Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Houston, TX: Jamie Christy Index.

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Leighton Steward was a geologist for Shell Oil in the Gulf of Mexico for many years. He grew up in Fairfield, Texas. He attended SMU and received a bachelor's and master's degree (1960) in geology. Mr. Steward was in the Air Force for three years and was then hired by Shell in November of 1962. He worked in the Houston division for a couple of years and was transferred to Shell's research lab in Bellaire and then to New Orleans. He was a party chief on the Eureka Coring Program. Mr. Steward was responsible for locating good tracts for bids and was one of the pioneers of the use of bright spots. He worked in New Orleans at Shell One for many years and in fields like Eugene Island, Cognac, and J Field. He also briefly worked for an independent and is on the board of Burlington Resources.