History
Malone Mitchell, 3rd founded Longfellow Energy, LP in 2006. As an oil and natural gas exploration and production company, Longfellow primarily focuses on the exploration and development of new reserves in onshore US basins.
Prior to founding Longfellow Energy, Mr. Mitchell founded Riata Energy, Inc, an oil and natural gas company, in 1984. Within the first five years of business, Riata Energy acquired 14 smaller oil producers and completed its first successful well. In the early 1990’s, Riata expanded geographically through the purchase of assets in the Piceance Basin of Colorado and the Permian Basin of West Texas. The company also implemented its “vertigration” strategy, which increased the company’s focus on oilfield services and midstream to reduce finding and production costs. Through asset purchases from several major oil and gas companies in 1991, Pakenham field was established; in 1994 Pakenham field was sold to Chevron for $97.5 million. With the proceeds, over 200,000 acres of prospective property were acquired in the Ouachita Thrustbelt in 1995, and soon after, Riata became the sole operator in the area through a Fina purchase. In 1997, the drilling markets tightened and Riata purchased its first rig. Over the next few years, Riata expanded the rig fleet to increase exploration and development activities. The Company completed the purchase of initial interest in PetroSource, an integrated CO2 company, in 2003. In 2005, Riata began development of their Piceance Basin acreage, while increasing construction. During this time, equity securities were sold to fund production growth in the West Texas region and Piceance Basin, as well as drilling rig acquisitions. In 2006, Tom L. Ward acquired a significant stake in Riata Energy, and became the largest shareholder. Soon after, the corporate headquarters were moved to Oklahoma City, OK and SandRidge Energy, Inc. was announced as the company’s new name. In December 2006, Mr. Mitchell decided to resign from daily management in the Company; he remains the second largest owner (see www.sandridgeenergy.com, www.lariatservices.com, www.petrosourceenergy.com). Longfellow Energy was formed in an effort to return to the entrepreneurial stage of the energy industry favored by Mr. Mitchell.