Matt Loreman
“I remember, back in the early days of DCR in 2017, working out of borrowed office space and trying to figure out how to get payroll, internet and computers for DCR employees,” says Loreman, COO.
His hard work had paid off. Since its formation, DCR has signed four joint ventures to deploy $1.3 billion out of DCR-managed entities.
“I am very proud and thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of that growth and development.”
DCR focuses on investment opportunities in the North American exploration and production industry including upstream, midstream and infrastructure joint ventures. Loreman leads a seven-person team in Houston that sources, negotiates and manages joint ventures with DCR’s operating partners.
Risk taker: Before settling in the COO seat at Development Capital Resources, Loreman served as a managing director in Evercore’s oil and gas advisory group where he executed M&A, divestiture, capital raising and restructuring transactions in the upstream space.
Prior to his role at Evercore, Loreman advised clients on a variety of transactions in U.S. basins and international offshore for JPMorgan Chase & Co’s natural resources investment banking group in Houston.
However, with great risk comes great reward. Loreman’s current business partner, Ronnie Scott, convinced him to take a leap and leave investment banking to help start up Development Capital Resources.
“The opportunity to be part of something like DCR happened much earlier than I expected, and I thank Ronnie for being the catalyst that made it happen,” he says.
“Don’t do bad deals, steward capital with integrity, be a good partner and help other people.”
Challenge accepted: Known as a deal maker, Loreman takes pride in executing complex transactions. One of his most challenging projects to date was an infrastructure deal with California Resources Corp. (CRC). In February 2018, DCR announced a $750 million joint venture to operate CRC’s existing midstream assets in Elk Hills Field in the San Joaquin Basin.
“CRC has been a fantastic partner to date, but they were a skilled and tough negotiator up until documents were signed. I met the challenge by drinking a lot of coffee,” he says.
Industry thoughts: The oil and business is “extremely dynamic and always evolving,” says Loreman. “Honestly, the oil and gas business would be pretty boring … if it weren’t for the fact that it is never boring.”
For the majority of his career, Loreman has seen U.S. shale resources become a game changer for the U.S. oil and gas industry and the catalyst for what seemed like infinite capital flowing into the space.
“In stark contrast, today there is a global push to run the world on batteries and solar, oil and gas is becoming a dirty term, well results aren’t as robust or as ‘low-risk’ as advertised and capital appears to have dried up for many oil and gas companies. That sounds kind of scary—and also like a pretty good time to do deals.”
According to Loreman, the industry outlook looks bleak, uncertain and perilous … promising conditions for opportunity and deal-making.
Advice for young professionals: “Buckle up and hang on; it’s going to be bumpy and unpredictable for the next couple of years in the U.S. oil and gas space. If you can hang on, I think there will be some great opportunities.”