicle entitled, “Drillers must employ best practices to keep ‘fracking’ boom alive.” To read the article, please click here.