Born in Midland, Texas, where his father prospects for oil and gas, Banaise Blake is no stranger to the energy industry. Before entering the energy sector, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. From May 1998 to July 2005, he served in the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and in Baghdad, Iraq.

When Banaise left active service in 2005, he joined Baker Hughes Centrilift in April 2006, and worked as sales manager and field services manager. He managed 60 employees in five states in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast regions.

In March 2008, he became president of Ironhorse Energy Services, a start-up focused on providing well services to producers in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. Blake developed the company's business model, conducted market research, and attracted $12.5 million in financing.

Although changing market dynamics and energy prices at the end of 2008 forced a change in plans, Banaise landed on his feet as project manager at private-equity-backed Frontier Energy Services LLC, in 2009. Now, he is manager of engineering and planning at Frontier, while working toward his master's degree at Oklahoma State University.

“You look at the pace of the drilling, the commodities, the terms, and in the end there is a fine line between a great project and a bad project.”

MIDSTREAM: How did your career in the Army prepare you for the challenges in this business?

BLAKE: The challenges that I saw in the Army, particularly in Iraq, were unlike anything I've ever witnessed. Going through that and solving difficult problems taught me how to adapt and take on tough challenges. Since leaving the Army, I haven't yet seen anything in terms of that level of challenge.

MIDSTREAM: What led you to be involved in oil and gas?

BLAKE: Growing up, I saw my dad out making deals and growing his business. After the Army, when I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, my family encouraged me to look into this industry. I had a few job opportunities in Houston, but I liked the opportunity in Tulsa, with Baker Hughes. Once I got on with them, and started getting into the business, I loved it.

MIDSTREAM: Your start-up didn't work out. What did you take away from that experience?

BLAKE: I learned that if you are going to start a company, you have to be certain that you've got something that is a unique niche or service. We started up a well service company for western Oklahoma, which was not really distinctive. There are a lot of companies doing that. With the activity in 2007 to 2008, we saw an underserved market. When 2008 rolled around, we essentially had to walk away because activity dried up and it didn't make economic sense. The job I do now at Frontier has a similar entrepreneurial mindset.

MIDSTREAM: How's the deal flow now?

BLAKE: We're constantly looking for that next project. My time is spent doing project analysis and looking at different deals. We are in the cycle where we are either starting project analysis or we're just finishing one. I'll spend a lot of time doing the financial assessment and then help the senior managers put together the package for board approval. That's about 75% of my time.

The other 25% is involved with planning, supervising and managing different projects that we have in the field. It was initially startling to see how many factors affect a midstream deal. You look at the pace of the drilling, the commodities and the terms, and in the end there is a fine line between a great project and a bad project.

MIDSTREAM: You've seen the M&A activity going on. How has Frontier responded?

BLAKE: We've seen, and are still seeing, mass consolidation. The larger players and the master limited partners (MLPs) are buying up assets and trying to get into new areas. The challenge for us, as these new players try to expand, is that we'll see projects where we just can't make the economics work. We're a private-equity-backed firm, so we have certain returns that we need to hit. The challenge is to find projects and project areas where we can expect to see higher returns.

If you can start a good greenfield asset, and build it up, then there's going to be a good opportunity to sell that asset to a larger player down the road. We just completed selling all our assets to Crestwood Midstream Partners LP. I'm proud of being a part of the process of growing our asset base, to where we are today with a successful conclusion.

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