VQ Venoco, Inc.

Venoco, Inc. (NYSE: VQ) announced today that the planned promotion of Ed O'Donnell to Chief Executive Officer will become effective August 1, 2012. As of that date, the current CEO, Tim Marquez, will become the Executive Chairman of the Board and will continue in an active role directing the company's growth and acquisitions strategy.

"As previously announced, we have been transitioning CEO responsibilities to Ed since February and it has gone very smoothly. For the past month, Ed has effectively been running the company, quite successfully I would add," said Mr. Marquez who founded Venoco twenty years ago. "Ed knows the assets extremely well having overseen the Southern California properties for the last five years and having originally joined us in 1997."

Mr. O'Donnell was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in January of 2012 at which time the company announced a CEO succession plan. Prior to that, beginning in 2007, he served as Senior Vice President for Southern California Operations. He originally joined Venoco in 1997 as Vice President of Development, after which he was promoted to Vice President of the offshore business unit. Mr. O'Donnell has served two terms on the board and served as President of the company's domestic division from 2001 to 2002.

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.

About the Company

Venoco is an independent energy company primarily engaged in the acquisition, exploitation and development of oil and natural gas properties primarily in California. Venoco operates three offshore platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, has non-operated interests in three other platforms, operates three onshore properties in Southern California, and has extensive operations in Northern California's Sacramento Basin.

For further information, please contact Mike Edwards Vice President (303) 626-8320 http://www.venocoinc.com E-Mail Email Contact