Elizabeth J. Cantrell currently serves as President of Kerns Petroleum, Inc. (KPI). KPI is an independent oil & gas exploration and production company based in San Antonio, Texas, primarily focused on using 3D seismic to explore in South Texas and along the Texas Gulf Coast. KPI has operations in Texas as well as in Southeast New Mexico. Ms. Cantrell joined KPI in 2005 as Vice President – Engineering and was appointed President in 2007. She was previously with Samson Resources in Tulsa, OK where she held various positions. Her responsibilities included exploration project planning, development project management, production/reservoir engineering, completions and project economic evaluation.
Before joining Samson, Ms. Cantrell held various engineering positions of increasing responsibility with Chevron USA and ChevronTexaco in Midland and Houston, Texas from 1996 - 2003. These positions included asset management, coalbed methane and shale gas development, reservoir engineering, business planning, and others.
Ms. Cantrell is a registered professional engineer in Texas and NCEES certified. She is a long-time, active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers where she has held many leadership positions. She is currently serving as Treasurer for the Balcones Section in San Antonio.
Ms. Cantrell received a BS cum laude in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, and received the Robert L. Whiting Outstanding Graduate in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M 1996. She resides in San Antonio with her husband, Chris Cantrell ’94, who is also an Aggie Petroleum Engineer, their daughter, Riley, and son, Reed.