Oil Baron Autry Stephens Dies at 86

The richest oilman in the United States has died, according to a Friday statement from Endeavor Energy Resources LP.

Autry Stephens, founder of Midland-based Endeavor Energy Resources LP, died at 86 years old, the statement said, after he disclosed to the Wall Street Journal in February that he had been diagnosed with cancer. 

Following his cancer diagnosis, Stephens agreed to sell Endeavor to Diamondback Energy for $26 billion, making him the richest oil driller in the United States. Stephans had already amassed a net worth of $14.8 billion before the Diamondback sale.

The deal also made Diamondback Energy the third-largest oil producer in the Permian Basin—only behind the titans Exxon and Chevron—and piggybacked off the consolidation trend prevalent in the U.S. energy sector. 

Diamondback—who missed out on its bid to takeover CrownRock in 2023—won out over rival Conoco in the Endeavor purchase, who also had its eye on the company. Even Shell had its eye on Endeavor as long ago as in 2018.

Stephens and Endeavor barely escaped from the 2008 financial crisis that drug many oil companies under—in fact, Stephens told Forbes several years after the crisis that he had to shut down nearly all of Endeavor’s rigs. 

Stephens studied petroleum engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, coming away with a master’s degree, and then took a job with Humble Oil and Refining Company, and then the Army Corps of Engineers. He moved onto appraising oil and gas holdings for a Texas bank, and then struck out on his own, drilling his first well in 1979 in Spraberry Trend in the Permian. He also starred in the reality TV show Black Gold.

By Julianne Geiger Oilprice.com

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