Special Tuesday Afternoon Session: The Business of Oil & Gas E&P
Donald Burdick
VP Geology at Panther Energy II
Mr. Burdick has 31 years of experience in the oil and gas business. His career began at Marathon Oil Company, where he spent 10 years in exploration in the Permian, Michigan and Anadarko Basins. After Marathon, a 4 year stint as a special projects geologist at Samson was followed by an 8 year career as a global acquisitions geologist at Vintage Petroleum. After the sale of Vintage to OXY, Don served as the Geological Manager at Questar, followed by a senior geology position at Cimarex. Immediately prior to Panther, Don was the Manager of Acquisitions and New Ventures at Laredo Petroleum. Don has a BS in Geology (magna cum laude) from Duke University and a MS in Geology from the University of Oklahoma.
Patric McConn
CEO at Capstone Natural Resources
Mr. McConn has 34 years of experience as a Geologist, previously serving as a Geological Manager of Permian Central for SandRidge Energy, Inc. and Vice President – Geology for Arena Resources, Inc. In his roles, Mr. McConn evaluated oil and gas acquisition opportunities as well as managed drilling locations. Additionally, Mr. McConn managed a team of geologists, collaborated with engineers, and reviewed unconventional exploration projects. Mr. McConn holds a Bachelor of Science – Geology from Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma.
Michael Oestmann
CEO at Tall City Exploration
Mr. Oestmann has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of the oil and gas business, with a particular focus on company start-ups, exploration, asset management and development. Mr. Oestmann has experience in numerous geologic basins with primary focus in the Permian Basin and has a consistent record of increasing production in existing fields, exploration success and company development and sale. Mr. Oestmann began his career with Exxon Co. USA in 1982 after graduating from Rice University with a bachelor’s degree in geology with a geophysics option. He worked 15 years with Exxon, 7 years with Titan/Pure Resources/Unocal, 2 years with Celero/Whiting, and 1 year with Lothian Oil in various exploration, development and senior management positions. In 2007 he co-founded Piedra Resources with private equity partners. Piedra sold its assets to a Berry Petroleum in 2011 for over $120 million. Mr. Oestmann began Tall City Exploration in May of 2012 with a $200 Million equity commitment from Denham Capital. He is also President of LJean Resources, LLC, an oil and gas and real estate company, and has co-founded and advises several oil field service, production and realty companies. He is a 30 year member of the AAPG and SEG, member of the PBGS (having served as President) WTGS and SPE. He is a certified geologist with the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists and the DPA of the AAPG, and serves as an elder at Westway Church of Christ. He and Cathy, his wife of 28 years, live in Midland, Texas.
Ganesh Betanabhatla
Managing Director at Talara Capital Management
Mr. Betanabhatla is a Managing Director for the firm’s Private Energy Investments. Ganesh has 9 years of investment experience, with a focus on the North American E&P sector.
Ganesh was most recently a Vice President in the energy investment practice at Pine Brook Road Partners. He primarily focused on the firm’s investments in the E&P sector with specific responsibility for investment theme development as well as deal origination, analysis, and execution. In addition, Ganesh was responsible for the monitoring of certain portfolio investments, serving on the board of various Pine Brook portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Pine Brook, Ganesh was an investment professional in the energy practice at CCMP Capital Advisors, both in the Houston and New York offices, where he focused on the firm’s investments in the E&P and oilfield service sectors with primary responsibility for financial modeling and analysis, transaction due diligence, and investment structuring.
Prior to joining CCMP Capital Advisors, Ganesh was a member of the Energy Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan Securities, where he advised corporate clients in the E&P, midstream, and oilfield service sectors on M&A and capital markets transactions.
Ganesh holds a B.A. in Economics-Political Science from Columbia University (2006).
Ganesh serves as a Host Committee Member for the National Foundation for Veteran Redeployment, Inc. (“NFVR”), a non-profit organization founded in 2011 to assist unemployed veterans in their transition back to civilian life.
By appointment of the Office of the Mayor of Houston, Ganesh also serves on the Gulf Coast Work Force Development Board. The Gulf Coast Work Force Development Board serves 13 counties in the Houston-Galveston region and is the largest of the 28 Work Force Development Boards in Texas. The board is majority comprised of private sector members and oversees the delivery of employment services, education, and training to the constituents of the Houston-Galveston area, affecting 125,000 businesses and 5.7mm residents.
David Habachy
Managing Director, Kayne Anderson
Mr. Habachy is a managing director for Kayne Anderson’s energy private equity activities. He focuses on identifying investment opportunities as part of Kayne Anderson’s emphasis on energy transactions.
Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Mr. Habachy was a senior reservoir engineer with Manti Resources Inc., a private exploration and production company. Between 2000 and 2004, Mr. Habachy was a reservoir engineer with Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc., a Texas-based oil and gas consulting firm. Mr. Habachy began his career in 1998 as a reservoir and operations engineer at Vastar Resources, Inc.
Mr. Habachy earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1998 and an M.B.A. in 2004 from the University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Stolze
Assistant VP of Origination at SFC Energy Partners
Mike brings 15 years of investing and finance experience to SFC Energy Partners. Prior to joining SFC Energy Partners, Mike was a Director with Northwestern Mutual Capital where he focused on private debt and equity investments in the energy sector. Prior to that, he was an equity research analyst with a boutique equity research and investment banking firm. Mike began his career with Ernst & Young in their mergers & acquisitions advisory practice where he concentrated on private equity transactions. He is a certified public accountant and received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and his BBA from the University of Notre Dame.
Michael Evans
CEO at Rimrock Natural Resources
Director of Geology, RimRock Natural Resources LLCAfter graduating from The University of Tulsa in 1980, Mr. Evans has worked for small and mid-sized independent oil and gas companies in various roles as an explorationist. He has worked in downtown Tulsa his entire career with a focus in the Arkoma, Anadarko and Permian Basins. In 2012 Mr. Evans formed his first LLC designed to invest in his own drilling concepts.
David Trumbo
SVP of Exploration at Zenergy
Mr. Trumbo has 39 years of E&P experience. Prior to coming out of retirement to rejoin Zenergy’s management team, he was a founder and stockholder of Zenergy’s predecessor, Zinke & Trumbo, Inc., serving as its President from 1980 through 1994 and providing management of the company’s exploration activities until 2005. He was responsible for the Company’s E&P activities including prospect generation, drilling programs and production operations and played a key role in the company’s growth.
Prior to co-founding Zinke & Trumbo, Inc. with Robert M. Zinke, Mr. Trumbo held the position of Staff Exploration Geologist with Hawkins Oil & Gas, Inc. He began his career with Cities Service Oil Company as an Exploration Geologist in their Mid-Continent Regional office. Over the course of his career, Mr. Trumbo has substantial experience in the areas of subsurface mapping and prospect generation, seismic design, acquisition and interpretation, oil and gas field development and exploitation, horizontal oil and gas field development, reserve estimation and economic forecasting, and prospect evaluation. Mr. Trumbo has worked in every major sedimentary basin in the United States and the North Sea Basin. He has a BS in Geology and a MS in Geology, both earned from West Virginia University. Mr. Trumbo currently teaches Petroleum Geology at The University of Oklahoma to business degree candidates in the Price College of Business Energy Management Program.
George Grunau
SVP Exploration at Travis Peak Resources
George Grunau is a co-founder of Travis Peak Resources, LLC established in November, 2013 and currently serves as Senior Vice President of Exploration. Mr. Grunau started his career with Exxon USA in 1991, where he worked as a Development Geoscientist. Following Exxon, George worked in senior technical team lead roles for Samson Resources and Vintage Petroleum. In 2005, George joined the management team of United Resources, and later EDF Trading Resources, serving as Vice President of Exploration. George left EDF in October, 2013 and established Travis Peak Resources, LLC.
George holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Geosciences from Louisiana Tech University and Northeast Louisiana University.