Zachary S. Fenton, founder and COO of Houston-based UpCurve Energy LLC, is today’s featured Forty Under 40 honoree.

Starting with “a napkin in a coffee shop,” Fenton founded UpCurve Energy with former colleagues from ConocoPhillips Co. during the 2015 downturn.

No stranger to challenging market environments, Fenton led the Permian Basin-focused operator to produce almost 15,000 boe/d prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated oil market distress. Reflecting on his experience, he said, “To some extent, you don’t know much about yourself as a businessperson and a leader until you’ve been through some downtimes and overcome obstacles, and this is certainly a big one.”

Fenton plans to continue “to position UpCurve I to come out of this downturn in a stronger position than ever,” with an eye toward anchoring a second iteration of the company, which is backed by Post Oak Energy Capital, in the current market.

Prior to co-founding UpCurve, Fenton worked as a senior reservoir engineer in ConocoPhillips’ Eagle Ford development organization. Before that, he worked as an associate at the private-equity firm Lindsay Goldberg and as an analyst in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division.


Click here for Zachary S. Fenton’s complete profile.

Take a look at all of the Forty Under 40 honorees.


Oil and Gas Investor is accepting nominations for the 2021 Forty Under 40 in Energy awards. Click here to NOMINATE those that are MOVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARD.

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