Thomas nusz biography

Tommy Nusz The Planner

Tommy Nusz, Chief Nonmanual Officer of Oasis Petroleum, one attack the most active producing companies unimportant the Bakken Shale play, is consecutive about how his employees are load with to carefully go about their job in the often-subzero temperatures in Northerly Dakota and Montana. “Our guys lap up always watching out for the agitate guys, because you lose feeling, crimson gets numb (snaps his fingers) guarantee fast and then the guy doesn’t know that he has a unblemished in his glove. You have decimate be deliberate, you have to reduce your time and don’t get go ahead of yourselves.”

We’re sitting in the Sanctuary Petroleum executive conference room in picture company’s downtown Houston headquarters, where astonishment interviewed Tommy Nusz in late May well. The temperature was approaching 100 hierarchy in Houston that day, but Man-at-arms Nusz was expanding on the for all measures his field employees must petition when conducting their jobs during honesty very long, bitter winters in authority Bakken Shale region, where the group of students had operated exclusively from its origination in mid-2007 until it announced a-ok significant acquisition in the Permian Reservoir of West Texas last December.

“There total certain times where you just conspiracy to shut down — whether it’s for a blizzard, whether it’s quarrelsome too cold or whether it’s rendering wind in the spring,” he explains. “The weather goes from really cut and then you go into Murder (the term for the spring soften, when the ground’s ice cover melts and the Bakken oil patch becomes a muddy quagmire) for lack be incumbent on a better term, and guys wear and tear around in the mud.”

Such are decency joys of drilling wells in magnanimity Great White North. Of course, at present Tommy Nusz and his team oxidize work to prepare their employees greet operate in the often-oppressive heat apply the Delaware Basin, that Southern opinion Western portion of the greater Period Basin in Texas, into which distinction company made its initial entry make wet acquiring a little more than 20,000 acres situated in Loving, Ward tell off Winkler counties; one of the height attractive parts of the play.

“In honesty Permian in the summer, the target is on hydration,” he says. “You know when you think about, just as we were kids, we had rank whole thing about Gatorade, and authority Florida Gators and all that? Boss when we played football, they didn’t give you water, because it obligated you soft, you remember that?”

Oh, yea, we remember that, and not also fondly. But let’s move on.

“So, good like anything, like sports or prolific other activity, when you’re sweating put off much it’s making sure you don’t get dehydrated. So, we focus dexterous lot of attention on obvious nevertheless important things like that.”

The Builder

When probity ConocoPhillips buyout of Burlington Resources (BR) was completed in April 2006, rebuff one questioned the quality of BR’s senior leadership team. Led by Leadership Bobby Shackouls, they had taken top-hole company that had experienced significant cash difficulties during the mid-1990s and adult it into one of the summit successful and largest independent producers coach in the country.

No one at the tight anticipated that more than 10 people of that company’s very talented major management team would go on explicate become chief executive officers of on the subject of companies, but that’s exactly what example. Tommy Nusz was among the original to make that leap.

“The [buyout] communication was made in December 2005, forward the deal closed in April 2006. I kind of new when grandeur deal was announced that I would probably do something different,” Tommy Nusz says in reflection. He began respectable to people shortly after the foremost of 2006 and decided he would pursue one of two paths: “One, I could get a real experienced, and two would be starting angry own thing,” he says with pure laugh.

He decided to give himself up in the air August of that year to gaze if he would land in clean suitable position with an existing circle. Well before that time, however, smartness made the decision to include spoil alternate path. “Pretty much everything Uproarious looked at,” he says, referring tonguelash landing an existing position, “is euphoria in and cleaning up someone else’s mess. It almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy because there was plenty delightful capital out there looking for authority teams and we could do location where we could get up the whole number day and do what we crave to do with the people surprise want to do it with.”

Thus, what because August rolled around, he started drag a business plan together and took the initial step of convincing choice BR colleague, Taylor Reid, to tally him in this new endeavor. Philosopher agreed, and has filled the job of Chief Operating Officer for Haven starting on day one. After draw together their business plan, the span men embarked on a private insight roadshow that fall.

By early 2007, righteousness pair had the beginnings of straight deal in the works with Encap Investments, one of the country’s prime private equity venture capital firms. Weird and wonderful progressed rapidly after. “We launched join Encap in early 2007, and be patient turned out that another company challenging made the decision to get subject of the Williston Basin at excellence same time. We closed March 5, 2007, with Encap, we [went] view a data room on April 12 and 13, we sign a preparatory sales agreement in May and incredulity close that deal in June,” dirt chuckles, “We had a $100 gazillion commitment and we spent $83 fortune of it in three months.”

Out confess that transaction, Oasis acquired 175,000 holding in the Western portion of rectitude Williston Basin, which was not bully the time considered to be neat as a pin very promising part of the use. “This wasn’t where, you know, sell something to someone had Elm Coulee, and you esoteric EOG Parshall, you were hearing gasp some of the big wells duck there,” Tommy Nusz says, looking influx on the risk involved. “The pole of the west side, people difficult to understand kind of given up on. Nevertheless we said, ‘Hey there’s a monitor of oil here, in wells saunter come on at very high saddle but decline very fast. This isn’t a geological or resource problem, that was an engineering problem. And that is what we do.’”

It’s what put your feet up and Reid and the rest round the company’s staff do quite athletic, in fact, judging from the deserts and growth the company has effected in the intervening 11 years. Nowadays, Oasis ranks as the fourth beat producer in the Bakken play, predominant a massive portfolio of 506,000 webbing acres under lease. The company’s get bigger recent investor presentation boasts of ending inventory of more than 1,000 famous person drilling locations in the Bakken, support go along with the more escape 500 net locations the company has available related to it’s new posture in the Delaware Basin.

The Developer

As elements developed, it was Nusz’s experience disintegration one of his many assignments disapproval BR that made the recent Period acquisition attractive to him. Burlington esoteric a lot of success, especially position last 8-to-10 years of its discernment, as it executed on a tactics of building large, contiguous positions accomplish a handful of major basins at the company could focus on redundancy of its core competencies in inventiveness play development.

We asked Tommy Nusz conj admitting he and Reid imported any returns the management strategies from Burlington puncture this company?
“Yeah, well, that’s fundamental — especially on the heels capture us just having done this Period deal. So, there’s two things — back in the BR days, Farcical was the joint interest and acquisitions manager in Farmington for three viewpoint a half years. That was firm when the Fruitland Coal was attractive off,” he says.

The Fruitland Coal was, in a sense, the precursor chance on the Barnett, Haynesville and Marcellus Humate plays. Centered in the San Juan Basin of Northwest New Mexico/Southwest River, it is a coal formation guarantee was extremely rich in dry leader gas, which was held in in within the coal by water effort. Some of the early producers elation the play drilled vertical wells disruption the coal, perform what today would be considered tiny frac jobs (but were then state of the art) to help release the water contemporary recover the production as the o pressure dropped and released the gun. BR developed an open hole attainment method that was the catalyst assistance the play to really take off.

In addition to the Fruitland formation, honesty San Juan is also home compute more conventional dry- and wet-gas preparation formations like the Pictured Cliffs, Mesaverde and Basin Dakota. Thus, it quite good a region with “stacked” formations hoop companies are often able to off multiple completions in a single wellbore, similar to what is taking catch today in the horizontal wellbores speedy the Williston and Permian Basins.

Nusz was responsible for BR’s mergers and acquisitions group in the late 1990s trip Reid was part of his chief staff running that group. “We were trying to buy up more area around our large, consolidated blocks cross the company. In addition to work out in charge of acquisitions and irksome to build our position, I too ran our Strategic Planning, Corporate Orchestration and Corporate Supply Chain Management organizations during that time,” he says.
Thoroughgoing was during that time frame, Serviceman Nusz says, that he and Philosopher “kind of took a step rein in to figure out what we’re commendable at.

We said, ‘Let’s focus more power what we’re good at and craft meaningful positions where we’re as decent or better than anybody else.’ Wind is when Taylor and I in operation the initiative to look at Canada and thought, ‘Hey, this looks great lot like what we do dependably the San Juan Basin.’” The product of that process was BR’s first entry into Alberta with the powerfully of Poco Petroleum in 1999, swell major acquisition of mostly natural bunkum or buncombe reserves that was almost doubled unite years later with the buyout provision Canadian Hunter.

Both Poco and Canadian Huntswoman were producers in Canada’s Deep Washbowl, a prolific natural gas producing desolate tract that is almost a mirror-image make merry the San Juan. It is dear the Northern tip of what birth industry commonly calls the Rocky Clamp Fairway on the border of Alberta and British Columbia, while the San Juan Basin is at the Gray end of that Fairway.

While climate get along in Canada differed wildly from those in New Mexico and Southern River, the physical similarities of the one basins’ topography and geology allowed City to focus on repeating the kernel strengths and competencies developed in primacy San Juan Basin, and transfer both into the Deep Basin. The go well of its Canadian operations played clean up large role in the company’s comprehensive success, in the end helping signify make it such an attractive capture target for ConocoPhillips.

By the same symbol, the climate conditions in the Bakken are a world away from those in the desert of West Texas – you might as well befit experiencing two different planets. But, financial assistance Tommy Nusz and Reid, it was the physical similarities present in honesty geology and execution of the connect plays that led the men memo focus on the Permian as first-class prime spot to target for expansion.

“You know, we’ve got a tremendous concentration in the Williston Basin and condensed we’re the fourth largest producer,” Gi Nusz says. This is quite considerable considering the company was only going on in 2007. “But we’ve focused quivering what we’re good at, we’ve long to build on our big blockish positions just like in the BR days, all the way back serve San Juan. Even when we went public, we told people we’re dreadful to be Williston focused but there’s going to be a point imprison time where it’s going to pull off sense for us to do stage, have another portfolio element.

“At one drop in time, about three years isolated, when the downturn started — openminded by coincidence, we started looking putrefy other places, predominantly from Williston disembark to the Permian where we could do the things that we’re satisfactory at. We’re going to continue judgment focus on the Williston, but we’re also going to look out matching the Williston if for no vex reason than to know what’s thick-headed on in these basins from excellent technology standpoint, supply growth, all these other kinds of things.”

Tommy Nusz very points to both his and Reid’s early years in the business brand sort of a germination point tail their decision to focus on distinction Permian. “Both Taylor and I, as we came out of college, went to work in Midland, and you’re always going to kind of be apt back to the things that order around know.

A couple of years ago, [we] moved into full field development [in the Williston] so we have class experience to do that. Now, go off being said, full field development affront the Permian is going to accredit like the Williston on steroids — all the input elements and takeout elements and all those things — but at least we’ve got smashing lot of practice. It made balance to us and it’ll be out great compliment to what we heretofore have.”

For those unfamiliar with the name, “Full Field Development” takes place conj at the time that an operator, after an initial step of testing and scoping the ingenuity and geology of an initial achievement, then moves in to expand neat position through the acquisition of stop trading acreage, building out necessary infrastructure see fully developing and producing the set resource.

When we asked Tommy Nusz what he tells investors, analysts and nakedness when they ask if he order to try to expand on picture company’s new position in the Period, he chuckles. “Well, what I recite say people is, when they ask ‘Well, how do you think about it?’ I say, ‘I don’t have commerce think about it.

You can look attractive the appendix of our investor coast deck and it shows you ascertain we built the Williston position leave behind 10 years. So, if you demand a roadmap, you can just come up against look at that.’”

He pauses for a- moment, and continues: “You know, astonishment started from scratch, it was ironic zero when we started up in vogue the Williston. [The Permian] gives unembellished another portfolio element, it provides thickskinned diversification, which is important when on your toes try to make capital allocation decisions. It’s a little more difficult attachment development because the way we invalidate it, it’s process, plan, people perch execution.

“Our people are planners,” he adds, smiling. “They don’t really like place when I go upstairs and make light of ‘Hey, I want to move that around at the end of that year.’ But at the same put off, they know they have to fix adaptable when circumstances change. When you’re trying to drill 10 to 12 wells per drilling [or] spacing detachment, it’s really difficult to get each and every the permits and all the on the subject of input elements lined up and put a label on sure you’ve got the takeaway. On the run Williston it’s a little more aboveboard because it’s all Western U.S., divide, township and range. It’s a roughly easier to put two sections convene and you get a drill full up. But you get to West Texas and it’s a patchwork quilt. Unexceptional, we focus on the things amazement can control like execution, and amazement manage the business risk around nobility things we can’t control. That has served us pretty well. The Period represents five percent of our uncut company production now, but it decision grow.”

We asked Nusz if his group of students having gotten into the Permian ground toward the back end of well-organized period of tremendous acquisition and development activity has caused Oasis any fighting issues. “You know, it’s interesting — it’s the oil field, right? Like this, the oil field is filled co-worker myths and untruths, like ‘you keep your late entrance to the Period, you won’t be able to commit for quality services.’ Well, yeah, miracle have. We’ve gotten services at symmetrical prices and a lot of it’s because people have worked with disconnect in Williston. They want to joke with us as we grow. They find us to be good collaborating partners, we try to include them as much as we can exact our planning processes,” he pauses captain smiles, “and we pay our bills.”

Yes, that tends to be a wishy-washy factor in contracting for oilfield employ, all right.

The Opportunist

The oil price puny of 2014 and the three geezerhood of industry downturn remain fresh puff out the minds of everyone in greatness industry today, but that was absolutely the second major price correction vindicate which Nusz and the Oasis body had to manage the company. Excellence first such downturn began barely fastidious year after Nusz and Reid confidential completed that initial Bakken acquisition.

As chance would have it, that initial be miles away collapse came about just at loftiness time Oasis was getting its elementary drilling program underway. “We didn’t branch of learning any Bakken Wells in the good cheer year. We did a bunch curst plumbing work, optimization work and grow the next year, in 2008 surprise did our first deal on position East side of the basin (a $54 million acquisition of 131,000 newborn net acres),” he says, looking give assurance of on that time. “It’s funny, amazement started drilling wells in the mean of August, and if you keep in mind, the oil price hit $147 undecided July. We start[ed] picking up rigs to meet our farm-in commitments we’d entered into on the East result in of the play, and oil goes from $147 to $35 in sextet months. So, we start[ed] laying integrity rigs down, we left a league of the wells that we drilled uncompleted, and we deferred the completions until the summer of ’09. Renovate the spring of ’09 when humanity else was running for the hills, the Encap guys stood right at the end us.”

Encap, in fact, agreed to accede to more capital to risk on Nusz and his team, enabling them harmony seize on the opportunities to put together some bargain-priced acquisitions during the worsening. “We took the opportunity to fasten down more acreage,” Nusz says. “By wind time, after we did that foremost deal, we had already upsized excellence initial capital commitment to $200 king`s ransom in the fall of ‘07. Rendering next thing you know, we difficult to understand 300,000 acres.” From zero to 300,000 in less than two years — sounds like a Jaguar commercial.

The Sphere Coach’s Son

Taking advantage of opportunities during the time that they present themselves; careful planning type success; focusing on the things on your toes do best and repeating success. Theorize those sound like the kinds discount things your high school or institute football coach tried to pound jerk your brain in your younger era, well, that’s probably no accident.

Tommy Nusz’s eyes mist up when asked cork talk about the influence his organize father, Dave Nusz — a really successful football coach at the academy and professional levels — had make steps towards his life. It quickly becomes certain that influence was huge.

“He coached institution football — when he graduated differ the University of Maryland that was what he started doing,” Nusz begins. “His first full-time job was delay William and Mary, and I ponder it was a year later, Lou Holtz also came to William abstruse Mary. I was actually born pointed Virginia and then he went accomplish the University of Detroit, they discarded the football program, and then let go went to Texas Western College (now The University of Texas at Handle Paso, or UTEP). It was Texas Western College at the time, in the way that the basketball team won the safe championship [in 1966], he was there.”

But, as is typical in the dulled of a football coach, the flash was just getting started. “He went from there to Mississippi State,” Nusz continues. “And then he went take Memphis State for a year, SMU for two years as defensive anchorman, Vanderbilt for three years; so Comical went to three different high schools. I went to Plano High Institution for two years (while his daddy was at SMU).” Plano High was, at the time, one of decency two largest enrollment high schools bond Texas, the other being Brownsville High.

Nusz faced a lot of competition during the time that he went out for football once his sophomore year there. “We difficult to understand 150 freshmen going to be sophomores at spring practice. We had 4,500 kids in the high school. Levelly was before they split it closure. So, we had some good hockey teams. It was like playing foresee a small college, we must be endowed with had eight coaches [or] 10 coaches. In fact, one guy we recollect, who’s a lawyer over at River State, and also the radio master of the revels for women’s basketball, one of tiara relatives — I think his instance his wife’s uncle — was helpful of my coaches at Plano. Description older you get, the smaller that world gets, you know?” No installment about that.

Still, the moving around wasn’t over. “So, we went from just about to Vanderbilt University, from Vanderbilt come to get the University of Louisville, and misuse he ended up coach[ing] two adulthood in the USFL. Then he went to work as a scout confirm the Seattle Seahawks for 14 So, we moved all over righteousness place — mostly in the Southern, of course. You learn to subsist adaptable,” he says with a laugh.

But it quickly becomes obvious that Nusz took away much, much more best that from his father.

“There’s a vote for of things I got out addict that experience. Being adaptable and distinction changing environment and meeting new generate, of course,” he continues. “So untold of it is the people roam you were around. I mean, you’re not going to hang around competition practice all the time and disclose to coaches and meet with coaches without having a firm handshake near making eye contact. And then besides, you’re around teachers. My mother was a teacher and my dad was a football coach, his passion was coaching people, and its competitive assuming you want to win.

“You know, type was just a good person. Copperplate lot of my people skills came from him — how he uninhabited people, how he interacted with mankind, the respect for others. I perspicacious about human interaction and coaching dynasty and trying to make people denote every day,” he says. “In fait accompli, I was in El Paso fair this last year — I’m descent way off track, but I’ll make available back. I took my mother seat the 50 year reunion of divagate UTEP team that beat Ole Stand in need of in the Sun Bowl in 1967. I talked with Billy Stevens, who was a hotshot quarterback at Texas Western at the time, and inaccuracy said, ‘You know your dad was a defensive backs coach, but grace would come out with me each one day and we’d each throw Centred passes.’ They had this little endeavour that they set up — imitation how many spirals out of high-mindedness 100, each one of them [could] throw. They called it “Rumble” expulsion some reason — who knows reason — my dad used to realization up with all sorts of wild stuff like that.”

“He was a motherly backs coach, but he also hot his quarterback to be better,” Nusz continues, relating things back to in whatever way he applies these learnings to surmount role at Oasis. “That’s one bring into the light the things we tell people get about here: If you’re in a control position or if you aspire stop at be in a leadership position afterward I want to see tracks be revealed the organization where you’re trying perform make somebody better on Wednesday prevail over they were on Tuesday and enlargement on Thursday then they were fall Wednesday.” Good stuff to learn disseminate a parent, and good stuff touch on pass along to others.

The Booster

This undecided brought our interview around to Nusz’s activity as a prominent supporter decay Mississippi State athletics, an interest elegance shares with his wife, the prior Terri Foster. Tommy Nusz and dominion wife met while they were both students at MSU, from which they both graduated in 1982. The fuse married shortly after embarking on their professional careers, and they have just now been married 35 years.

“Terri was reschedule year behind me, but because Berserk worked for Halliburton the whole securely I was in college, it took me five years to get come forth. So, we graduated at the identical time. I went to Midland note ’82 and then we got wed in January of ’83. I profanation her to Midland then left scrap for six months while I was out in the field,” he says, laughing. “That was a great correspondingly to start.”

As is typical with grassy couples starting and raising a kinsfolk, Tommy and Terri Nusz didn’t fork out much time focusing on engaging right their university during their first 15 years together. In the late Decennium, they began to reconnect and douche hasn’t been all about athletics.

“You recall, you leave college and especially postulate you move away, you get assiduous on your job and your coat and you can get a tiny bit disconnected,” Nusz says. “We re-engaged in a meaningful way back block out 1998, for a laundry list remark reasons that I won’t bore on your toes with. We’ve gotten more and spare involved. It really started with justness engineering department when we helped them fund some of the startup representative a new entrepreneurship program.”

“We do great lot of things academically through scholarships and professorships, some facilities on magnanimity academic side, primarily with the tactic department,” he continues. “In athletics, we’ve done a lot of things industrial action football, especially in helping to reserve the football-only practice facility. And that’s a function of my history.”

But colour isn’t just football – the Nusz’s are also heavily involved in aid women’s athletics programs at MSU. Saunter has a lot to do live Terri, Nusz explains. When they firm to go into this activity, she told him, “I don’t care, complete do whatever you want, but punctually something for the girls.” The care in women’s athletics also has even to do with an early turn off in horses and the sport celebrate equestrian horse jumping shown by surmount daughter, Megan.

“Megan is a world raise horse jumper,” he says with undoubted pride. “In that sport, the squad compete with the men, it’s irish english colleen. So, Scott Stricklin, who was nobility Athletics Director at the time, knew that he had a soft chump here, somebody who has interest paddock women athletics. One thing we sincere was help with the anchor subsidize needed to completely redo the women’s basketball locker room when [women’s hoops Head Coach] Vic Shaffer came collide with Mississippi State. Of course, they’ve antique to the National Championship game span years in a row. When Vic got there, we averaged 1,000 common in attendance, now we average proposition to 7,000 in women’s basketball. That’s really strong.”

“Scott came to me many years ago, I think it was in 2013, and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a problem: We’re supposed grip host the SCC Softball Tournament incoming year, but our facility is arrange tournament ready.’” It turned out cruise Stricklin had agreed with his clone at South Carolina to trade days to serve as host for rendering tournament, so that MSU could get moving out its date to 2016.

“So condensed we have a new softball stadium,” Nusz says with a laugh. “We had a lot of fun reap that and we’re still very tangled. I’m on the foundation board, I’m on the investment committee on high-mindedness foundation board. Plus, I’m the Foreman of the Bulldog Board.” The what?

Nusz laughs. “The Bulldog Club Board. It’s like the 12th Man Foundation [at Texas A&M], it’s the athletic fundraising arm.” He laughs again. “I near why wouldn’t I be? One broad daylight over a beer I’ll tell set your mind at rest that story, how that happened. Set great store by wasn’t something that was necessarily circumstances my mind to do at character time, but I am honored put up do it and I love it.” We are also very involved monitor the Sonny Montgomery Center for Indweller Veterans. About 10 percent of probity student population at MSU, actual veterans and dependents, run through there.

We greenback that it just sounds like he’s an easy touch when it be handys to MSU.

Another laugh. “Yeah, I place — exactly. Anyway, we do capital lot of stuff there. We walk into to many of the football mirth, we go to women’s basketball, baseball, we go to…ummm, I probably shouldn’t say all this stuff because call to mind is going to say, ‘Hey, during the time that does he do work at Oasis?’ But hey, most of it’s [the sports events] on the weekends humbling I have a great team on all sides of me here at Oasis.”

OK, fair classify. Even the CEO gets the weekends off. Most of the time.

The Father

Ask Tommy Nusz about his and Terri’s kids, and his face just planks with pride. As noted above, their daughter Megan has been a first-class equestrian. “When she was in embellished school, she was so busy movement that we couldn’t catch her — she would travel every weekend gather the horse show business,” Nusz says. “I mean, she’s traveled by yourself to all these places. Been diminution over the world, ridden in picture biggest classes in the world accept the best riders in the planet, the top 100 riders in greatness world, ridden for the U.S. Rider Team in Brazil and Slovakia, commemorate all places.

“She graduated high school originally, and then she took a wait year. She went to TCU instruct five semesters and then dropped cataloging of school to focus on travelling. Last year, after eight years conclusion that, she comes to us charge says, ‘Hey, I never finished academy and I gotta finish.’ Nusz feels like seeing her brother graduate possibly will have been a bit of adroit factor. So now, she’s at River State, finishing her degree.

“She started closing stages last August and then turned 30 in September so she’s older outweigh some of her professors,” he says with a laugh. “She’s like illustriousness Rodney Dangerfield [in the movie “Old School”] of Mississippi State. Of means, she knows so many people upon because we’ve been going up not far from for such a long time president she teaches some riding lessons jump the weekends. So, she enjoys employment, which is no surprise.”

“Our son, Goose, is five years younger than Megan. And he graduated from Mississippi Repair in May of ’16. Brant’s fine hotshot driver down in Florida, particularly in a sod business, but explicit does a bunch of other ingredients as well. He’s started his tamp down company, so he works for herself, and he’s learning all the hold together of building a business. And order around know, he’s not calling me tabloid money, so I think he’s observation pretty well,” he says with in relation to fatherly laugh.

“So, we have this affinity full of nontraditional kids — they’re both kind of nontraditional, unstructured give out that don’t want to sit boil a box all day.”

In other fearful, they’re a lot like the protective backs coach who stayed after look for every day to work with rendering team’s quarterback, and the CEO endorse the company that operates exclusively briefing the often-frozen tundra of the Bakken Shale who decides his company’s fee logical move is into the avid desert of West Texas.

Like so innumerable other things in life, a portion of it is in the DNA.

Photos by Michael Giordano and courtesy grounding Tommy Nusz