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You've heard of "fracking"... the cutting-edge technology critical to exploiting the American energy renaissance. But you haven't heard of the new tech that will drive the next commodity supercycle.
W hat were a couple of Oklahoma oilmen doing in the heart of coal country, we wondered... I met Marty – one of my good friends from Oklahoma City – at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park in the summer of 2006 to catch a Pirates ball game. They were playing the San Francisco Giants. A year earlier, I had moved to Pittsburgh to be the division landman for energy firm EOG Resources (EOG). Marty moved to Charleston, West Virginia a few months after that to take over the land department for oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy (CHK) after it acquired Columbia Natural Gas.
Over a couple hot dogs slathered in sauerkraut, we marveled at how a sleepy oil and gas basin – the Appalachian Basin – had exploded with activity. Pittsburgh was booming. During the conversation, Marty told me about the time that he had first talked with Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon about the Marcellus Shale. Marty laid out a map during a strategy meeting in early 2005 and said, “Aubrey, this is the Marcellus Shale. And it’s the next big resource play.” Aubrey looked at the map and asked, “What counties are those, Marty?” “Aubrey, those aren’t counties,” Marty replied. “Those are states. That’s New York. That’s Pennsylvania. That’s Ohio. And that’s West Virginia.” “ This is huge! ” Aubrey said, as the size of the resource he was looking at suddenly blew up 100-fold before his eyes. “We need to be in this.” Marty said, “Aubrey, it just takes money.” And Aubrey quickly answered, “We’ll find the money.”
American Consequences | 47
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