Executive Q&A: The Unmasked Oilman
The industry is on a new—and better—path, the wildcatter says. “It’s honestly probably an easier route than the treadmill that we were on.” Here’s the 2021 update and a look at his new shale gas E&P.
Logging you in.
Logging you out.
Updating your account.
The author of The American Shales, Darbonne has been a journalist since 1984, beginning in the oil and gas fields of South Louisiana. She writes for Oil and Gas Investor and is actively involved in Hart's conference agendas. Prior to joining Hart in 1998, she was the business editor for The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.) and a correspondent for The Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge). She received her BA in English and journalism from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The industry is on a new—and better—path, the wildcatter says. “It’s honestly probably an easier route than the treadmill that we were on.” Here’s the 2021 update and a look at his new shale gas E&P.
Something unusual is happening on the way to 2022. The “shoulder months” are barely shoulder months. A one-year wonder or a new gas paradigm? Outlooks are favoring the latter. Here’s why.
The energy future needs landmen, geologists, engineers, places to store CO₂, money and business leaders who understand how to monetize the value chain. It needs oil and gas people. Here’s the playbook and a description of the prize.
Debt capital is on sale, and public equity markets aren’t closed to oil and gas operators either. Some just don’t have any use right now for the cash—that is, a use that investors would support.
While U.S. natural gas demand was mostly flat in 2020, Mexico’s grew. And it came from Texas. The outlook is that Mexico will be ordering more, including from the Eagle Ford’s underdeveloped gas fairway.
It’s not the Keynes kind; it’s the Jack London kind. E&P executives are restless, according to a Dallas Fed survey, and they’re going mano a mano for market share. Will it manifest in consolidation? Where to next for the sellers? For some, it’s a new land rush: energy transition.
Oil is rebounding but is forecast to continue to be constrained by excess production potential at a higher price. Meanwhile, U.S. natgas is all dressed up with lots of places to go.
Secured-debt lenders have new terms for oil and gas producers. Some were underway before 2020.
E&P heads of investor relations describe their 2020 of reduced capital available for capture and fewer analysts to guide the big bucks their way.
2020 wasn’t looking like the kind of year an E&P could access capital—and certainly not at less than 2%. For Pioneer Natural Resources Co., it has been
© 2025 Hart Energy. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.