Houston-based Contango Oil & Gas Company (NYSE American: MCF) President and CEO Allan D. Keel has resigned all positions at the company effective immediately, Contango said in a news release yesterday.
Contango said it has appointed John C. Goff and Wilkie S. Colyer, Jr. to its board and that Colyer has been appointed Interim President and Chief Executive Officer effective immediately.
At the request of the Board of Directors, Joseph J. Romano, Chairman of the Board of Contango, will take a more active role in the executive management and oversight of the company in order to assist Colyer.
Goff is a private investor based in Fort Worth, Texas and co-founder and Chairman of Crescent Real Estate Holdings, a privately held real estate organization. Through family and investment entities controlled by him, Goff recently acquired approximately 18.3% of the outstanding Contango common stock.
Colyer has been with Goff Capital, the family office of John C. Goff, for over ten years, where he has been responsible for the firms’ energy investments.
Romano said in a statement referencing Colyer and Goff, “We were impressed by their ideas for the future of Contango and their willingness to step up and fully engage in finding solutions for current issues, improving processes and outcomes and developing new goals for this company to increase its value to its shareholders.”
Colyer said, “The company has an attractive set of assets with significant potential, but we need a lower cost structure that is aligned with our asset base. To that end, my first order of business is to recommend a 50% reduction in the CEO’s salary to show all stakeholders that we are serious about change.”
Keel had held his positions with Contango since its merger with Crimson Exploration Inc. in October 2013.
Wilkie Colyer
Colyer, aged 33, has been responsible for Goff Capital’s energy investing and has held a material role in public and private investments in sectors including financial services and real estate and he serves on the boards of Resolute Energy Corporation and Mid-Con Energy Partners, LP.
John Goff
John C. Goff is a private investor based in Fort Worth, Texas. Goff, aged 62, joined the late financier and well-known fund manager Richard Rainwater in 1987, investing in public securities, private equity and distressed debt in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, health care, insurance and banking. Goff co-founded Crescent Real Estate with Rainwater in the early 1990s, designing the strategy and orchestrating the acquisitions leading to its initial public offering (NYSE) in May 1994.
As Vice Chairman and CEO, Crescent grew from approximately $500 million at its IPO to $6.5 billion upon its sale to Morgan Stanley in August 2007. In November 2009, Goff reacquired Crescent in partnership with Barclays Capital, and in December 2017 he purchased Barclays’ interest to become the principal owner of Crescent Real Estate and its subsidiaries. Goff also owns Canyon Ranch, the world’s recognized leader in healthy living and luxury spa vacations.
Contango Assets
Contango has a varied book of U.S. oil and gas assets including shallow offshore Gulf of Mexico properties and onshore properties in Texas and Wyoming.
Contango repored primary producing areas as of December 2017 included:
- Gulf of Mexico Offshore Louisiana – water depths less than 300 feet
- Madison and Grimes counties counties, Texas – Woodbine (Upper Lewisville)
- Pecos County, Texas – Southern Delaware Basin (Wolfcamp)
- Other Texas Gulf Coast – Conventional and smaller unconventional formations
- Zavala and Dimmit counties, Texas – Buda / Austin Chalk
- Weston County, Wyoming – Muddy Sandstone
- Sublette County, Wyoming – Jonah Field
