Energy Business Conference

Synopsis: Energy is and always will be a regulated industry and thus impacted by public policy in ways both good and bad. Driven by climate considerations, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, efforts by governments to intercede into energy markets and exert greater control over operations and outcomes have grown stronger in recent years. Doug Sheridan, managing director and founder at EnergyPoint Research and David Blackmon, principal at DBEnergyAdvisors, detail the major ways public policy is currently impacting energy in a panel discussion moderated by Ed Crooks, vice-chair, Americas at Wood Mackenzie.

Speaker Bio

Doug Sheridan is managing director and founder of EnergyPoint Research Inc. in Houston — an independent market research firm specializing in the measurement and monitoring of customer satisfaction in the oil and gas industry. Prior to founding EnergyPoint in 2003, Sheridan held commercial and corporate positions in the midstream division of El Paso Corporation. He has been active in several industry associations, including the National Petroleum Council, and has been published in multiple industry and financial publications. Sheridan holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He lives in and is a native of Houston.

Speaker Bio

David Blackmon is principal at DB Energy Analytics and writes on energy issues at Forbes.com. He has enjoyed a 42-year career in and around the oil and gas industry, the last 25 years of which have been spent in the communications and public policy arena. He also maintains a practice as a consultant on public policy issues for several clients.

During his career, he led numerous industry-wide efforts to address a variety of issues at the local, state and federal level. He served as vice chairman of IPAA’s public lands committee from 1995 through 2003, as vice chairman and later chairman of the Interior Department’s Royalty Policy Committee from 1996 through 2000, chairman of the AXPC Government Affairs Committee from 2013 through 2014, and from April 2010 through June 2012, he served as the Texas State chairman for America’s Natural Gas Alliance.

In addition to his consulting and role at Forbes.com, he hosts three podcasts, maintains his energy-related newsletter at Substack (Blackmon.Substack.com), continues a robust social media presence and executes frequent public speaking engagements.

Speaker Bio

Ed Crooks joined Wood Mackenzie as vice-chair, Americas, in September 2019. Based in New York, he is one of the leaders of the group’s commodities, global trends and corporate analysis research. He writes Energy Pulse, a weekly column on the key developments in the industry.

Before joining Wood Mackenzie, he was an award-winning energy editor for the Financial Times, first in London and then in New York, where he wrote the popular Energy Source newsletter. He joined the FT in 1999 as economics editor and took over the energy team in 2006.

From 1990-99 he worked for BBC News, starting as a researcher in the economics team and ending as a correspondent on radio and television. He began his career in journalism in 1988 as a reporter covering chemicals and oil companies for the Investor’s Chronicle, and also worked as an economic researcher at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

His other roles have included membership of the UK government’s Sustainable Development Commission.

He has a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University.

Synopsis: New technologies, surges in demand and the energy transition are opening new opportunities for multiple pay zones, brine mining, revisited conventionals, energy storage (geothermal, CCUS), orphan well cleanup, water management and more. However, in all of this, geology is more important than ever. Join us for a lively discussion of how knowledge in geology opens the door to all the new opportunities.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Molly Turko has nearly 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and is a subject matter expert in structural geology. She has had the opportunity to work in multiple basins in the U.S., including the Anadarko, Ardmore, Delaware, Powder River, Appalachian, Onshore Gulf Coast and Rockies. She received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geology from the University of Tulsa followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where she studied under Dr. Shankar Mitra. Her work experience includes Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and several small operators in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has taught courses for R.M.A.G., AAPG, Applied Stratigraphix and for the Ore Geology Conference. Turko is the vice president of AAPG’s Petroleum Structure and Geomechanics Division for 2021-2023. Her passion is mentoring and teaching, but her favorite role is leading structural geology field courses in Nevada and southern Oklahoma. She is currently a team member of Applied Stratigraphix as their Structural Geology Expert along with consulting for Turko Tectonics and Structural Geology.

Speaker Bio

Bryan Bottoms joined Detring Energy Advisors in August 2019 as a geology analyst and is currently a geology associate. He has been with the firm for more than three years working on numerous deals in the middle market across every basin and play in the Lower 48.

Prior to joining Detring Energy Advisors, he worked as a geologist for Tapstone Energy and Chesapeake Energy, where he evaluated both conventional and unconventional plays of the Mid-Continent. Bottoms holds two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree the University of Arkansas. He is a Registered Professional Geologist in the state of Texas.

Speaker Bio

John Sinclair started his career in 1991 as a field geologist with Equitable Resources after graduating with a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He spent eight years with Equitable working assets in the Appalachian Basin and offshore Gulf of Mexico. He joined a private firm, AMVEST Oil and Gas, in 1999, where he worked most U.S. and Canadian basins exploring for and developing coalbed methane resources as exploration manager and vice president of exploration. He joined Encana, now Ovintiv in 2007 and has held numerous positions as senior geologist or geology team manager. He has been actively involved in OVV exploration efforts as well as development roles in the Barnett and Tuscaloosa Marine shales. His most recent role has been as geoscience manager for the Anadarko and Rockies Reservoir Characterization Team.

Speaker Bio

Paul Willis currently serves as the vice president of land operations and land administration for the midcontinent region for Diversified Energy Company. Prior to Diversified, he served as director of land for Tapstone Energy, where he oversaw the land department, including a multi-rig drilling program and multiple acquisitions and divestitures totaling more than $1 billion dollars. Willis began his career at Chesapeake Energy, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility within the land department.

Mr. Willis has a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Oklahoma State University.

Speaker Bio

Ronny McGinnis received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2002 and 2005, respectively. He joined Southwest Research Institute in 2002 where his work included structural geological analysis of groundwater aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs and characterization of mechanical stratigraphy and the control it has on natural deformation features. In addition, he performed training and research for the oil and gas industry. In 2018, he joined EOG Resources as a geological specialist where he provided expertise related to structural geology and geomechanics for the San Antonio Division. In 2020, he became a geological lead where he supports a group of geoscientists for South Texas exploration and development. In addition to that role, he provides technical support for multiple divisions within EOG as well as teaches training courses for the company.

Synopsis: Pension fund for 1.9 million Texas public education employees with $200 billion invested. In this fireside chat, we explore its energy-related portfolio: upstream and midstream fossil fuels, renewables, electric vehicles, and decision-making process, outlook, and strategies for the future. The fund has direct investments in working interests and minerals. Targets a minimum 8% annual return on investment and seeks the best economic interests of its members against a backdrop of climate and social policy concerns and state-mandated guidance.

Speaker Bio

Carolyn Hansard is currently the senior director for the energy, natural resources and infrastructure portfolio at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. She has primary responsibility for the $16 billion portfolio of fund and principal investments in both equity and credit mandates in the natural resources and infrastructure sectors. Prior to joining TRS, she spent 17 years at Merrill Lynch in New York, London and Tokyo. While at Merrill Lynch, she held several senior management positions throughout the capital markets division and represented Merrill Lynch on several corporate boards. She began her professional career with Arthur Anderson as a consultant.

Hansard received a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Texas. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards in both New York and Austin, Texas, and is currently on the advisory board for the University of Texas MBA Investment Fund, as well as the advisory board for Women in Energy.

Speaker Bio

Roger A. Soape, CPL, was the 2014-15 president of the American Association of Professional Landmen. He was named AAPL Landman of the Year in 2009. Soape has served AAPL as the chairman of NAPE and on the Ethics and Tax Issues committees. He is a former president of the Houston Association of Professional Landmen, which previously named him its Outstanding Landman of the Year.

He is the president and majority shareholder of Roger A. Soape, Inc. — the land services firm he founded in 1980. Soape is a native Texan and attended the University of Texas at Austin. He is a trustee of The West Endowment, a grantmaking foundation. He also is a member of the North Houston Association of Professional Landmen, the Texas Oil & Gas Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He is an instrument-rated private pilot.

Synopsis: Refracs are a commonly accepted solution for recovering stranded hydrocarbons in understimulated wells and mitigating offset depletion. Devon Energy and the Department of Energy will present their pad refrac collaboration in the Eagle Ford and showcase the advanced monitoring technology and analysis used to evaluate their modern refrac techniques.

Speaker Bio

Cameron Thompson is a senior staff geologist in the Mid-Continent and South Texas Business Unit at Devon Energy, currently focused on the Eagle Ford Shale asset. He has a vast experience with subsurface characterizations and full cycle project evaluation and execution in several major U.S. basins including the Anadarko Basin and Gulf Coast regions. Thompson is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geology and has a combined 16 years of industry experience. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists

Speaker Bio

Sarah White is a senior reservoir engineer in the Mid-Continent and South Texas Business Unit at Devon Energy, currently focused on the Eagle Ford Shale asset. She has obtained vast experience with subsurface characterizations and full cycle project evaluations in several major U.S. shale basins including the Eagle Ford, Barnett Shale, and Midland. White is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering and obtained an MBA with an emphasis in finance from The University of Oklahoma. She is a member of Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Speaker Bio

Jackson Haffener attended the University of Oklahoma, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in geophysics in 2015 and master’s degree in 2017. He joined Devon as a geophysical interpreter in the Anadarko Basin, before moving to a role focusing on subsurface integration in 2019. Haffener specializes in multivariate analytics, microseismic, optical fiber and co-visualization, with an emphasis on integrating geophysics, geology, completions and reservoir data.

Speaker Bio

Jarret Borell is a senior advising petrophysicist at Devon Energy specializing in borehole image log interpretation. His current responsibilities include structural and stratigraphic interpretations for integration with geological, geomechanical and completion models across all of Devon’s U.S. onshore basins. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geology from Kansas State University and has a combined 24 years of industry experience with previous employers including Halliburton, Fronterra Geosciences and SandRidge Energy.

Speaker Bio

Kourtney Brinkley is currently functioning as a reservoir engineer at Devon Energy. Prior to her current subsurface responsibilities, she has served in a variety of roles across the company including senior geologist and multiple operational roles as a drilling and completions engineer. Within Devon, she has worked several assets including the STACK, Eagle Ford, Powder River and Delaware Basin. Brinkley received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Oklahoma. She also currently serves as a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering and Energy at OU.

Speaker Bio

Ken Pfau is vice president of geosciences at Devon Energy and has 40 years of working in integrated teams doing exploration, development and acquisitions on both conventional and unconventional reservoirs worldwide. His experience is grounded in working exploration and exploitation projects using rocks, pores, fluids and diagnostics as the fundamental foundation in synergistic multidiscipline teams. He has developed various technology at the wellsite and in the lab to get more robust rock-based answers for decisions. Since 1999, he has been working unconventional plays as an early mover generator and developing full lifecycle workflows to expose the full potential of each opportunity. In addition to working plays, he has serves as a hands-on mentor in the field, lab and office helping to pay forward the excellent training he received from his mentors. He is a native of New Orleans and received his bachelor’s degree in professional geology from LSU. A Certified Petroleum Geologist in Wyoming, Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, he currently resides in Arcadia, Oklahoma, with his wife Laila.

Speaker Bio

Mark Edwards is a senior advising geologist at Devon Energy Corp., with 40 years of experience in the petroleum industry. He has spent most of his career working with integrated teams focused on exploration and development in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs managing and mentoring integrated staff and overseeing large scale drilling programs. He has foundational strengths in reservoir characterization and mapping, sequence stratigraphy, log and seismic interpretation and geologic wellsite operations, with multi-basin exposure stemming from his experience in many of the key unconventional plays. Born and raised in northeast Ohio, he studied geology at The College of Wooster and the University of Cincinnati. He currently resides in Arcadia, Oklahoma, with his wife Traci.

Synopsis: The ongoing Russia-Ukrainian war and worldwide inflation have brought new clarity to the energy mix discussion as Europeans face energy shortages and economists project a deep recession. The tide is turning on the public debate surrounding oil and gas, providing an opportunity to reframe the conversation on sustainability and responsible energy stewardship. How can North American energy companies demonstrate their supremacy in clean, responsible production? What does our energy future realistically look like in terms of diversity of sourcing? How can we insist on greater honesty and transparency in assessing the benefits and detriments of all forms of energy? Is the energy transition more of an energy addition? These issues affecting our industry will be discussed in our special Q&A with industry leader Rick Muncrief.

Speaker Bio: 

Richard E. Muncrief was appointed to the board of directors and elected president and chief executive officer of the company in January 2021 following Devon’s merger with WPX Energy. Muncrief previously served as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of WPX Energy. He became a member of WPX Energy’s board of directors in 2014.

Prior to joining WPX, he served as senior vice president, operations and resource development of Continental Resources, Inc. Muncrief was earlier employed from August 2008 through May 2009 by Resource Production Co., where he served as corporate business manager. From September 2007 to August 2008 he served as president, chief operating officer and as a director of Quest Midstream Partners, LP. From 1980 to 2007, he served in various managerial capacities with ConocoPhillips and its predecessor companies, Burlington Resources, Meridian Oil and El Paso Exploration.

Muncrief holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering technology from Oklahoma State University, where he has also been recognized as a distinguished alumnus and is a member of the College of Engineering, Architecture & Technology Hall of Fame. He is currently on the board of directors of Williams Companies and serves on the Compensation and Management Committee and the Environmental, Health and Safety Committee.

Muncrief also serves on the board of directors and the Executive Committee of the American Petroleum Institute. He is a past chairman and currently serves on the board of directors and the Executive Committee of the American Exploration & Production Council. In addition, Muncrief serves on the national advisory board of the Gilcrease Museum.

Jacki Deason hosts The Jacki Daily Show — a weekly show and podcast airing on BlazeMedia, on the dial in Texas and podcast on iHeartRadio, iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Previously, Deason worked for an engineering firm specializing in energy production, national security and environmental cleanup. She served as legal counsel on Capitol Hill to the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and the former ranking member of the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, advising on the oversight of federal agencies. Prior to her career in Washington, D.C., she worked as a corporate litigator and as an assistant vice president for a national bank.

She studied economics, Spanish and world history at Marshall University (U.S. Society of Yeager Scholars), Oxford University in the U.K. and the University of Zaragoza in Spain. She received her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she served as the president of the law school’s Federalist Society chapter.

Deason has an extensive network from which the show draws its guests, including industry leaders representing all parts of the energy sector, government officials, journalists and political insiders.

Originally from the Ohio River Valley where the shale runs deep, she descends from a long line of energy workers, including roughnecks, railroaders, coal miners and nuclear energy specialists.

Synopsis: How today compares to yesterday and what it may mean for tomorrow.

Speaker Bio

Chad Michael serves as president of TPH&Co. He joined TPH at its inception and was previously a vice president with J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in its energy investment banking group. Throughout his career, he has played a key role in a numerous transactions across the energy value chain.Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rice University.

Synopsis: The war in Ukraine has identified issues with energy security, with 40% of some European country’s energy coming from Russian natural gas. And with natural gas considered a sustainable energy source in the UK, infrastructure is being built to provide an alternative to Russian gas in the form of LNG. Both presidents Biden and Trudeau have assured European leaders of increases in LNG from both countries, further fueling the buildout of domestic liquefaction. About 12% of U.S. natural gas production is exported at LNG with Asia originally being the growth engine for demand but that demand has gone truly global. The price disparity between U.S. natural gas prices and those in the rest of the world assures a strong pricing market for the U.S., even as Qatar, Mexico, Mozambique and other countries are ramping up capacity as well. It is a dynamic market for the foreseeable future, offering a range of opportunities in the industry.

Speaker Bio

Domenic J. "Nick" Dell'Osso Jr. was appointed president and chief executive officer in October 2021. He previously served as executive vice president and chief financial officer since November 2010. Prior to that time, he served as vice president – finance and chief financial officer of Chesapeake's wholly owned midstream subsidiary Chesapeake Midstream Development, L.P. from August 2008 to November 2010.

Before joining Chesapeake, Dell'Osso was an energy investment banker with Jefferies & Co. from 2006 to 2008 and Banc of America Securities from 2004 to 2006.

He graduated from Boston College in 1998 and earned his MBA ​from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003.

Speaker Bio

Paul Varello has been involved in the engineering and construction industry for more than 50 years. He is executive chairman of Commonwealth LNG, which he founded in 2014.

Prior to his role with Commonwealth, he was president and CEO of Sterling Construction Company, founder and executive chairman of Commonwealth Engineering & Construction, chairman and CEO of American Ref-Fuel Company and president of the process sector of Fluor Corporation.

He has served as monitor trustee for the United States Federal Trade Commission, where he was responsible for monitoring the LNG storage tank business of CB&I. He also has served on several public company boards including Sims Metal Management, The Ryland Group and Sterling Construction Company.

Varello is a Registered Professional Engineer in Louisiana, Texas and California. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Villanova University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.

Speaker Bio

Jim Wicklund is a veteran of the energy industry and is doing strategic planning and shareholder and investment banking consulting, as well as writing a weekly commentary, primarily about the broad world of energy.

Earlier this year, he resigned as managing director and senior banker in the energy group at Stephens Inc., following decades as a research analyst and investor, which followed a career in geophysics, engineering and operations in the global oil and gas industry.

He has lived and worked in Australia, Singapore, Milan, London several times as well in the U.S., with Western Geophysical, Sun Oil and ECL before joining the financial services industry as a research analyst covering the Oilfield Services sector. He has won Best on the Street honors from the Wall Street Journal, 1^st team in the II ranking a couple of times and won the Greenwich Industry Knowledge recognition.

He is a member and past symposium chair of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, on the board of the National Offshore Industry Association, the Technology Workforce and Technology Council (formerly PESA) and the Maguire Institute Advisory Board at SMU, his alma mater.

Speaker Bio

Governor Kevin Stitt is leading Oklahoma with a vision to become Top Ten in job growth, infrastructure, education and more.

He is an entrepreneur who founded Gateway in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2000. Starting with only $1,000 and a computer, he grew Gateway into a nationwide mortgage company operating in more than 40 states and servicing more than $20 billion in residential mortgages. In 2018, he led Gateway through a merger and established Gateway First Bank, which today is one of Oklahoma’s 10 largest banks by assets with over $2 billion in assets, 160 mortgage centers across the U.S., and more than 1,700 employees.

Oklahomans spoke in record numbers that they wanted Stitt to use his business acumen to transform the state. In 2018, he received more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history in his first bid for elected office of any kind.

Gov. Stitt has taken a groundbreaking approach to his administration by appointing the most female cabinet secretaries in state history and tapping expert advisors from the private sector, including the first chief operating officer in state history.

He is committed to delivering taxpayers more for their money, and his fiscally conservative leadership helped the state build its largest savings account in history, which proved to be prophetic in the face of an oil and gas downturn.

Stitt is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Sarah, have been married for 23 years and they have six children.

Speaker Bio

Mark Gordon grew up on the family ranch in Wyoming where he learned the values of hard work and integrity and the importance of working together. As governor, he brings those values to the table, maintaining his commitment to a Wyoming where its citizens can pursue their dreams while the state retains its unique character. He is a strong believer that Wyoming must chart its own course and a steadfast defender of its interests to do so.

As a conservative, Gov. Gordon has worked tirelessly to set Wyoming on a sustainable fiscal path. He is committed to making government more transparent, accessible, productive and efficient. He believes government is best when it is closest to the people and is committed to giving local communities the tools they need to thrive. He is a staunch advocate of quality education for all children from bottom to top, K-12 through all forms of post-secondary education, private and public.

Gov. Gordon served as Wyoming state treasurer from October 2012 until January 2019 when he was sworn in as governor. He was ranked 57th among the Sovereign Wealth Fund institute’s “most significant and impactful public investor executives” in 2013. During his time in office, he transformed and modernized the management of the state’s financial portfolio, leading in 2016 to Wyoming earning the No. 1 ranking in the United States and No. 3 in the world among all sovereign funds by the Peterson Institute.

Elected Governor in 2018, he has successfully led Wyoming through two of its most significant challenges in decades: the COVID-19 crisis and the most significant decline in mineral revenue in the state’s history. He has spearheaded efforts to diversify all sectors of Wyoming’s economy, including technology, finance, agriculture, energy, including carbon capture and sequestration, research, education and tourism. He is dedicated to continuing to make the state a darn good place to raise kids.

Gov. Gordon and his wife Jennie have four grown children — Anne; Aaron with wife Megan; Bea with husband Austen and son Crawford; and Spencer with wife Sarah, their son Everett, and twin daughters Violet and Eloise.

Speaker Bio

Carl Campbell, CPL is a native of Oklahoma City and an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma, Campbell began his professional career in 1983 as a landman for the newly formed PetroCorp Inc. and went on to become division landman and division land manager.

Prior to co-founding Alamo Resources in July 2004, Campbell formed Concorde Resources LLC in early 2000, successfully pursuing exploration and development opportunities in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent regions. Over the course of his career, he has been directly involved in producing property acquisitions and divestitures totaling in excess of $750 million.

Campbell was elected to the Houston Association of Professional Landmen board of directors in 2004 and is a past president of the organization. He currently serves as president of AAPL and previously has served as first and second vice president and chairman of its Industry and Public Relations Committee as well as chairman of the NAPE Operators Committee and the NAPE Advisory Board.

Campbell currently serves as an advisory board member for the Robert M. Zinke Energy Management Program within the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma. In addition, he is a past vice chairman and a member of the board of directors for Angel Flight South Central.