Good morning, here's what the Oilman has for you today:

• Billionaire of the Week: Autry Stephens

• U.S. Oil Output Climbs Back to Record

• Upcoming Oil and Gas Events

• Tweet of the Day

Billionaire of the Week: Autry Stephens

Modest ambitions

When Autry Stephens was young, he did not dream of becoming an oil tycoon.

What he dreamed of was “a good job, work for the same company for 30 years, and retire with a good retirement.”

This uncharacteristic modesty of ambition didn’t last, however. Not after Stephens drilled his first well back in 1979.

From a single-rig operator to an industry leader

Stephens’ start in oil was with a company called Big Dog Drilling Company, which had one rig to its name.

That company drilled one well in the Permian in 1979.

A year later, it drilled two more.

In 1981, Big Dog Drilling Company drilled four more wells in the basin.

It took some twenty years to grow the business to its current size, but grow it he did.

To date, Big Dog Drilling Company, which became Endeavor Energy Resources, produces over 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily.

“What I liked about it was it’s sure. It didn’t take long to pay out, and you get a 10 to 15 percent return on a five-year payout,” Stephens told the Midland-Reporter Telegram in an interview last year.

The nice and easy way to the billionaires’ list

Autry Stephens is really not a typical oil tycoon.

He wasn’t a risk-living high flier, betting everything on a single prospect.

He wasn’t constantly looking for the deal of the century.

He just drilled well after well and reaped the benefits.

But then, who said there was just one right way to make it in oil?

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U.S. Oil Output Climbs Back to Record

There’s a lot of conflicting signals coming from the shale industry right now.

Producers don’t want to boost production; inventory is shrinking, and the government is against the industry.

Yet despite all this, U.S. oil production has returned to its pre-pandemic record.

It might keep growing, too.

The mystery that is not a mystery at all

These past few days saw a string of statements from oil executives and analysts both saying U.S. shale was not ramping up regardless of oil prices.

Even if oil jumped to $100, drillers would not drill more.

But here’s the thing: they are drilling more.

They’re simply doing it more slowly and carefully than before.

Unless the EIA is gravely mistaken, that is, and total U.S. output didn’t just rebound to 12.99 million bpd in September.

That’s the key to shale’s new normal: slow and cautious growth, not no growth at all.

This time, the record doesn’t matter

Production growth sounds nice, but it won’t do anything for prices.

Or for supply security, for that matter.

Output has gone up by 990,000 bpd over the past year, but the SPR remains at a 40-year low.

And now Cushing’s at a critically low level, but with exports booming, there’s no oil left to put in.

Besides, there’s the whole issue with the kind of crude pumped in the shale patch.

Refineries like light, sweet crudes, but they also need heavier, sour ones.

And we don’t produce a lot of those.

You know who does? Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Upcoming Oil & Gas Events

• October 2-6: SPE Gulf Coast Section-Electric Submersible Pumps, The Woodlands, TX

• October 8-10: New Mexico Oil & Gas Association Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, NM

• October 12: Arkansas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association Annual Meeting, Little Rock, AR

• October 12: Indiana Oil & Gas Association Annual Meeting, New Harmony, IN

• October 12: Oklahoma Oil and Gas Expo, Bennet Event Center, Oklahoma City, OK

• October 16: Fall Classic Golf Tournament, Ratliff Ranch Gold Links, Odessa, TX

Around the Global Patch

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia & Russia maintain oil supply cuts.
🇩🇪 Germany revives coal plants for winter energy boost.
🇷🇺 Russia's September oil and gas revenue surges 15%.

Tweet of the Day

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