Stephen D. Smith
Vice President, Operations

Stephen Smith (Steve) came to Harding Company in 2005, bringing with him more than 28 years in the oil and gas industry in seven states as well as in the countries of Mexico, Algeria and Tunisia, North Africa.  His areas of expertise include all drilling technologies, HPHT, underbalanced & mud-cap drilling, Multi-lateral, completions, workovers, recompletions, well logging and interpretation with reservoir simulation and fracture designs as well as multiple computer applications.  He has managed the successful drilling of wells costing up to $10 million with depths of up to 30,000 feet on land & in water.

Smith’s current well control certifications include IADC Drilling, Completion and Workover, Surface and Subsurface along with Snubbing, Stripping and Coild tubing.  His professional memberships include the Fort Worth Society of Petroleum Engineers, Petroleum Engineers Club and American Association for Drilling Engineers.

He is a member of the third generation of his family to have been employed by Bass Enterprises Production Co., working as an Assistant Drilling Engineer in its West Texas Division Office in Midland.  During this eight-year period, he oversaw both wildcat and development wells ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 feet in depth and costing $200,000 to $4.5 million each.

Current President of STEKAT Resources, LTD & SDS Joint Ventures, he has held other key post with other companies, such as Anadarko Petroleum, Azimuth & Aspect Oil & Gas and Tiburon Petroleum Corp. His training has included technical and professional courses at various colleges and industry companies.