{"id":34614,"date":"2018-05-30T08:12:22","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T13:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=34614"},"modified":"2018-05-30T08:12:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T13:12:22","slug":"flip-this-well-how-fracking-company-ceos-get-rich-while-losing-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=34614","title":{"rendered":"Flip This Well: How Fracking Company CEOs Get Rich While Losing Billions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flip This Well: How Fracking Company CEOs Get Rich While Losing Billions<\/a><\/h3>\n

Last year the fracking company Halc\u00f3n Resources\u00a0announced a new strategy that was sold as the path to profits for the previously troubled shale oil and gas firm. The company had sold its stake in the Bakken oil fields in order to double down on the\u00a0Permian shale\u00a0in Texas. At the time, Reuters touted the deal<\/a> as a \u201cstunning turnaround\u201d for CEO Floyd Wilson, and the good news immediately drove up the Halc\u00f3n stock price by 35\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sale of our Williston Basin operated assets transforms Halc\u00f3n into a single-basin company focused on the Delaware Basin where we have more than 41,000 net acres,\u201d Wilson said in a statement. He\u00a0was making his pitch and investors\u00a0responded.<\/p>\n

However, the move was part of a familiar formula for those in the shale industry, which\u00a0uses\u00a0horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to release oil and gas from shale formations:\u00a0Borrow lots of money, drill lots of fossil fuels at a loss, flip the company for a\u00a0profit.<\/p>\n

As the Reuters article points out, Wilson\u2019s ultimate goal is to create excitement about the\u00a0potential of its Permian basin wells and then flip Halc\u00f3n, just as he’s flipped other shale firms:\u00a0\u201cFocusing on the Permian could help Wilson achieve his long-held dream of selling Halc\u00f3n to the highest\u00a0bidder.\u201d<\/p>\n