As a landman, Trey Stanton put the formation of Tight Rock Resources in motion.

Most landmen have a colorful story about their toughest negotiation. Trey Stanton’s involves a long, awkward wait in a ranch house kitchen, an elderly, cranky rancher, and a sleepless night in a barn in West Texas. But it has a happy ending.

Stanton grew up in the suburban environs of Friendswood, Texas. His focus from an early age was basketball. After a promising athletic career in high school, he was recruited to the U.S. Naval Academy. He transferred to Rice University after his freshman season, started for three years and was on the brink of signing to play pro basketball in Turkey, when an injury sidelined him. During that time, he got a job offer from insurance broker J. Smith Lanier & Co. in Auburn, Ala.

Six months into the job, his father-in-law, Scott Bryant, a long-time landman, lured him back to Texas.It was late 2011, and Bryant and some partners were putting together a large acreage position in West Texas. Stanton could learn the land business under their tutelage.

“I was able to jump in and learn on the go,” Stanton said. The group put together 20,000 acres prospective for Wolfcamp. The business model was simple: Assemble a large block and flip it. About a year later they sold it to Harmonia Petroleum Corp., a Chinese company with offices in Midland. It was Harmonia’s first U.S. oil and gas deal.

By early 2013, the market was shifting in the Permian Basin. It was no longer as easy to track operators’ movement and be early movers in assembling land. “We had to move up the food chain because of the competition,” Stanton said.

The group gathered investors, bought more leases and went on the hunt for drilling capital. Stanton put together 20,000 acres in Howard County. But after trying to market the block for about six months, with feedback that it was too big and too far east, they decided to break it up and flip it. Hannathon Petroleum, Midland, Texas, bought about 5,000 acres, and Haimo Oil & Gas LLC, a subsidiary of China’s Lanzhou Haimo Technologies Co., took another 7,000. The remaining 6,000 acres have been purchased by a private operating company.

Next they decided to operate, and about four months ago started up Tight Rock Resources LLC in Austin. Stanton is vice president of business development and land, Bryant is head of business development, Waymon Pitchford heads up operations and Midland geologist Dean Boundy rounds out the team.

In a recent interview, Stanton recalled that long day and night in West Texas and discussed Tight Rock’s plans.

Investor: What is Tight Rock’s strategy?

Stanton: We are aggregating land and we plan to drill. We’ll reserve some working interest, handle operations and sell a nonoperated working interest. To date we’ve sold one deal south of Big Spring in Howard County with two others available, have another position in Dawson County, and we’re looking at deals in Glasscock County.

Investor: What is the timeline?

Stanton: We plan to spud our first well in November, targeting Clearfork through Fusselman. We plan to reserve anywhere from 12.5% to 25% and sell the rest.

Investor: You had to learn a whole new business. What helped you succeed?

Stanton: You have to outwork other people. It’s timing, and a little bit of luck. For example, when we were marketing our second deal, I was looking through records and found a section of land with two weeks left on its primary term in a hot spot of horizontal activity. I top-leased it with 10% bonus upfront. The previous lease expired, which won us the lease and proved to be a really good deal for us. We reserved an override and sold it to a major player that has already permitted a horizontal well on it.

Investor: How did you win the lease from that rancher?

Stanton: I’d heard stories about how he’d run off other landmen. But he had a really good block of 2,000 acres. I told my father-in-law, “I’m going out to West Texas, and I’m not leaving ‘til that lease is signed.” He said, “OK, just be careful.”

When I arrived, the rancher was out working, so I waited three hours in his kitchen with his wife, who wasn’t overly friendly. He finally came in from working, and I asked him a lot of questions about his ranching business. We had a couple of glasses of whiskey, then he sent me out to the barn to sleep. He told me I could sleep on the pool table out there, but I’m 6’10 … that wasn’t going to work. I slept on a futon--but I didn’t get much sleep.

In the morning, we got up and I worked cattle with him all day til about 4 p.m. We still hadn’t talked business. Finally I told him, “I need to know if we can get a deal done.” We got to the notary in town with about five minutes to spare. It was a real culture shock for me, but we got it done.

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