Speaker: Richard Stoneburner, Managing Director of Pine Brook Partners
Since around 2006 the exploration, appraisal and development of shale reservoirs in the Lower 48 has seen a dramatic escalation, first starting with the gas productive shale reservoirs then followed by those that are liquid productive. The result has been a total renaissance for the domestic E & P industry.
Each of the plays, which total approximately fourteen that have seen substantial development, underwent an evolutionary cycle that was driven by the roles of the various functions that contribute to the success of any given play: land, geologic, drilling, completion and production. As each play progresses through the evolutionary cycle, the role of each function changes accordingly.
Even though all of the plays have certain common characteristics, I will attempt to point out something uniquely different about each of the fourteen plays that might aid in a better understanding of plays yet to be discovered.
Stoneburner is currently a Managing Director for Pine Brook
Partners, a private equity firm focusing on investments in the energy
sector.
Stoneburner has over 35 years’ experience in upstream oil and
gas exploration and production. He is a former co-founder, President
and Chief Operating Officer of Petrohawk Energy Corporation and
President – North America Shale Production Division for BHP Billiton
Petroleum from. Prior to co-founding Petrohawk in 2003, Stoneburner
was Vice President Exploration for 3TEC Energy Corporation and
worked for several E&P companies, including Hugoton Energy
Corporation, Stoneburner Exploration Inc., Weber Energy and Texas
Oil & Gas.
Richard has a Bachelor of Geological Sciences from the University of
Texas at Austin, a Master’s of Geology from Wichita State University,
was a member of the AAPG’s Distinguished Lecturer Series and was
awarded the Norman Foster Outstanding Explorer of the Year award
by the AAPG in 2016. Stoneburner also serves on the Advisory Council
of The Jackson School of Geosciences, the Visiting Committee of
the Bureau of Economic Geology and on the board of Memorial
Assistance Ministries.
The AAPG Foundation’s Teacher of the Year Award will be presented during the All-Convention Luncheon. The annual Teacher of the Year award of $6,000 is given to a K-12 teacher for excellence in the teaching of natural resources in the earth sciences. The award includes $3,000 to the recipient’s school and $3,000 for the recipient’s personal use. In addition, the recipient receives an expense-paid trip to the Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE) to receive the award. Nominations for the award are submitted by the AAPG sections and the winner is chosen by AAPG Foundation’s Teacher of the Year Judges. Each section winner receives a $500 cash award.