Warburg Pincus and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced Tuesday they have committed up to $300 million to fund a new Denver-based oil and gas company called Hawkwood Energy LLC .
The formation of the company was announced in a joint statement by Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which describes itself as one of the world’s largest pools of investment capital.
Together, they said they have agreed to make an investment of up to $300 million in Hawkwood Energy.
According to Hawkwood’s website, it will focus on conventional and unconventional opportunities in the Rockies, Midcontinent, and West Texas regions.
“Hawkwood will look to build land positions and acquire properties where large value creation can be achieved,” said the website.
Hawkwood will be led by chief executive Patrick Oenbring and chief operating officer Leonard Gurule .
According to the statement, Oenbring is an experienced oil and gas executive with nearly four decades of industry experience mainly at ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and Harvest Natural Resources.
Gurule joined the company from Forest Oil Corp. where he served as senior vice president responsible for the company’s Midcontinent assets. Before that, Gurule was at ARCO.
Oenbring said he was delighted to team with Warburg Pincus and Teachers’.
“With the financial backing and expertise of our investors, we are confident that our experienced team will be well positioned to create and realize value,” said Oenbring.
Peter Kagan, managing director of Pincus, said he was pleased to partner with Oenbring and Gurule as well as the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
“We are eager to work with the company to achieve its goal of building a portfolio of exciting domestic onshore prospects,” said Kagan.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or
