Joe B. Foster
Editor's note: This profile is part of Hart Energy's 50th anniversary Hall of Fame series honoring industry pioneers of the past 50 years and the Agents of Change (ACEs) who are leading the energy sector into the future.
Joe B. Foster started Newfield Exploration in 1989 with $9 million and 26 employees. Thirty years later, the company was acquired by Encana for $7.7 billion. Those are impressive numbers for sure, but they don’t tell the full story of why Foster (1934-2020) belongs in the Hall of Fame.
The startup of Newfield Exploration was a risky move for Foster and one he certainly didn’t need to take. After all, he had already had a successful 31-year career at Tenneco Oil. At the time of the Tenneco Oil sale, he was in his mid-50s and had been the company’s chairman. Many people expected a retirement. Instead, Foster started Newfield with other ex-Tenneco Oil employees because he believed in the potential of the Gulf Coast oilfields.
“All of these employees had worked previously in the Gulf of Mexico for Tenneco, and we had the notion that we could use the kind of major company technology which we had been using, namely 3-D geophysical technology, and combine that with the cost structure and mindset of an independent to achieve a competitive advantage,” Foster told The Wall Street Transcript in 1999.
The company made its first discovery in the Gulf in 1990 and by year-end was producing more than 20 MMcf/d. Three years later, following steady growth of its natural gas and crude production, the company went public.
“The story of Newfield is a story of reinvestment. The track record of the company was increasing the net worth, volumes and margins of the business over time through good decisions,” Art Smith, author of “Something from Nothing: Joe B. Foster and the People Who Built Newfield Exploration,” said on The Power Hungry Podcast in August 2022.
This reinvestment by Newfield included the purchase of other offshore assets in China and Australia, as well as onshore assets in the Anadarko, Rockies and South Texas before its sale to Encana.
Foster had just as much impact outside of the oil and gas industry. He served as chair of the Greater Houston YMCA, Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston A+ Challenge and chair of the Texas A&M Foundation’s board of trustees. Additionally, he served on the board of directors for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and Houston Hospice.
He and wife Harriet placed a lot of importance on education in their family with all their children attending college. To help other families fulfill their educational goals, the Fosters created and funded many college scholarships.
“[W]e just think it’s a real good place to put our money. Mainly, it’s just about giving back to something you benefitted from earlier in life. It’s very important to give back,” Foster told Texas Aggie magazine in 2009.
Charity and philanthropy meant a great deal to Foster. He discussed the importance he and his wife Harriet placed on helping others with Texas Aggie magazine in 2009.
“Harriet and I both believe we have an obligation to society, to other people, to ourselves, to do something other than just earn a living and satisfy our appetites. And it’s important to do it in a way that just accomplishes that. The object is not to draw attention to yourself, it’s to help someone else,” he said.
—Frank Nieto, Contributing Editor