Aubrey McClendon
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.
Aubrey McClendon, together with Tom Ward, co-founded Chesapeake Energy in 1989, turning a $50,000 investment into a multibillion-dollar company that employed 13,000 people at its peak. McClendon (1959-2016) is credited with championing hydraulic fracturing, supporting the early 2000s shale revolution that changed the face of the U.S. energy industry.
“He was an enthusiastic—at times reckless—visionary and innovator, one of the top generals leading the campaign to develop natural gas supply in this country,” wrote Leslie Haines, former Editor-In-Chief of Oil and Gas Investor, after McClendon’s death in March 2016.
Though a great-nephew of Robert Kerr, founder of oil giant Kerr-McGee, McClendon didn’t initially pursue a career in oil and gas. He graduated from Duke University with a major in history and minor in accounting. He was working as an accountant when he came across an article that changed his life.
“It was about two guys who had drilled a big well in the Anadarko Basin that had blown out, and it was alleged to be the biggest blowout in the history of the country,” McClendon told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview. “They sold their stake to Washington Gas Light and got a $100 million check. I thought, ‘These are two dudes who just drilled a well and it happened to hit.’ So that really piqued my interest.”
So much so that McClendon left accounting to became a landman in 1982. Then, in 1983, he joined forces with Tom Ward. Six years later, the two formed Chesapeake Energy.
McClendon was known as a risk-taker by many, but he wasn’t blind to the advice of others.
“Aubrey was a brilliant leader,” Archie Dunham, former CEO and Chairman of ConocoPhillips and former Chairman of Chesapeake, told Hart Energy. “He wasn’t an engineer, he had to rely on his geophysicists and his landmen and his exploration and production executive vice presidents to help him make decisions.” And, he listened to his geoscientists, Dunham said. “He didn’t rush in blindly, but he did rush in. He was willing to take a risk that maybe no other oil company would take.”
Dunham was Chairman when the Chesapeake board of investors voted to ask for McClendon’s resignation in 2013. Dunham was assigned to break the news.
“The important thing that he did not do well was manage the balance sheet,” Dunham said. Chesapeake had put on significant debt prior to Dunham taking on the role of Chairman. “Way too much debt.”
Not one to stay down for long, McClendon opened American Energy Partners within hours of his ouster from Chesapeake, going so far as to set up a billboard next to the entrance of Chesapeake’s campus advertising that the new company was hiring.
On March 1, 2016, a federal grand jury indicted McClendon for violating antitrust laws, alleging he had rigged bids for leases in Oklahoma during his time at Chesapeake. He denied all charges and vowed to fight them, but never got the chance.
The next day, March 2, McClendon was killed in an automobile accident in Oklahoma City. The charges against him were dismissed on March 3.
During McClendon’s memorial in Oklahoma City, his son, Jack, said that every moment of his dad’s life was defined by purpose, presence and joy.
"The lasting lesson my dad would want all of us to carry out would be to make the world a better place than you found it,” he said. “Dad always found the will and way to help others.”