In the last week of February, a historical event took place here in the U.S. when a tanker left the coast of Louisiana carrying America’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export to Brazil. Symbolically, the tanker marked a new era of energy production and trade and was a sign of the U.S.’s new position as an independent player in the Energy Sector.
In many ways, this milestone was made possible by the decade-old shale boom that was pioneered and propelled by the energy visionary, Mr. Aubrey McClendon. Mr. McClendon died on March 2nd in a one-man car crash in Oklahoma City at 56 years old.
McClendon was undoubtedly a pioneer in the U.S. energy industry and a brash risk-taker. After graduating from Duke University in 1981, Mr. McClendon co-founded Chesapeake along with his friend Tom Ward. Beginning with just $50,000 and 10 employees in 1989, he transformed Chesapeake Energy Corp. into one of the world’s biggest natural gas producers.
Mr. McClendon’s vision of gas replacing coal for power generation and oil for transport remained steadfast throughout his career. As a visionary, he was able to see the vast untapped potential of the shale industry long before many others, which helped wean the country from its reliance on foreign oil. He took action to mobilize agents across the country to sign up drilling leases on the most promising areas for shale development and swiftly built the largest acreage position in the U.S.
He was not the first person to combine the techniques of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract gas from previously unyielding shale rocks, but he was a chief leader in pushing the fracking revolution forward to utilize the new sources of natural gas and change the face of American energy.
Mr. McClendon might be remembered by many epitaphs (some of them negative) but his bold vision of the future of energy helped him play an important role in America’s energy renaissance. A decade ago, America was expected to become an importer of LNG, but the shale gas revolution in the U.S. unlocked cheap, abundant gas supplies enabling the country to become an exporter instead.
While McClendon’s career was not free of disagreements and accusations, McClendon was a bold leader who helped reset the approach to energy in this country.
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