Don Gray is pictured at house west of Calgary.
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Oil and gas markets were a mess early this year. Brent oil, the international standard, crashed to $27 (U.S.) a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark, fell even lower. Because investors were so petrified, most energy companies couldn't raise the money they needed to fund their daily operations. Yet a select few could — those backed or run by a small group of men whom sophisticated investors have grown to worship. Their common bonds: low-cost businesses, solid balance sheets and an aversion to pricey acquisitions.
Investors are showing some willingness to venture beyond these trusted names now that oil's flirting with $50 again. But no one knows how fleeting this rally will be. If there's another market hiccup or another crash, you'll feel protected flocking to these folks — big-name investors sure do.
Neil Roszell, CEO, Raging River Exploration (No. 197)
Trained as an industrial engineer, Roszell made his name selling a bunch of junior companies to the likes of Crescent Point Energy. His latest venture operates in the southwest region of the Viking formation and produces light oil, not heavy crude from the oil sands. Raging River's first wells were drilled in 2012, and investors have long salivated over the fact that its annual cash flow is five times greater than its debt. Meanwhile, at some rivals, debt is four times greater than cash flow.
Grant Fagerheim, CEO, Whitecap Resources (No. 965)
Whitecap's CEO was raised in Estevan, Saskatchewan. After selling previous ventures including Cadence Energy and Ketch Energy, he founded Whitecap in 2009 by acquiring Encana assets. Having worked at Dome Petroleum, the energy company that went belly-up in the '80s, he's learned what a crippling debt load can do to an energy company. Investors have loved his fiscal prudence ever since.
Don Gray, former CEO, Peyto Exploration and Development (No. 104), and chairman, Petrus Resources (No. 862)
In Calgary, almost everyone is sick of hearing from him, yet so much of what he's said has come true. Take this gem from a few years back: "We reward mediocrity," he said of the energy industry, adding that "it's a giant Ponzi scheme." Gray has long argued that energy companies spend buckets of money to acquire new assets, but rarely grow their barrels of energy per share. After building natural-gas star Peyto, he's raising money for Petrus, his latest venture, in the current downturn.
Patrick Carlson, CEO, Seven Generations Energy (No. 927)
Some of the world's most prominent private equity players started lining up behind Carlson and his liquids-rich natural gas venture in the Montney formation nearly a decade ago. Seven Generations has since exploded. Its first big financing was at $5 per share in 2008. The company went public in 2014 at $18. Today it trades around $26. There's nothing sexy to it — just solid execution. A lot of companies blow their brains out spending ridiculous amounts on drilling and fracking; Carlson does it extremely efficiently.
Clayton Woitas, chairman, Encana (No. 998)
At the start of the century, Woitas was known for running Renaissance Energy, which went on a roller-coaster run and didn't end well. He's redeemed himself since, particularly in the eyes of wealthy investors who put money into his private companies, including Home Quarter (sold to Whitecap) and Range Royalty (sold to PrairieSky). Now Encana's chairman, he stepped in as interim CEO in 2013, and he's known across the energy patch as a mentor to up-and-comers.
Mike Rose, CEO, Tourmaline Oil (No. 125)
His track record speaks volumes. Rose sold Berkley Petroleum to Anadarko Petroleum for $1.6 billion in 2001, then famously unloaded Duvernay Oil to Royal Dutch Shell for $5.9 billion at the height of the energy boom in 2008. He started Tourmaline shortly after, and the Duvernay management team came with him. A Boston Red Sox fan who married into Calgary's famous Riddell family, Rose is a geologist by training who is praised for his aversion to debt. Arguably his biggest stamp of approval: Even Don Gray admires him.
Tim Kiladze