Stephen D. Chesebro

Stephen Chesebro is Chairman of the Board of Harvest Natural Resources, Inc., an international independent oil and gas exploration company with principal operations in Venezuela and Russia. Mr. Chesebro’ is also Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees.

Prior to joining the board at Harvest, Mr. Chesebro’ was President and Chief Operating Officer of Pennzoil Company during 1997 and 1998, providing management oversight for all of the company’s businesses including motor oil, refining, Jiffy Lube fast oil change centers, exploration and production. Mr. Chesebro’ has also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PennzEnergy, the upstream portion of Pennzoil that was split into upstream and downstream companies at the beginning of 1998, and then sold to Devon Energy late that year.

Mr. Chesebro’ served over 32 years with Tenneco, where he retired in 1996 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tenneco Energy, a $4 billion global energy company with 3,000 employees. During his tenure with Tenneco, Mr. Chesebro’ held a broad range of executive positions, including Manager of Gulf of Mexico operations; Vice President of Corporate Development at Tenneco Inc.; Tenneco Oil Company Senior Vice President in charge of International and Gulf Coast exploration and production, business development, and marketing; President of Tenneco Gas Marketing; and then Chairman and CEO of Tenneco Energy. In 1988, Chesebro’ managed one of the energy industry’s largest divestitures with the $7.5 billion sale of Tenneco Oil Company, the corporation’s exploration, production, refining, and marketing units.

Mr. Chesebro’ has served on the executive committees of API, AGA, INGAA, Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association and IPAA. As a founding member of the Natural Gas Council and its Reliability Council, Mr. Chesebro led a successful industry effort that in 1994 led to the formation of the Gas Industry Standards Board, where he served as Chairman for the next three years. He is a registered Petroleum Engineer and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

A 1964 graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, Mr. Chesebro’ was awarded the school’s Distinguished Achievement Medal in 1991, and received his Honorary Doctorate from the institution in 1998. He currently serves on the school’s Petroleum Engineering visiting committee. In 1994, Mr. Chesebro’ was the first American awarded the H. E. Jones London Medal by the Institution of Gas Engineers, a British professional association.