Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE MKT: GST) said June 5 it hired Stephen P. Roberts as the Houston-based company's vice president and COO, effective immediately.

Roberts joins Gastar from Jones Energy Inc. (NYSE: JONE), where he spent 19 years most recently serving as the company's senior vice president of drilling and completions and its Anadarko/Arkoma group manager.

At Gastar, Roberts will be responsible for the company's operating activity as it continues to de-risk and delineate the various productive formations on its 62,600 net acre position in the Stack Play, said J. Russell Porter, Gastar's president and CEO.

"We are excited that Stephen has chosen to join Gastar to lead our operational efforts," Porter said in a statement. "Over his 29-year career in the energy industry, he has established a legacy of building strong operational teams, including both technical and field staff, which have delivered unsurpassed results year after year."

Mike Kelly, senior analyst with Seaport Global Securities, said he sees the addition of Roberts' talent to its operational bench a positive.

Further, as Gastar's footprint in the Stack is secured, "moving the focus to repeatedly mowing down economic wells is a natural and welcomed progression," Kelly said in a June 5 report.

While at Jones Energy, Roberts was directly responsible for the drilling and completion of more than 700 horizontal wells in seven different formations and led the efforts that established Jones as the recognized lowest cost operator in the Texas Panhandle, according to the company release.

Prior to joining Jones Energy, Roberts held various positions of increasing responsibility with Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) and Samson Resources Corp. He holds a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering and a M.B.A. in Finance from Texas Tech University.