- 14 - 3. True Oil and True Drilling Following termination of the True-Brown partnerships in 1954, Dave and Jean True formed True Oil Co. (True Oil) and True Drilling Co. (True Drilling). These were Wyoming general partnerships in which Dave and Jean True initially owned 95- percent and 5-percent interests, respectively. True Oil acquired working interests in oil and gas properties and looked for new reserves. In general, True Oil would do farm-in deals (do exploratory drilling on prospects identified by others) rather than develop its own deals. Dave True was an operator, who actually drilled and operated wells and arranged to sell production, rather than a promoter, who sells non-operating royalty interests to third parties. True Oil’s customers included both related and unrelated parties; however, on average, about half of its production was purchased by related entities. True Drilling owned and operated drilling rigs and performed contract drilling services for related and unrelated customers. True Oil was one of True Drilling’s largest customers. Dave True was a “wildcatter”. He enjoyed the challenge of drilling exploratory wells on leased acreage far from established fields, rather than drilling developmental wells on established fields. True Oil’s early efforts were rewarded with discoveries of fields in the Rocky Mountain region (Wyoming, North Dakota,Page: Previous 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011