Mark G. Papa of Houston, chairman and CEO of EOG Resources, Inc., and George L. Kirkland of San Ramon, California, executive vice president of global upstream and gas for Chevron Corporation, received the Texas oil and gas industry’s most prestigious honor -- Texas Oil & Gas Association’s Distinguished Service Award.

Each year, the Association bestows the Distinguished Service Award on an independent producer and a senior executive of a major energy company which operates in Texas in recognition of their extraordinary service to the oil and gas industry and to the nation during their business careers.This year’s awards were presented to the petroleum industry giants on Sunday evening, October 18th, at a dinner planned in their honor during the 2009 Lone Star Forum, a gathering of industry leaders held every year.This year’s Forum was held at the Four Seasons Resort & Club at Las Colinas in Dallas.

Mark Papa holds a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a masters in business administration from the University of Houston.He began his career in the oil & gas industry in 1968 with Conoco in Corpus Christi and subsequently worked for Conoco in New Orleans, Lake Charles, Houston and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.In 1981, he joined Belco Petroleum, one of the predecessor companies to EOG.From February 1994 to December 1996, he served as president-North Amerca operations of EOG, becoming president and chief operating officer in 1997 and president, chief executive officer and director in 1998. In August 1999, Mr. Papa was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

Besides being a member of TXOGA, he is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, the US Oil & Gas Association and IPAA.He serves on the National Petroleum Council, the Board of Visitors of the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering and the Dean’s Executive Board of the University of Houston School of Business.He also serves as a board member of Oil States International, Inc.

Institutional Investor Magazine named him the top CEO in the independent exploration and production sector in 2006 and 2007 and runner-up in 2008.

Mr. Papa and his wife, Susan, have one child.

George Kirkland was born in 1950 and at the age of 24 joined Chevron in New Orleans.In 1990, following a series of upstream assignments of increasing responsibility in that city, as well as, San Francisco, Denver, Midland, Lafayette, and Indonesia, he was appointed group manager of upstream technology for Chevron Research and Technology Co.

From 1992 through 1999, he was based in Nigeria, where he held the positions of general manager of production, and chairman and managing director of Chevron Nigeria Ltd.

He served as president of Chevron U.S.A. Production Co. in 2000-2001 - responsible for exploration and production operations in the United States and Canada; and then as president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum from 2002 through 2004 - responsible for exploration and production operations outside North America.

Since January 2005, Mr. Kirkland has served as executive vice president of global upstream and gas for Chevron Corporation where he has been responsible for the company’s global exploration, production and gas activities.

He is a member of the board of trustees of the Africa America Institute, a board member of the Corporate Council on Africa, a director of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Business Association, and the US-Asean Business Council, and a board member of the American Petroleum Institute.

Mr. Kirkland and his wife, Joy, have two children.

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The presentation of the 2009 awards is the 74th consecutive year that the award has been presented to industry leaders. Recipients of the award are chosen by a committee of previous honorees.