Nick O’Grady
Editor's note: This profile is part of Hart Energy's 50th anniversary Hall of Fame series honoring industry pioneers of the past 50 years and the Agents of Change (ACEs) who are leading the energy sector into the future.
Nicholas (Nick) O’Grady serves as the CEO of Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG), a position he’s held since January 2020. O’Grady, 45, has nearly two decades in energy-related finance experience, both as an investment banker and as a principal investor. Throughout his years with NOG he has been part of teams that have executed on acquisitions and related financings worth billions.
Under O’Grady’s direction, NOG has gained a reputation as the go-to acquirer of non-operated positions. Since 2018, NOG has completed over $3.2 billion of accretive acquisitions. This, despite the company not participating in large package M&A in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minnesota-based NOG continues to build scale as the largest dedicated public non-operated working interest company. The company’s more recent step-outs into the Permian Basin and the Marcellus have expanded its non-operated business model and set up a strategic balancing act as the company continues to expand.
With M&A, “there has to be a reason,” O’Grady told Hart Energy. “So, it’s really just taking swings at-bat.… At the end of the day, you need a counterparty that’s realistic, that buys and sells with the same methodology.”
NOG’s efficient operations have allowed the company to enhance its return profile. NOG boasts peer-leading cost structure and corporate return on capital employed, and with just around 40 employees, which is a scalable model.
NOG’s growth comes amid an ongoing evolution in the oil and gas sector with an eye on a lower carbon future. The industry still confronts headwinds to attract younger workers who might prefer the tech sector or other industries that offer a better work-life balance. Still, O’Grady is optimistic about the future.
“I think energy in general is broadening out,” O’Grady said. “You have transition businesses in all kinds of facets; you have everything from solar, wind, battery technology and electric vehicles. I think by nature that stodginess is going away [and] certainly from a talent perspective.”
O’Grady said his biggest fear relates to the sector’s reputation.
“The biggest thing that scares me is that everyone thinks that this industry is the devil,” O’Grady said. “So, you have to convince young people saying, ‘we are truly necessary, we’re not bad, we’re actually making your life better.’ There is a cost to that. We need to work better to do that.”
O’Grady joined NOG in June 2018 as CFO. He was promoted to president in September 2019 and CEO in January 2020. He began his career with Bank of America in the natural resources investment banking group. Later he moved into the asset management business, working at companies such as Highbridge Capital Management.
Immediately prior to joining NOG, O’Grady worked at Hudson Bay Capital Management, where he focused on energy-related equities, public credit, and private and direct investments. O’Grady earned his Bachelor of Arts in both history and economics from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
—Pietro D. Pitts, International Managing Editor