The Permian: A Decade
of Lessons Learned

Andrew Pepper is a Petroleum Systems Analyst with 37 years of experience in a wide range of technical and leadership positions at BP, Hess, and BHP Billiton, where he held the VP Geoscience position. In 2015 he founded This is Petroleum Systems LLC “TIPS”, conducting studies, training, research, and tool development. Andy and co-workers have studied the Permian basin since 2012, with projects ranging from regional-scale basin reconstruction and fluid prediction to pore-scale petroleum storage, saturation, relative permeability, and water cuts in Shale reservoirs.

Raoul LeBlanc is Vice President for North American Unconventionals at HIS Markit. He has been with IHS Markit for 5 years and focuses on evaluating the dynamic onshore arena.

Raoul’s passion lies in the intersection of oil and gas expertise and leading-edge data analytics. He currently leads the development and commercialization of data products that leverage knowledge to make IHS Markit’s well and production database insightful for commercial decision-makers.

At the same time, Raoul plays a key role in directing research and forecasting of onshore North America and then delivering an integrated, substantive story to executives and investors.

As a veteran of the industry and a former partner at PFC Energy, Raoul brings 25 years of experience in strategic and industry analysis. Familiar with a wide range of corporate and market issues, he has extensive experience on issues related to North American independents, upstream assets, and natural gas markets. From 1997–2006, Raoul worked at Anadarko Petroleum. During his tenure there, he directed the company's Strategic Planning effort, which assumed responsibility for strategy formulation, portfolio optimization, scenario planning, and competitor analysis.

Raoul has worked and studied in Japan, the Western Pacific, and Britain. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Energy and International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Thomas Ewing is a geoscientist with more than 37 years of experience in hydrocarbon exploration and research. He is a Registered Professional Geoscientist in the State of Texas (#1320) and the State of Louisiana (#468), and an AAPG/DPA Certified Petroleum Geologist (#4538), and holds certification #1610 from SIPES.

He received a B.A. in Geology from the Colorado College (1975), an M.Sc. in Geochemistry from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (1977), and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of British Columbia (1981).

Dr. Ewing was a research geologist for four years at the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin, where he served as a co-author of the "Atlas of Texas Oil Reservoirs", and compiled the Tectonic Map of Texas. Since 1985 he has been an owner of Frontera Exploration Consultants, Inc., a San Antonio-based geoscience consulting company. He worked with Venus Oil and Venus Exploration from 1985 to 2005 as staff consultant and Senior Explorationist, playing a main role in its successful exploration in the Yegua Trend of the Gulf Coast Basin and elsewhere in Texas.

Dr. Ewing has served in many offices in AAPG and its Divisions, He served as Vice-President for Sections of AAPG (2012–14). He received Honorary Membership in the South Texas Geological Society in 2009, Honorary Membership in the GCAGS in 2010, AAPG Distinguished Service Award, and BEG Alumnus of the Year in 2011. Most recently he has completed service as President of the GCAGS (2016–2017). In 2018 he was awarded the "Don Boyd Medal for Excellence in Gulf Coast Geology" from the GCAGS (Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies), their highest award.

Tom has spoken extensively at local, regional, and national geological meetings and published more than 90 papers and abstracts. Among other awards, he has received the AAPG Levorsen Award three times, twice in Gulf Coast Section and once in Southwest Section. He has written articles on Gulf Coast geology and hydrocarbons, the geology and tectonics of Texas, and history and urban geology of the San Antonio area. He wrote the popular guidebook “Landscapes, Water and Man: Geology and Man in the San Antonio Area” published by the South Texas Geological Society in 2008. In 2016, Dr. Ewing completed "Texas Through Time," an illustrated book and website on the geologic history and earth resources of Texas published by the Bureau of Economic Geology.

In his spare time, he directs a 60-voice German men’s chorus, the San Antonio Liederkranz.

Bill Fairhurst manages the consulting practice, investment strategy, and opportunities for Riverford Exploration, LLC and directly participates in many of the technical and businesses activities. Riverford’s current exploration, drilling, and producing assets are in unconventional resource plays in the Delaware, Williston, and Merg Basins/Plays and conventional plays throughout onshore United States.

He also is Manager of Tight Oil Resource Assessment (TORA) at the Bureau of Economic Geology, where he oversees the development of 3-D geo-cellular/reservoir characterization, geo-statistical, and economic outlook models. This research is focused on unconventional resource plays in the Delaware and Midland Basins including continued research in the Bakken/Three Forks, Marcellus, Barnett, Haynesville-Bossier, Fayetteville and Eagle Ford/Austin Chalk.

Previously, Bill served as President/COO of Discovery Resources & Development, Vice President of Land & Exploration, and Chief Geologist for several Independent E&P companies after fifteen years in technical and managerial roles with Marathon Oil.

Bill has been involved in the majority of U.S. resource plays prior to the resource revolution, is credited with economic discovery of the WolfBone play in the Delaware Basin researching and synthesizing geologic observations, focusing completions, and impacting completions design. Previously, he placed his company in Elm Coulee, Bakken, Field prior to its discovery, the largest onshore U.S. discovery in 56 years. He and his teams have also discovered dozens of new fields in traditional plays in the Williston, Rocky Mountains, Permian, mid-Continent, Gulf Coast Mesozoic basins, and offshore U.S., and Bill has worked and led exploration programs on six (6) continents.

Bill graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University majoring in Geology and Economics-Management; the University of Missouri-Columbia with Master in Geology; and from the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston with Master of Business Administration concentrating in Finance. He has provided expert legal testimony involving geology, engineering, and economic evaluation; provided and managed professional testimony before nine state Industrial Commissions; and published and spoken nationally and internationally in technical, business, and policy forums. Bill is a Certified Petroleum Geologist by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and a Licensed Professional Geologist in the state of Texas.

Coming Soon

Kory Holmes is a Technical Director for the Petroleum Services division of Core Laboratories in their Houston office. He graduated from the West Texas State University with a B.Sc. degree in geology in 1985 and began his career with C W Logging Services in Midland, Texas, as a wellsite geologist. He joined Core Laboratories in 1991, and has held a variety of laboratory, supervisor, and managerial positions, including Technical Manager for the Flow Studies Group.

In 2010, Kory began helping John Dacy, Core Laboratories’ primary instructor, present Core Analysis seminars on the technology and applications of Advanced Rock Properties. As a Technical Director, he provides remote and on-site support to Core Lab’s worldwide network of rock properties laboratories on issues of technology transfer, testing protocols, data applications, and quality assurance.

John Polasek is currently Vice President of Geoscience for Occidental Oil & Gas Corporation in Houston, Texas. His geoscience teams are responsible for North America exploration and CO2 sourcing, subsurface reservoir characterization and technical assurance, Permian and global appraisal for resource plays and asset exploitation, petrophysical engineering, rock fluid integration, and basin modeling. These teams focused on the evaluation, discovery, and optimization of extracting hydrocarbons on Oxy properties both domestically and internationally. He also has global functional responsibility through the Functional Chiefs, for mentorship, training and technology advances in geology, geophysics, petrophysics, and the data management standards associated with those disciplines.

He began his career with Amoco Production Company and continued his focus on the Permian with Wintershall O&G, Apache Corporation, and now Occidental. He has held numerous management and technical leadership positions throughout his career, which has focused on exploration and development in many diverse areas in addition to the Permian Basin including the Texas Gulf Coast, Northern Rockies, Oklahoma, the Western Desert of Egypt, UAE, and Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

John holds a Bachelor’s degree in geology from Syracuse University, and a Master’s degree in geoscience from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Stephanie Gaswirth has been a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Central Energy Resources Science Center in Denver, Colorado, since 2006, working on petroleum resource assessments as part of the National and Global Assessment Project. She has worked on resource assessments of the Williston and Anadarko basins, and was the task leader for the assessment of continuous oil resources of the Bakken and Three Forks Formations in 2013.

Stephanie is currently the task leader for the assessment of continuous resources in the Permian Basin. Stephanie has served as the Secretary for the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) Board of Directors and was a co-editor for the 2011 RMAG Guidebook: The Bakken Petroleum System—Past, Present, and Future. Prior to joining the USGS, she was employed with ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company in Houston, Texas. Stephanie received her B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College, M.Sc. from Rutgers University, and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Steve Jones is a Reservoir Engineering Advisor at Cimarex Energy Co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is focused on the reservoir aspects of appraising and optimizing unconventional resource plays, most recently in STACK.

He holds a B.Sc. degree from the University of Tulsa, and an M.Sc. degree from the University of Texas, both in petroleum engineering. He is a member of AAPG and SPE, and is a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma.

Stonnie Pollock is Senior Geologist, Fasken Oil & Ranch, Ltd. He received a B.Sc. in geology and Spanish from Southern Utah University in 1997, and an M.Sc. in geology from New Mexico State University in 1999.

He is a member of several organizations, including WTGS, SWS-AAPG, AAPG, PBS-SEPM, SPWLA. He has served these organizations in the following positions: WTGS Technical Chairman in 2007 and 2016; SWS-AAPG Co-Technical Chairman in 2009 and 2013; SWS-AAPG Vice President in 2012; WTGS President Elect in 2018; and various Board and committee positions for WTGS and PBS-SEPM from 1999–2018.

Mike Party is CEO/President of Beryl Oil and Gas, LP and a General Partner in Cardinal Resources, LLC, and has been working in the Oil and Gas industry for 39 years. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1978 with a B.S. degree in geology/geophysics and was awarded an Honorary Professional Degree in 1994.

He started his career with Cities Services working as a geophysicist, he then joined Wagner & Brown in 1981 serving as Exploration Manager for 9 years before joining Reliance Energy in November 2009. Mike served as Vice President of Exploration for Reliance Energy until Reliance Energy’s main assets were sold to Concho Resources in October 2016.

Mike is an active member of local, national, and international geological societies. Most notably, has served as the President of the Southwest Section of the AAPG, Secretary of AAPG, President of the Division of Professional Affairs within the AAPG, and is the current President-Elect of AAPG and will be President 2019-2020. He also served as President of the West Texas Geological Society and the Permian Basin Section of SEPM.

Mike was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni from the University of Missouri –Rolla and Honorary Life membership from both the West Texas Geological Society and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He is a Certified Geologist within the State of Texas and is a Certified Petroleum Geologist and Certified Petroleum Geophysicist by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Candra Janova has more than 13 years of industry experience working in various conventional and unconventional basins in North America. He is currently working as Senior Staff Reservoir Engineer at Parsley Energy in Austin, Texas. Before joining Parsley, he covered several roles from reservoir engineering advisor, production engineering, and reserves coordinator at Oxy and Encana. Candra has an MBA from Pepperdine University and a B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

Sam Simmons is currently a Senior Geoscientist working in the Reservoir Characterization Team at Parsley Energy in Austin Texas, and functions as the Petrophysicist for multiple groups within the organization.

After completing his M.Sc. of geology at the University of Houston, Sam spent the first few years of his career in the Williston basin working for Statoil before moving to Parsley Energy in 2014.

Troy Tittlemier is an Asset Geologist for Trey Resources, INC. out of Midland, Texas. His undergraduate education and training was done at California Lutheran University, completing his field camp through San Diego State University. Immediately after graduation he moved to Midland, Texas, to pursue and complete his Master’s degree in geology from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin while working fulltime for Trey Resources.

With more than 4 years of experience at Trey Resources, Troy was first hired as the Data Manager and Geological Technician. His duties were to support the geology department’s exploration ventures, as well as the company’s ability to efficiently produce assets in Oklahoma and Texas. Since then, he was promoted to Asset Geologist, working both of the company’s assets in the Southern Delaware Basin in Texas and the Cherokee Platform of Oklahoma. Outside of asset geology responsibilities; he also helps monitor well and production activity across the U.S. for the M&A team at Trey Resources, in constant search to get ahead of the next great play.

Alfredo is a Mexico City born geologist with degrees from Texas Tech (B.Sc., 1971; M.Sc., 1973), and Panamericana University (Business Administration Program, 2001). During his thirty-five years at Pemex, he was a sedimentologist, field supervisor, team leader, exploration manager, planning manager, Exploration Vice President, and North Region Vice President. Since retiring from Pemex in 2007, he has consulted and advised several international companies. In 2009–2010 he was appointed by the President of Mexico as a charter Commissioner of the newly created National Hydrocarbons Commission.

He is known as a paradigm breaker through the application of good science, and it was his skills in leadership, planning, innovation, and integration of high-performance teams that led to the discovery of new oil and gas fields, the initial development of the Chicontepec Paleochannel, and the rejuvenation of the offshore Golden Lane and the Veracruz and Burgos gas basins. While at Pemex he implemented a new process for the evaluation of exploration opportunities that led to the development of an exploration portfolio with more than 2,500 opportunities.

Alfredo was twice Candidate for President Elect of the AAPG (2004 and 2014) and served as Vice President of AAPG Regions in 2010–2011. Among the awards he has received, it is important to mention those which reflect his role as a leader and contributor to the international geoscience community, such as AAPG´s Distinguished Service (2007), Excellence (2008), Emeritus Status (2014), Honorary Member and Halbouty Award (2015), Academia Mexicana de Ingeniería (2000), and GCAGS´s Statesmanship (2007) and Distinguished Service (2016) awards.

He also contributed to the geosciences through having taught at the University of Sonora (1979–1980), the University of Chihuahua (1983–1984), and the University of San Luis Potosí (1987–1989). He has written more than fifty publications on petroleum geology and hydrocarbon exploration and has given hundreds of presentations worldwide.

Alfredo is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG); the Asociación Mexicana de Geólogos Petroleros (AMGP), where he was President in 1999–2000; the Asociación Mexicana de Geofísicos de Exploración (AMGE); the Asociación de Ingenieros Petroleros de México (AIPM); the Academia Mexicana de Ingeniería (AI); the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE); and the Circum Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources (CPCEMR), where he was Regional Director from 2001–2005.

Chris Cuyler brings more than 27 years of oil and gas experience with particular emphasis on prospect generation, asset optimization, and new opportunity capture resulting in the building of world class assets.

Prior to joining Elevation, where he serves as Vice President of exploration and geoscience, Chris served as Vice President of Exploration for Tall City Exploration, where he assembled acreage positions throughout the core of the Delaware Basin. Before Tall City, Chris served as Exploration Manager for Concho Resources and was instrumental in assembling their Delaware Basin position.

Chris is a graduate of Baylor University (1992) and the University of Texas at San Antonio (1996) where he obtained a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science, respectively in Geology. He additionally completed Rice University’s Executive MBA in Energy Management in 2006.

Chris began his geologic career as consulting field geologist for Exxon Company, USA in South Texas in 1993. Later he served in variety of geoscience and exploratory roles of increasing responsibility for Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S., Santa Fe Snyder Corporation, Devon Energy, Dominion Exploration & Production, and Cimarex Energy. Chris currently serves on the board of several regional non-profit organizations.

Andrew N. Hunter holds a degree in Petroleum Engineering from LSU and has a combined 13 years of experience between U.S. Horizontal Drilling and Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Exploration.

Andrew started his career in the field in Carthage, Texas, and then worked offshore GOM with Devon Energy. He spent the next 5 years working as an operations drilling engineer in various fields including the Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Barnett, and Wolfcamp plays for EnCana, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Laredo Petroleum. In 2015, Andrew went to work as a lead drilling supervisor in the Midland Basin, which was a transformative experience and the most fun he has ever had in his career. In September of 2016, Andrew transitioned into a new role in Dallas, Texas, with Guidon Energy, a private equity backed startup company focused in the Midland Basin and founded by Jay Still, former President and COO of Laredo Petroleum.

Andrew is President of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of AADE and also an AADE National Director at Large.

Dave Cannon has 11 years of total industry experience working multiple unconventional plays throughout the U.S. lower 48. After obtaining his M.Sc. in Geoscience from Penn State University, with a focus on structural geology and geomechanics, he moved to Midland, Texas, and worked Rockies unconventional assets with ConocoPhillips. His breadth of experience includes plays in Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, and Montana.

Then Dave moved to Tulsa with Samson Resources, and eventually Newfield Exploration, working Rockies and Mid-Continent unconventional plays, such as the Shannon/Sussex, Niobrara, ETX “Eaglebine”, Buda/Georgetown/Glen Rose, Meramec (STACK), and Woodford (SCOOP).

In early 2014, Dave moved back to the Basin with Diamondback Energy, where he is dedicated exclusively to Permian Basin unconventional exploration, assessment, and development.

Brad Wright joined Plains All American in 2014. Prior to joining PAA, he was an Associate at Barclays Capital, where he advised upstream and midstream clients on M&A and capital markets matters, including a variety of transactions for Plains. He also worked at Petrie Parkman & Co. as Analyst focused on upstream asset transactions.

Brad graduated from the University of Texas in 2005 with B.A. and B.B.A. degrees from the Plan II and Business Honors Programs. He also received his Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration from The University of Texas in 2010.

Brad is the Managing Director, M&A and Strategic Planning, at Plains All American.

Charles A. Sternbach has explored for and discovered Energy in the U.S. and around the globe for 38 years. He was Staff Geologist for Shell Oil Company, Exploration Manager for Tom Jordan (Jordan Oil and Gas), President of First Place Energy (international frontier exploration), and is currently President of Star Creek Energy. Charles has a Ph.D. (and M.Sc.) in Geology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a B.A. in geology from Columbia University. He was appointed a University of Houston Energy Fellow and adjunct professor 2018.

Charles is a proud member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and he was the 2017/2018 President of this 30,000 member organization. He is a co-editor with Dr. Robert Merrill on the fifth installment of the AAPG memoir series Giant Fields of the Decade 2000-2010 (Memoir 113) and they are working on the 2010-2020 next edition. In April 2017 he served as lead editor of the AAPG/DPA Book: Heritage of the Petroleum Geologist. This book celebrated 101 great men and women geoscientists for AAPG’s 100th Anniversary. He focuses on exploration creativity exemplified by creation and moderation of AAPG popular programs like Discovery Thinking, Playmaker, and Super Basin forums.

Charles resides in Houston, Texas. In addition to his service to AAPG, Charles has also served as past president Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, past president Houston Geological Society, and past president of AAPG’s Division of Professional Affairs. He has been recognized with Honorary Membership by each of these organizations. His wife Linda is a distinguished geophysical advisor.

Bob Fryklund is vice president and chief strategist for the Upstream Energy Group at IHS Markit. He has more than 38 years of industry experience focusing on the value story for the global upstream. And as a result, Bob has advised on many of the industry’s major deals in areas such as: IPOs, acquisitions, arbitration, restructuring, and startups. He spent more than 25 years in Upstream executive management at majors and independents.

Bob is a member of the Houston Geological Society and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. In 2018, he received the AAPG Presidents Award. He frequently keynotes at the World Economic Forum, CERAWeek by IHS Markit, the Offshore Technology Conference, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Conference, SPE, and AIPN. He serves on the Association of Petroleum Geologists Advisory Board, the Independent Producers Association of America Board, the Board of ARPEL, and the Trustee Board of the American Geological Institute.

Bob holds an AB from Hamilton College, has completed advanced studies at the University of Houston and the University of Tulsa, and holds an advanced certificate in management.

Michael Swain went to Texas Tech University from 1998-2001. While attending, he worked for Cross Timbers Production Company. After that Michael moved to Ft. Worth, Texas and worked for Cross Timbers, (now XTO Energy) for 5 years, working in many different basins, and many different job capacities. Michael then took a job with Cimarex Energy in April 2005. Since then he has worked as a Sr. Reservoir Engineer, Engineering Advisor, and is currently the Geoscience Manager in Cimarex’s Midland Office. At Cimarex, he worked on a team that oversaw well over $6 billion in the Delaware Basin, and continues to be one the most active operators in the Basin.

Rita Behm graduated from the University of Tulsa in 2009, with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. She started her career at Cimarex Energy working the Anadarko Basin, including the Woodford Shale, as a reservoir engineer. She later went on to be Project Manager of Culberson County, working the Wolfcamp Shale and 2nd Bone Spring. Rita then assumed the role of Exploration Engineering Manager for the Permian focusing on unconventional, long lateral, high intensity frac developments in the Delaware Basin. She has most recently accepted a new role as Engineering Manager, Operations Resources with a focus on Marketing, Midstream, and Water.

Robin Hamilton is the General Manager of Shell’s Unconventionals Portfolio and Growth organization, responsible for identifying and capturing new growth opportunities and overall building of the global portfolio. In recent years Robin and his team have built the key positions in Shell’s Light Tight Oil portfolio – in the Permian Delaware, Gulf Coast Eagle Ford, Western Canada Duvernay and Montney and at the other end of the Americas, in the Vaca Muerta play of the Argentine Neuquén basin.

Robin studied Geology at the University of Aberdeen getting his BSc in 1981 and returning for a PhD in 1986. From there he joined Shell and worked in a range of exploration and development assignments in the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, prior to joining Shell Oil’s Deepwater division in New Orleans in 1996. From around 2000, he led teams exploring DW Brasil, West Africa and latterly a global team responsible for identifying and evaluating all DW basin growth and new entry opportunities.

Since 2007 he has led a joint technical-commercial team in Shell’s Upstream Unconventionals group.

Robin’s interests in our industry clearly centre on upstream growth with a firm belief in the fundamentals of play-based exploration geoscience and the advantages that can bring to good deal-making.

Beyond the office Robin is a father of three and when not busy with that role, has found time to be US national Hang Gliding champion and member of the national team, with several Hang Gliding World records.

Prasad Sumant joined XTO Energy as a reservoir engineer in 2017 and has been with ExxonMobil for 9 years. He works on integrated reservoir modeling and simulation for completion and well spacing optimization in North America tight oil plays with an emphasis on Permian and Bakken.

Prior to joining XTO, Prasad held a variety of assignments within ExxonMobil that involved development of tools and software for basin modeling, seismic interpretation, petro-physics analysis, and integrated reservoir modeling and simulation.

Brian Driskill is Petrophysics Advisor and Exploration Geology Advisor for Shell’s Permian asset. He has nearly 30 years’ experience in petrophysics, geophysical modelling, and geology with both onshore and offshore projects. He has been involved in unconventionals for nearly 20 years and has been working in Shell’s unconventional assets since 2010. His present focus is on cross-discipline integration.

Staale Gjervik is senior vice president, Permian Integrated Development at XTO Energy and is based in Houston.

Staale, a native of Norway, earned his degree in naval architecture and marine technology from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

He served with the Norwegian Navy prior to joining Esso Norway in 1998, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. Staale has held various technical, planning, operations, and leadership positions in Norway, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These roles included operations area manager for the Gulf of Mexico, general manager for ExxonMobil projects in Nigeria, and operations manager for ExxonMobil’s North Sea operation.

In 2013, Staale was appointed senior upstream advisor to the ExxonMobil Management Committee, based in Irving, Texas. In 2015, he relocated to Luanda, Angola, to serve as the ExxonMobil lead country manager and as managing director for Esso Angola.

Staale joined XTO in January 2018 as Senior Vice President, Permian Integrated Development, where he is focused on resource development across the Delaware and Midland basins, integration activities across XTO for the Permian Basin and optimizing value chain integration across ExxonMobil’s upstream, downstream, and chemical business with regard to the long-term development of the Basin.

Staale and his wife, Hilde, have two children, one currently enrolled at Texas A&M University and one still residing at home.

Michael Wichterich is the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Three Rivers Operating Company III LLC. He founded the initial Permian-focused Three Rivers Operating Company I LLC in 2010 and later Three Rivers Operating Company II LLC, and Three Rivers Operating Company III LLC. Since inception, the Three Rivers entities have made more than 18 acquisitions, aggregating more than 380,000 net acres, and operated more than 1,000 wells. Over the course of seven separate sales, through the divestiture of a majority of the assets for each of the entities, Michael and the Three Rivers team have generated total sales proceeds of more than $2.8 billion and profits in excess of $1.4 billion. Currently, he has established Three Rivers Operating Company IV LLC. Michael is a graduate of the University of Texas.