Venoco, Inc. announced that Ed O'Donnell will be stepping down from its board of directors and will rejoin the company as a Senior Vice President. Mr. O'Donnell has served two terms on the board and served as President of the company's domestic division from 2001 until 2002.

"We are very pleased to have Ed back in a managerial role," said Tim Marquez, Venoco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We appreciate the contributions Ed has made as a board member, but know his experience in managing operations and development will be far more valuable to the company."

"Ed knows these operations inside and out, so he will be able to step right in and avoid a learning curve," Mr. Marquez added.

"Venoco has a great team of people and solid assets with both operational and development opportunities -- I am very excited to be a part of the management team again," said Mr. O'Donnell.

Mr. O'Donnell originally joined Venoco in 1997 as Vice President of Development, then was promoted to Vice President of the offshore business unit. Prior to joining Venoco, Mr. O'Donnell worked for Unocal for more than 20 years, including four years in corporate planning and more than ten years in operations management. At Unocal, he managed onshore and offshore assets in California, Alaska and West Texas.

Mr. O'Donnell has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Montana Tech, an MS in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Pepperdine University. He has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers as well as the American Petroleum Institute.