Charles R. "Rick" Stone, P.E. - Chairman and CEO

Office:(281) 774-1001 | Cell:(713) 725-4795 |

Rick Stone, with 24 years experience in oil & gas operations, has served as the CEO of Signa Engineering Corp. since he created the company in 1992. He is considered by many to be among the topmost Oil & Gas operations experts in the nation.

Rick was recently presented with the SPE Drilling Engineer of the Year Award for 2003, the most prestigious drilling honor bestowed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He is a recognized pioneer in the established techniques of horizontal and UnderBalanced drilling techniques and an adaptive forerunner in today's evolving unconventional drilling methods.

Since his days as a mechanical engineer for Sun Exploration in the late 1970s, Rick has consistently progressed in the field of exploration and development. He moved to production engineer for Sun Exploration, then on to drilling engineer in the mid-80s. In 1988, Rick obtained a position as senior drilling engineer for Oryx Energy Company, and eventually became the president and partner at PetraTex Resources in the early 1990s.

Rick Stone is a Registered Professional Engineer, Texas No. 62319. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1979. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the IADC (Rick also serves as a UB advisor on the IADC Wellcap Committee).

Additionally, Rick is a member and speaker for the AADE in Houston/Dallas and a member of the Drilling Engineering Association's Well Control Committee. He is also a Charter Member of the Horizontal Drilling Engineers Association and a founding member of Seair Equipment Inc.'s Board of Advisors.

Rick Stone is the author of many distinguished publications that document his extensive research and experience in the field. He co-authored the paper "Closed Hole Circulation Drilling: Case Study of Drilling a High-Pressure Fractured Reservoir - Tengiz Field, Tengiz, Republic of Kazakhstan," SPE #79850, which was presented at the 2003 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on February 19-21.

Rick authored "Optimizing Circulation While Drilling Underbalanced," presented at the 1999 IADC Underbalanced Drilling Conference & Exhibition in Hague, Netherlands, and authored the "Underbalanced Drilling Manual" for the Gas Research Institute in 1997. He also co-authored the "Underbalanced Operations Manual" for Signa Engineering Corp. in 1998 and was the SPE's Distinguished Lecturer on the topic of "Horizontal Underbalanced Drilling" in 1993-1994.

At the 1997 SPE Permian Basin Horizontal Conference in Midland, Texas, Rick's paper "Blowout Preventer Testing for Underbalanced Drilling" was presented. Also in 1997, Rick's paper titled "New Applications for Underbalanced Drilling Equipment," SPE #37679, was presented at the SPE Conference in Amsterdam.

Rick authored "Potential for Horizontal Drilling in the Illinois Basin," which was presented at the 1996 IOGA Conference in Evanston, Indiana, and he authored "History and Development of a Rotating Blowout Preventer," SPE #23931, in 1992. One of Rick's earliest papers literally wrote history, his "History and Development of Underbalanced Drilling in the USA" paper, presented at the 1988 World Oil/Gulf Publishing sponsored Forum, San Antonio, Texas.