Autry Stephens Became Oil Tycoon Dies Before $26 Billion Deal Closes

Drill down

Stephens was born in 1938, grew up on a fruit and peanut farm in DeLeon, Texas, and studied petroleum engineering at the University of Texas at Austin’s engineering school, according to a profile on his website.

His first job after graduation was at Humble Oil, a predecessor of ExxonMobil. He immediately took two years to join the US Army Corps of Engineers as a lieutenant and platoon leader in charge of pipeline installation before joining Humble for five years.

His next gig was as an appraisal engineer for a bank in Midland, Texas. He then struck out on his own as an independent consulting engineer.

Stephens was in his forties when he drilled the first well in 1979. He invested his life savings in the prospect, which “wasn’t very smart,” he told The Wall Street Journal in February.

Over the next 45 years, the savage founded the Big Dog Drilling Company, which at first had a single rig, and then Endeavor Energy Resources. He built his business into one of the largest oil exploration and production companies in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico.

Endeavor now owns 410,000 net acres in multiple basins, boasts thousands of wells and produces more than 420,000 barrels of crude oil equivalent operated per day, according to its website.

Striking oil

Stephens competed with the oil companies as an underdog, buying wells they deemed too expensive to bring online. He cut costs by drilling one well at a time and buying or starting his own fracking, trucking, construction and oil services companies.

When rivals faltered during industry downturns, Stephens bought cheap mineral rights and acquired businesses for his stable. He stayed afloat when crude prices plummeted in 2008 and 2014 by shutting down his rigs, flogging assets and securing new creditors, according to the Journal. He also issued long-term bonds and stabilized the selling prices of his oil using futures contracts, according to Bloomberg.

Endeavor has been riding the US shale wave since 2016 when it shifted its focus to fracking and horizontal drilling. Stephens told the Journal that he had rejected buyout offers from ExxonMobil and Shell for years.

It finally agreed to a $26 billion deal for Endeavor from Diamondback Energy in February. One of the major reasons was that he had been diagnosed with cancer and the disease was affecting him physically, he told the Journal.

Work hard, spend little

Stephens was renowned for his diligent work ethic. The Journal reported that he often went to Endeavor’s offices on weekends and marched up and down the stairs to exercise.

He also took a leaf out of billionaire Warren Buffett’s frugal playbook. He flew low-cost Southwest Airlines, drove a beat-up Toyota Land Cruiser and hadn’t taken money out of Endeavor in years, sources told the Journal.

Stephens also kept a low profile. One of his few moments in the spotlight was in a truTV documentary called “Black Gold,” which followed workers on one of his rigs as they rushed to complete four wells in 50 days.

The loss

Diamondback is to buy Endeavor for $8 billion in cash and 117 million shares.

The merger promised to quadruple Stephens’ net worth to more than $23 billion on paper, moving him to No. 85 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and making him America’s richest oilman.

Stephens has now been removed from the rich list following his death on August 16 at the age of 86. Previously, he earned about $17 billion this year – more than Elon Musk ($4.2 billion), Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer ($11.8 billion). ), and Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani (up $16 billion).

The Wildcatter died shortly before the deal was expected to close for the fourth quarter. But given Stephens’ disinterest in living large, he’s unlikely to have felt bitter about missing out. His family is to receive payment in return.

Stephens told the Journal in February that he had “mixed emotions” about selling the company he built over more than four decades. He saw his workforce as a “kind of little family” and would miss them.