FORT SMITH, Ark. – While so many energy companies are filing bankruptcy or going out of business, former Tulsan Mike Oxley, founder of New Prospect Company, just celebrated the 40th anniversary of his firm with a banquet for employees and friends.
What is the secret of longevity for this company amid the ups and downs of the oil and natural gas industry?
“We’ve got really good people in this company,” Oxley told the banquet hall. “We’ve never had a layoff. What they don’t teach people in college is that the biggest asset is our people.”
Companies that don’t value employees are more likely to fail, he said. A big problem is that management doesn’t get to know their workers.
“Our people are our greatest asset,” Oxley said. “People make you money. We learned that secret.”
Oxley also understands that people make mistakes and that a company shouldn’t cast an employee aside because of a miscue.
“The only people who don’t make mistakes are those who aren’t doing anything,” he said.
As Oxley surveyed the people at the banquet, he saw a lot people who have history in the energy field but have fallen on hard times but have a new beginning thanks to New Prospect Co.
Forty years ago, Oxley and his wife Linda borrowed millions of dollars and put everything they had into starting New Prospect Company shortly after he finished college. He got a degree in petroleum engineering and then his MBA.
Just two months after they started in 1981, the Great Oilfield Depression started January 1, 1982. They had put everything they owned into the company and they were faced with seriously devalued drilling equipment and a $180,000 monthly loan payment (with 21.25 percent interest).
Oxley was unsure if he could get such a big loan but as he was leaving the bank, still unsure if he had a deal, the banker stopped him.
The banker indicated he would get the loan when he said, “Mike, there’s more money where is came from.”
Oxley was ecstatic as he left the bank on the start of a very successful career as an entrepreneur and operator of energy companies, particularly in natural gas production.
After getting the financing, the drill count dropped 90 percent until it bottomed out in 1986.
“We got into the contract drilling business at precisely the worst time possible,” Oxley said.
Most of his fellow drilling contractors went bankrupt.
Some went bankrupt several times.
Later, Oxley Petroleum Company which he subsequently sold to Chesapeake Energy. A few years later, he started Oxley Energy, a company based in Houston.
New Prospect Company services include drilling, completion, production and oil/gas well construction. The company has in-house petroleum engineering personnel and offers lease operation management.
Oxley, whose family founded the Oxley Foundation and Oxley Nature Center in Tulsa, credited God’s grace for the long-term success of his energy business.