Geologist Josh Hickman is on the hunt for oil, gas and capital. This past fall, the Appalachian Basin specialist formed Dahlmont Energy Resources LLC around an acquire-and-hold strategy to capitalize on opportunities in the energy recession.

Hickman is a native of Bluefield, a small town in West Virginia’s coal country. His energy roots stretch back to his father, a safety man for coal mines and in gas operations for Consol Energy Inc., and a great-uncle who worked as a geologist and engineer for Pocahontas Land Corp.

Hickman graduated with a degree in geology from Radford University and holds a master’s in geoscience from the University of South Carolina. As a graduate student, he interned with Consol in Tennessee and Petrobras in Colombia. In 2008 he earned an MBA from Penn State University.

Hickman began his career with Consol in 2003 as it spun off its oil and gas assets into CNX Inc. As the company’s only oil and gas geologist, he was given responsibility for the company’s 1.6 million acres of oil and gas rights across the central and eastern U.S.—an unquantified resource. His first project involved some 200,000 acres in Tennessee where just 20 vertical wells had been drilled. Armed with a thin file of well logs, he took on the company’s charge to drill 23 wells in the next six months. A horizontal he planned in the Chattanooga Shale remains the largest gas producer in the state.

After five years, he joined Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. as lead geologist on its West Virginia assets—630,000 acres of land and 3,500 active wells—as the company launched development of the Marcellus Shale. Soon, he added Utica Shale exploration to his duties and moved to Pittsburgh, building a geologic model of the parameters that would make the horizontal play work.

In 2012, he joined Goldman Sachs-backed Edgemarc Energy Holdings LLC as chief geologist, vetting more than 100 deals as the company assembled a 50,000-acre position in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Eventually Edgemarc’s focus turned to development, and Hickman departed to establish Hickman Geological Consulting with his wife, Jessica, a geologist. Their clients range from financial institutions to start-up E&Ps and landowners.

Hickman is the founder and current chairman of YPE Pittsburgh, serves on the Junior Board of the Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens and is active with Boy Scouts of America.

In a recent interview, he discussed Dahlmont and silver linings to the downturn.

Josh Hickman

Investor What made you want to follow the entrepre­neurial path?

Hickman Both Consol and Cabot are more than 100 years old, and the spider web of processes is a lot thicker. As the third employee hired at Edgemarc, I was able to participate in building those processes and the company culture. And I was able to observe how capital and talent come together to put money to work, from buying acreage to bringing in the rig.

Investor What led you to form Dahlmont?

Hickman In 2014 and 2015, I saw what was happening with commodity prices, volumes and pipeline capacity. As we approached the bottom, my goal was to put together the best land-valuation team available to capture assets that existing companies couldn’t drill. Because of the network I have, I know in the technical sense where opportunities are, where leases are running out, what’s happening with capital budgets. I have the ability to walk in and shake hands with the folks who you need to shake hands with to get the deals done.

Investor Where is your focus?

Hickman We’ll focus in West Virginia and Ohio, in areas where the big acreage grabs happened—Belmont and Wetzel counties, for example. We can operate, but primarily we will drill to hold and then sell reserves for a multiple as markets stabilize.

Investor What is the timeline for returns? What will make natural gas prices rise?

Hickman The timing is probably 2018 to 2019. If you put reserves in the ground now, as prices come back you can obtain that X return that private equity companies seek. Or, you can drill and produce outright. The differentials in the Appalachian Basin are going to improve over the next three years, with better takeaway to the East, down along the Atlantic Coast, to Chicago and the West. Also, coal-fired plants are being converted to gas, which helps in the takeaway and also the burn.

Investor Any lessons learned for those considering a start-up?

Hickman You have to ask yourself, Can I do this? Do I have enough experience? Do I know the right people? It surprised me when I realized yes, I’m 36, but I’ve done the right things to prepare.

Investor Beyond building a business, is there a silver lining to a downturn?

Hickman If you have the ability, don’t forget to take time for your family—it may be the best gift you ever get. I’ve been able to spend time with my wife and children and work from home, and it’s been a blessing. Don’t squander those opportunities, use them to make yourself stronger.

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