Titan River Energy formed to drill, develop Texas oil-prone shale plays

April 5, 2013
Titan River Energy, a newly formed oil and gas company based in Fort Worth, announced a $100 million capital commitment from two private equity firms that Titan River will use to initially focus on drilling and developing oil-prone shale plays in Texas.

Titan River Energy, a newly formed oil and gas company based in Fort Worth, announced a $100 million capital commitment from two private equity firms that Titan River will use to initially focus on drilling and developing oil-prone shale plays in Texas.

Titan River’s executives have experience in drilling and completing more than 400 horizontal wells in several major shale plays, with a recent focus on the South Texas Eagle Ford shale. Executives said they also are interested in the Wolfcamp shale (OGJ, Feb. 4, 2013, p. 38).

The Permian-age Wolfcamp shale is a source rock present throughout much of the Permian basin. Industry’s recent Wolfcamp activity has involved the southern end of the Midland basin.

Ridgemont Equity Partners and Post Oak Energy Capital committed $100 million to the Titan River management team. Titan River’s executives will be investing along with Ridgemont and Post Oak. No other financial terms were disclosed.

Charles Simmons Jr., Titan River chief executive officer, said the firm’s strategy will be to convert acreage into reserves via drilling joint ventures, farm-ins and leasing opportunities. Before starting Titan River, Simmons was a managing director of Pharos Financial Group and a managing director of Clear Creek Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm.

Ridgemont Equity Partners is a private equity firm based in Charlotte, NC, specializing in middle-market buyout and growth equity investments. Post Oak Energy Capital of Houston pursues private equity investments primarily in the upstream sector in the US and Canada and also invests in oil services and infrastructure.