K?elly Plato started his career by getting his feet wet in the oil and gas industry. His father was an engineer and lawyer, which influenced his initial education and career choices.

Listen to the audio interview with Kelly Plato.


After receiving a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M, he went to work as a production engineer on South Texas properties with Fina Oil & Chemical Co. and earned a law degree from South Texas College of Law.


He soon found his true calling when, in 1997, he joined Koch Producer Services, which had been formed by Koch Industries to handle its E&P investment operations. This was Plato’s introduction to the energy-finance business.


During his time with Koch and energy mezzanine-capital provider Mirant Americas Energy Capital, Plato had forged relationships with various industry financiers who would go on to form publicly traded energy-investment fund NGP Capital Resources Co. (Nasdaq: NGPC) in 2004. Shortly thereafter, Plato joined the firm as managing director, in January 2005. He now also holds the position of senior vice president.


NGP Capital is broadly mandated to invest throughout the energy sector, and has to date placed approximately $650 million in equity and debt funding to private companies. It is currently evaluating some distressed-financing opportunities and believes E&Ps and other energy companies will be looking for energy investors, due to fewer capital choices.


Plato took a moment to talk with Oil and Gas Investor about the company’s plans, influences in his career and his love for scuba diving.


Investor How did your father’s engineering background affect your first career choice?
Plato When I went to college I was convinced I was going to the NFL, but it didn’t take long to realize that I needed a more realistic plan. I kind of fell into engineering because of my father’s influence, but once I got into it, I liked the study of engineering. I enjoyed the people and the education, but it was challenging.


Investor What are some of the deals you’re currently working on?
Plato We’re primarily looking at E&P opportunities, but we’re interested in other sectors of the energy industry as well. We’ve made a couple of energy-service investments, one coal-mining investment and a renewables investment. We’re looking across the industry and across the capital structure—debt and equity.
We’re being very particular and are also looking at some distressed situations. We think we’ll see a lot of opportunities in which companies need capital and don’t have the same access to funding that they had a few months ago.


Investor How is the current credit market affecting your business?
Plato On one hand, we think this is a great opportunity for us. In fact, we have been somewhat hoping for a correction in commodity prices and capital markets over the past few years, but I didn’t expect the correction to happen so fast or be so widespread.
We think the current market environment may present the opportunity for us to make investments at attractive prices with really good companies. In recent years, there was so much capital available that terms were aggressively bid down and it was difficult for us to make investments. Now we are one of a few firms that have capital and are hopeful that the market will present attractive opportunities for us this year.
On the other hand, we’re also capital users and we need to raise outside capital to grow. In this environment it’s difficult to raise additional capital and, as a result, we’re being very choosy in how we allocate the capital that we have.
During the past couple of years we had more capital available than investment opportunities, so our decisions were centered on whether the investment opportunity presented an appropriate risk-adjusted return. Now we’re in a situation in which we have more opportunities than capital. As a result, our decision is not only focused on the risk-adjusted return offered by a particular opportunity, but also on how it compares with other opportunities.


Investor What do you like best about your work?
Plato Seeing new business plans and investment ideas every day. At NGPC, I’ve been able to work with some outstanding management teams. It’s hard work, but really satisfying, to find a deal, make the investment and then help to build and grow that business.


Investor Who has been a personal mentor?
Plato My father, who has been a mentor and a friend. His example has been important to me as a husband, father and businessman.


Investor Where do you see yourself in five years?
Plato I’m very happy in my role at NGPC and I’m a believer in our strategy. In five years, I hope to be here, celebrating significant growth and good returns to our shareholders.


Investor How do you spend your free time?
Plato When I do have free time, I’m a pretty avid scuba diver. I especially like exploring deep wrecks and caves.

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