HOUSTON, Sept. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) (EOG) Board of Directors today announced that William R. (Bill) Thomas has been promoted to President and Gary L. Thomas has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. The Board also confirmed that Bill Thomas and Gary Thomas will continue to report to Mark G. Papa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until June 2013, when Papa will retire and be succeeded by Bill Thomas.

"Although I will continue in my role as day-to-day hands-on Chairman and CEO through 2012, I plan to gradually turn over my responsibilities to Bill Thomas six months before I retire," Papa said. "I am very comfortable transitioning my leadership role to Bill and our very experienced, long-tenured and exceptionally talented team."

Formerly Senior Executive Vice President, Exploration, Bill Thomas has 32 years of service, including the management of EOG's Corpus Christi, Midland and Fort Worth areas of operations. He joined the headquarters executive management team in February 2011. Bill was the primary driving force behind EOG's and the industry's first large-scale successful horizontal shale gas activities in the Johnson County Barnett Shale Play in 2004 and a leading proponent of EOG's successful move into horizontal crude oil plays in unconventional rock. Bill has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Texas A&M University at College Station.

Gary Thomas, formerly Senior Executive Vice President, Operations, has been an EOG employee for 33 years. Since 1998, he has held responsibility for managing EOG's overall drilling, production and engineering activities and is widely recognized as a leading contributor to EOG's reputation for operational excellence. Gary holds a Petroleum Engineering degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master's degree in Engineering Management from The University of Tulsa.

"I consider a key responsibility of an effective chairman is managing a seamless executive transition. I certainly intend to accomplish that goal," Papa said. "Bill and Gary both exhibit what I characterize as 'EOG DNA.' Reflecting EOG's corporate culture, they are innovative, share a great sense of urgency and are dedicated to working together to make EOG an even more successful company in the future."

EOG Resources, Inc. is one of the largest independent (non-integrated) crude oil and natural gas companies in the United States with proved reserves in the United States, Canada, Trinidad, the United Kingdom and China. EOG Resources, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol "EOG."

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including, among others, statements and projections regarding EOG's future financial position, operations, performance, business strategy, returns, budgets, reserves, levels of production and costs and statements regarding the plans and objectives of EOG's management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. EOG typically uses words such as "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "strategy," "intend," "plan," "target," "goal," "may," "will" and "believe" or the negative of those terms or other variations or comparable terminology to identify its forward-looking statements. In particular, statements, express or implied, concerning EOG's future operating results and returns or EOG's ability to replace or increase reserves, increase production or generate income or cash flows are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. Although EOG believes the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that these assumptions are accurate or that any of these expectations will be achieved (in full or at all) or will prove to have been correct. Moreover, EOG's forward-looking statements may be affected by known and unknown risks, events or circumstances that may be outside EOG's control. Important factors that could cause EOG's actual results to differ materially from the expectations reflected in EOG's forward-looking statements include, among others:

• the timing and extent of changes in prices for, and demand for, crude oil, natural gas and related commodities;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to acquire or discover additional reserves;
• the extent to which EOG can optimize reserve recovery and economically develop its plays utilizing horizontal and vertical drilling and advanced completion technologies;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to economically develop its acreage in, and to produce reserves and achieve anticipated production levels from, its existing and future crude oil and natural gas exploration and development projects, given the risks and uncertainties inherent in drilling, completing and operating crude oil and natural gas wells and the potential for interruptions of development and production, whether involuntary or intentional as a result of market or other conditions;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to market its crude oil, natural gas and related commodity production;
• the availability, proximity and capacity of, and costs associated with, gathering, processing, compression and transportation facilities;
• the availability, cost, terms and timing of issuance or execution of, and competition for, mineral licenses and leases and governmental and other permits and rights-of-way;
• the impact of, and changes in, government policies, laws and regulations, including tax laws and regulations, environmental laws and regulations relating to air emissions, waste disposal and hydraulic fracturing and laws and regulations imposing conditions and restrictions on drilling and completion operations;
• EOG's ability to effectively integrate acquired crude oil and natural gas properties into its operations, fully identify existing and potential problems with respect to such properties and accurately estimate reserves, production and costs with respect to such properties;
• the extent to which EOG's third-party-operated crude oil and natural gas properties are operated successfully and economically;
• competition in the oil and gas exploration and production industry for employees and other personnel, equipment, materials and services and, related thereto, the availability and cost of employees and other personnel, equipment, materials and services;
• the accuracy of reserve estimates, which by their nature involve the exercise of professional judgment and may therefore be imprecise;
• weather, including its impact on crude oil and natural gas demand, and weather-related delays in drilling and in the installation and operation of production, gathering, processing, compression and transportation facilities;
• the ability of EOG's customers and other contractual counterparties to satisfy their obligations to EOG and, related thereto, to access the credit and capital markets to obtain financing needed to satisfy their obligations to EOG;
• EOG's ability to access the commercial paper market and other credit and capital markets to obtain financing on terms it deems acceptable, if at all;
• the extent and effect of any hedging activities engaged in by EOG;
• the timing and extent of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates, inflation rates, global and domestic financial market conditions and global and domestic general economic conditions;
• political developments around the world, including in the areas in which EOG operates;
• the timing and impact of liquefied natural gas imports;
• the use of competing energy sources and the development of alternative energy sources;
• the extent to which EOG incurs uninsured losses and liabilities;
• acts of war and terrorism and responses to these acts; and
• the other factors described under Item 1A, "Risk Factors", on pages 14 through 20 of EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010 and any updates to those factors set forth in EOG's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K.

In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events anticipated by EOG's forward-looking statements may not occur, and, if any of such events do, we may not have anticipated the timing of their occurrence or the extent of their impact on our actual results. Accordingly, you should not place any undue reliance on any of EOG's forward-looking statements. EOG's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and EOG undertakes no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise.

Effective January 1, 2010, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose not only "proved" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are estimated to be recoverable with a high degree of confidence), but also "probable" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are as likely as not to be recovered) as well as "possible" reserves (i.e., additional quantities of oil and gas that might be recovered, but with a lower probability than probable reserves). As noted above, statements of reserves are only estimates and may not correspond to the ultimate quantities of oil and gas recovered. Any reserve estimates provided in this press release that are not specifically designated as being estimates of proved reserves may include estimated reserves not necessarily calculated in accordance with, or contemplated by, the SEC's latest reserve reporting guidelines. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, available from EOG at P.O. Box 4362, Houston, Texas 77210-4362 (Attn: Investor Relations). You can also obtain this report from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE EOG Resources, Inc.