MT. PLEASANT, Mich., April 25, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Gastar Exploration, Ltd. ("Gastar") (TSE:YGA) is pleased to announce that Tom Crow, Vice Chairman and Chief Designer, Cobra Golf has joined the company's Board of Directors and that Dr. F. E. ("Gene") Beck has joined the company as Vice President of Operations.
Tom Crow is a founder and the original president of Cobra Golf, a high tech manufacturer of precision golfing equipment. Thom Robinson, Gastar's CEO, stated: "Tom Crow is a true entrepreneur whose executive management experience and extensive international contacts lead Cobra Golf from a start-up company to an industry leader. Tom will be invaluable in helping Gastar achieve our corporate growth strategy and may be particularly helpful in Australia. Tom Crow is a native Australian, and should be able to provide unique insights in helping us maximize the value of our 4 million acres of coalbed methane properties in Australia. Tom's extensive business and political contacts will assist Gastar as we determine our strategy for development and monetization of our Australian assets. We are pleased to welcome Tom to our Board of Directors and we look forward to his assistance in developing our exciting Australian assets located in New South Wales and Victoria."
Gene Beck was previously a Vice President of a subsidiary of Nabors Industries ("Nabors") (AMEX:NBR), the country's largest land contract driller with a dominant share of high-horsepower, deep drilling rigs. Until February of 2002, Gene managed all turnkey drilling operations for Nabors. During his five years as head of Nabors' turnkey operations, Gene drilled 35 wells with an average depth greater than 15,000 feet. As head of Turnkey Operations Gene had responsibility for managing all aspects of drilling including prospect geology, permitting, well design, environmental and regulatory maters, actual drilling and completion operations, project economics, and risk management. He has a B.Sc. in Geology and a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from Louisiana State University and is a Member and current Chairman of LSU's Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board.
"Gene has a wealth of drilling experience and industry contacts that will be instrumental in helping to deliver the exciting potential of Gastar's properties. We are going to quickly utilize Gene's deep, high-pressure drilling experience," stated Gastar CEO Thom Robinson.
Gastar Exploration is an exploration and production company focused on finding and developing natural gas in North America and Australia. The Company pursues a balanced strategy combining low-risk CBM development with select higher risk, deep natural gas exploration prospects. Gastar's CBM activities are conducted within the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and upon the approximate 4 million acres controlled by Gastar in Australia's Gunnedah and Gippsland Basins located in New South Wales and Victoria, respectively. The Company owns prospective acreage in the Bossier Sand gas play of East Texas, the deep Trenton-Black River play in the Appalachian Basin and in the deep Temblor gas play in the East Lost Hills field within the San Joaquin Basin of California.
This Press Release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Although Gastar believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its goals and assumptions will be achieved. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained herein, include, among others, the success and timing of certain projects, the success in drilling and producing oil and gas properties, changes in commodity prices for oil and natural gas, operating risks, the uncertainty associated with estimating underground quantities of crude oil and natural gas reserves and other risk factors as described in the Company's Annual Information Form filed as of May 17, 2001, on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.
The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.