Our speaker for the November 2023 meeting is Clay Pollard, of Espuela Energy, LLC.

Clay Pollard, a Midland-native living in Austin, is a landman with broad experience in the Gulf Coast and the Permian Basin. He started his career in 1983 in San Antonio with Clayton W. Williams, Jr. after graduating from Texas A&M University with a degree in Agricultural Economics and a Masters in Land and Real Estate. 

His first role was that of an Oil Scout and later a company landman. Clay spent most of his career with Clayton Williams (later Clayton Williams Energy, Inc.) and was involved with many aspects of landwork from field title and leasing , ultimately managing over 150 contract landmen, 11 rigs, and developing an 85,000 acre farm-in from Chesapeake. He was responsible for constructing 270 miles of pipeline ROW needed to enable CWEI to produce and hold the acreage in Reeves County. He had to handle enormous land challenges in a very short time period. Later, Clay was over the Giddings Field during the Eagle Ford boom, and was instrumental in the lease acquisition of 158,000 contiguous acres in the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford. Pollard then was key in the divestiture of that acreage in 2017. The Giddings acreage sold for $400 million in late 2016, making CWEI became a prime takeover candidate, resulting in a $3.2 billion sale to Noble in 2017. Most of that value came from the Reeves County leasehold and pipeline assets. Amazingly Claytie’s stock went from $7 to $144 per share in the same year and was sold at $139 per share. Clay was an integral part of one of the most amazing stories in the oil patch.

In 2018 Clay and a partner, Robert Canon, formed Espuela Energy, LLC. Espuela is a non-operating company that has put together large holdings in Reeves and Loving counties that are currently being developed in the Wolfcamp formation.