Leslie’s Notebook

Oil and Gas Investor was privileged to host a dinner recently in Fort Worth. It was held in honor of George P. Mitchell, the 88-year-old founder of an oil company and a Houston planned community called The Woodlands, among many other noteworthy accomplishments.

But this event was indeed special, as it celebrated the Barnett Shale play, which Mitchell’s E&P team kicked off in 1981, without quite knowing how to maximize production. For 20 years, until Mitchell Energy & Development was acquired by Devon Energy Corp. in 2002, they tried numerous ways to make the play work. It was often uneconomic. It was difficult to coax gas from the tight shale. Keep trying, Mitchell said, even though his guys thought he was wasting money.

Little did they know or dream that by early 2008, the play would be yielding 3.5 Bcf a day and become the largest gas field in Texas, if not the U.S., in terms of daily production.

And so, on March 31, it was right to honor the man for his tenacity and vision. For Mr. Mitchell, we brought in the Texas A&M Singing Cadets to sing the National Anthem. We commissioned and unveiled an original oil painting of images of the Barnett Shale to give him. We established a $100,000 scholarship in his name for the new TCU Energy Institute, right in the shale’s backyard.

We played a 13-minute video in which the likes of EOG’s Mark Papa, Devon’s Larry Nichols, XTO’s Bob Simpson, Chesapeake’s Aubrey McClendon, Trevor Rees-Jones and Dick Lowe extolled Mitchell’s virtues–his vision and persistence.

We watched him beam as he visited with older oil friends before dinner. And this editor not only shook his hand, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Thanks George!

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