Richard F. Stubbe
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Jordan Jayson, chairman and CEO of U.S. Energy Development Corp., has been with the firm since 2009, when he joined as vice president of business development.

He helped change the company from an Appalachian-based producer to a diversified E&P with assets in multiple basins.

In an interview with Oil and Gas Investor contributing editor Richard Stubbe, Jayson discussed how the company and the industry are dealing with the new presidential administration, the recent decline in oil prices, the ongoing tariff upheaval, and the company’s strong focus on the Permian Basin.

This interview took place on April 10, 2025, the day after President Donald Trump announced a pause on most of the tariffs he had imposed the previous week.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Richard F. Stubbe: USEDC announced plans at the start of the year to deploy $1 billion in multiple projects, up from about $800 million in 2024 and $600 million in 2023. How’s that plan going?
Jordan Jayson: The plan to deploy upward of or greater than $1 billion is on track. That’s a combination of a few different internal strategies. We’re deploying those dollars through our own operated assets, through strategic joint ventures and through acquisitions. And I would say, when we look at that deployment, it’s generally a third, a third, a third.

RFS: Oil has fallen below $60 a barrel, from above $70 at the start of the year. How does that change the outlook for you and the industry?
JJ: We have numerous projects in motion that we need to see through. How we produce those wells as they come online may vary. We may choke them back a bit to save some reservoir pressure in hopes that prices could rebound.

When we’re looking at new deals or deals that we’re actively negotiating right now, we are not fans of re-trading deals. That doesn’t help our reputation.

We’re managing a 45-year-old upstream oil and gas operating company; it seems like every three to five years this happens to the market from a commodity pricing standpoint. And our management team is extremely experienced in handling these types of situations and adjusting to them as quickly as possible.

They’re not fun, but it’s better to work with it.

RFS: The price of oil today is one of many factors, then. What else do you consider when making decisions? Some companies measure their decision-making horizons in decades.
JJ: We’re a smaller firm with limited resources. We’re generally taking a one-, three-, five-, seven-year view. We’ve had tremendous growth over the last 10 years. We’re a big fan of studying other companies, not just where they’re active, but also their decision-making process on how they’re capitalizing themselves, how they communicate with investors, their governance, their banking relationships.

We’re trying to learn so that when we come to challenging times or see opportunities, we make thoughtful, disciplined decisions that tie back to continuing to grow the company without losing focus.

RFS: How do you do that?
JJ: We’re big fans of when we make acquisitions, bringing in other industry partners that have another set of eyes who are like-minded and can strategically help us drive more value out of that asset. And also using consultants or whatever resources that we can. There’s no such thing as the U.S. Energy way. There’s always different ways and other views on how to improve, whether it’s production or drilling a well or completing a well. It’s kind of in our DNA is to be very open to new ways to improve our decisions and how we execute in the field and also corporately in the office.

RFS: Can you give me an example?
JJ: We’re very friendly with Northern Oil and Gas. They’ve done a tremendous job over the last decade as well, making great decisions. They’re in the public arena; we’re not. It is easier to follow some of these companies that are publicly traded and looking at how they navigate and how they continue to grow when they have to adhere to different rules and regs and different standards of governance and communication and transparency.

Even though we are privately held and family-owned, we try to implement what we see others do as far as best management practices.

RFS: Do you study companies outside the oil and gas industry?
JJ: Yes. More from a leadership governance standpoint, and also watching how they’re reacting to these type of cycles, as well. I’m a huge fan of continuous learning, continuous education, whether that’s conferences, courses, certificates, degrees, and so we push that throughout the firm. Continuous education is one of our core pillars at U.S. Energy. My parents were both longtime educators. It’s also a way that we can attract and retain high-quality talent.

RFS: How does the M&A landscape look now?
JJ: January and February seemed a little awkwardly slow, but it seems like it has picked up over the last month and a half.

RFS: What’s your take on the tariff situation? How do you navigate this?
JJ: In my former career [as a Wall Street portfolio manager], we would call this noise. We are running an operating company. We have upward of 100 employees, and these are things that are outside of our control.

We have a saying where we need to always act as if it was $35 oil. We’re very cost-conscious internally and making sure that we’re managing the business as efficiently as possible to absorb these types of movements and noise.

These global macro headlines and market volatility really don’t affect how we manage the company on a day-to-day basis. We’ve been through it before. The movements in the markets and the movement in commodity prices are out of our control. What can we do within our control to maximize the value of the projects that we have and how we’re managing the company on a day-to-day basis.

RFS: $58 is still a lot more than $35.
JJ: Yes. We asked the team, “Hey, remember what we were doing when it was $35?” We were cutting this, we were doing this, we were laser-focused, and let’s not get complacent and let’s always make sure that we have it. I call it, keep your head on a swivel because you don’t know where the next stall or objection will be coming from.

RFS: In the company’s end-of-year 2024 outlook, you mentioned that E&P companies were still sticking to their capital discipline. Has there been any loosening up on that?
JJ: I don’t think there’s any loosening up on the capital discipline front. What we have seen is more capital with less focus on ESG come back in the market.

RFS: We noticed at our DUG Gas Conference in Shreveport that the crowd was enthusiastic about the future and particularly about Chris Wright as energy secretary. Is that your view, as well?
JJ: Yeah. It also concerns me, though. When we see this level of excitement, it’s concerning to me as a contrarian. When everybody’s excited, it makes me a little bit nervous.

Chris is exceptional and I think it’s great for the industry, and also great for the nation, that we have somebody with that type of background in that role. So, I share the enthusiasm. But, being in this industry for as long as our family has been, it makes me a little bit cautious that there seems to be a lot of new capital coming to the market, or capital that had taken a pause.

RFS: How would you assess the regulatory environment now and how you see it going forward?
JJ: We’re a domestic onshore player, and most of the states that we are either operating or partnering in are generally pro-oil and pro-gas. So, what’s happening on the federal level hasn’t impacted us really in any shape or form. We continue to do what we do, which is finding great projects and great opportunities in pro-oil and pro-gas states and basins.

RFS: USEDC’s portfolio goes heavy in the Permian Basin, and new plays are popping up around the U.S. What would it take to expand your focus?
JJ: We discuss it and debate it internally, often, and we always have our eyes and ears open. We’re watching on a weekly basis how many wells have been permitted in every given state. There were 20 wells permitted in Ohio this week and there haven’t been 20 wells permitted in Ohio in one week in two years. Well, what’s going on in Ohio?

If we are going into newer areas, we’re looking for a strategic joint venture partner that may have more experience in that particular area. While we are Permian-heavy, we are definitely looking forward and looking for new opportunities in different basins and in different areas, but we usually do that very gradually and then if it’s working, we get bigger.

RFS: Is there anything else you wanted to mention?
JJ: After 15 years, there’s not many companies our size that are still growth-focused and eager to continue to grow. But while we are eager to grow, we’re looking for opportunities and partners that are like-minded that would like to share some risk and deploy capital regardless of where commodity prices are to a certain extent, just thoughtfully over time.

The underlying concept there is discipline and never putting yourself in a position to get knocked out by one punch. That’s how our team manages the firm. That’s what’s led to our success over 45 years. I don’t see that changing materially in the near or mid-term, but we continue to look for opportunities to deploy capital into oil and gas assets.

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