How Jeffrey built the fortune
Jeffrey Hildebrand founded Hilcorp Energy in Houston in 1989 and built it into one of the largest privately held oil and gas producers in the United States. Hilcorp's model differs from that of companies focused on exploration. Rather than searching for new reserves, it buys older fields that big oil companies consider past their prime, then uses careful engineering, lower overhead and new drilling and recovery techniques to keep them producing for years longer than their previous owners expected. Mature fields often have existing infrastructure such as pipelines, platforms and roads, which lowers the cost of further investment compared with developing new discoveries.
The company's early acquisitions were along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, and it gradually expanded into the Rocky Mountains, the Northeast and Alaska. Because Hilcorp is private and closely held, Hildebrand controls the company and keeps most of its earnings within the business or the family. Over time it has become one of the largest operators by number of wells in several states. Hilcorp's operations are concentrated in areas such as the Gulf Coast, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, the Utica region in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and Alaska's Cook Inlet and North Slope.
Its largest deal came in 2020, when Hilcorp completed the purchase of BP's Alaska business, including BP's interest in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, for about 5.6 billion dollars. The acquisition made Hilcorp a major player on the North Slope and fitted its strategy of extending the life of large mature fields. The company also bought assets in the San Juan Basin and Cook Inlet in earlier years, consolidating holdings that others were trying to sell.
Companies and holdings
Hilcorp is known in the industry for an unusual approach to pay. The company has tied bonuses for all employees to companywide targets for production, reserves and value, and on several occasions it has made large uniform payouts to every worker after reaching those goals, including one round in which each employee could choose a car or cash. The practice has helped it attract engineers and keep turnover low. The company has also been criticised by environmental groups over leaks and safety incidents at some of its older facilities, including in Alaska's Cook Inlet, issues it has addressed with regulators.
- Hilcorp Energy Company, founder and executive chairman
- Oil and gas fields in Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, the Rockies and the Northeast
- Family investments and philanthropy in Houston
Early life and career
Hildebrand studied petroleum engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1981. He began his career as an engineer working for established oil companies, gaining experience in production operations and reservoir management during a period when many large firms were restructuring their portfolios and selling older properties.
That experience persuaded him that mature fields, often neglected by owners focused on bigger discoveries, still held significant oil and gas that could be recovered at a profit. He started Hilcorp in the late 1980s, when oil prices were low and sellers were plentiful, and spent the following decades building the company through acquisitions while keeping it private. His engineering training remains central to how Hilcorp evaluates acquisitions, with teams focusing on reservoir data and the cost of each additional barrel produced.
Philanthropy and public life
Hildebrand and his wife Melinda are active donors in Houston and Austin. In 2018 the University of Texas at Austin renamed its petroleum engineering department the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering after a major gift from the couple. Melinda Hildebrand is a patron of the arts in Houston, and the family has supported the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as medical and educational institutions in the city. The Hildebrand gift to UT Austin was intended to support faculty, students and research in petroleum engineering.
He has also been a supporter of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, a major local charity event that funds scholarships. Hildebrand generally avoids publicity and rarely speaks to the media about his business.