Co-founder, Cox & Perkins Exploration, Inc. (Retired)
B.S. ASE 1964, The University of Texas at Austin
M.S. ASE 1966, The University of Texas at Austin
Dick Perkins was a co-founder of Cox & Perkins Exploration, Inc., an independent oil and gas exploration and production company in Houston, Texas. From 1977-2013, C&P primarily operated onshore Texas Gulf Coast with some additional operations in Louisiana.
Perkins received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in aerospace engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.
Perkins’ professional career began in 1966 with General Motors Defense Research Laboratories Material and Structures Group in Santa Barbara, California. In early 1967 the entire group was moved to the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Leaving GM in late 1969, Perkins joined Humble Oil & Refining Company (now Exxon-Mobil Company) as a reservoir engineer first in Kingsville and later in Corpus Christi, Texas, resigning in 1974. From 1974-1977 he was an independent petroleum engineer. Perkins joined with Jerry Cox to explore for oil and gas starting in mid-1977 until ceasing active operations in 2013 as Cox & Perkins Exploration, Inc.
At General Motors, Perkins conducted high rate uniaxial and biaxial stress deformation of material research on polymers, composites and rocks. As Vice President of Cox & Perkins Exploration, he was responsible for the drilling and production of a few hundred wells that encompassed vertical, directional and horizontal profiles, ranged in depth from shallow to deep, and encountered reservoir pressures from normal to highly geopressured.
Perkins has served as a member of the UT Austin Engineering Advisory Board since 2003 and the UT Austin Development Council since 2007. He was honored as a Cockrell School Distinguished Engineering Graduate in 2019.
Perkins has proudly supported ASE/EM student projects as well as volunteering with the UT College of Liberal Art’s Shakespeare at Winedale program. He was granted an Honorary Lone Star FFA Degree from the Texas FFA Association in 2012 and continues to support the Spring Branch ISD FFA program. Perkins is an inactive Registered Petroleum Engineer.
Perkins and his wife Judy, who have been married since 1966, live in Houston, Texas. He enjoys spending time with son, Keith, daughter-in-law, Joanna, their two children, Claire and Paul, and loves reading his daughter, Stephanie’s (S. C. Perkins) cozy mystery novels. Occasionally he gets to fly his Piper Seneca to experience practical aerodynamics.
