- 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 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011