Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> January 9, 2012

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. – S.P. Johnson IV

S.P. Johnson IV has been President and CEO of Carrizo Oil and Gas since founding it in 1993. Previous to that, he worked for 15 years at Shell Oil in different E&P engineering roles. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado. Mr. Johnson is on the board of Basic Energy Services (BES) and was a board member of Pinnacle Gas until 2011. Carrizo went public in 1997 and started drilling in the Barnett shale in 2003. Since then, Carrizo has built sizable acreage positions in the Fayetteville, Marcellus, Eagle Ford and Niobrara. Carrizo and Avista Capital Partners are currently building an acreage position in the Utica shale, primarily in eastern Ohio. Carrizo has joined in four industry JVs with Avista Capital Partners in 2008 (Marcellus), with Sumitomo in 2009 (Barnett), with Reliance Industries in 2010 (Marcellus) and with GAIL in 2011 (Eagle Ford). Profile
TWST: Many companies in your industry have been refocusing from natural gas to oil. Would you comment on the trend as it pertains to Carrizo?

Mr. Johnson: We started trying to become more oily back in