The Permian Basin International Oil Show, slated for Oct. 16-18, will celebrate an innovative and independent-minded thinker, Charles Perry, as its industry
Charles Perry, industry honoree
honoree.
Three times during our interview, Charles R. Perry’s cell phone rang. Each time, it was someone with a technical question about Perry’s gas processors.
“My title is chairman emeritus,” Perry quipped, “but the ’emeritus’ means I just don’t have to run the company. As you can see, I am still actively involved.”
At age 82, most people have retired—or at least slowed down. Not Perry, however. He is still going strong.
Perry, who has enjoyed a remarkable and amazingly diversified career, will be the “Industry Honoree” next month at the Permian Basin International Oil Show. The PBIOS, which has been held every other year for more than 70 years in Odessa, is scheduled for Oct. 16-18 at the Ector County Coliseum.
Tony Fry, executive director PBIOS, said a record number of exhibitors are expected at this year’s event.
We have been sold out for a long time, and we have quite a waiting list,” he emphasized. “That is both a blessing and a curse. We have added more spaces. We have expanded this year to include 730 exhibitors and more than 1,125 exhibit spaces.”
Tony Fry, executive director PBIOS
Fry added that he expects between 35,000 and 40,000 people, including exhibitors, to attend this year’s trade show. He emphasized that the show will offer something for everyone.
“Absolutely,” he claimed. “I have often said the oil and gas industry is made up of a number of industries within the broader oil and gas industry umbrella, including exploration, drilling, processing, production, refining, and transportation. All phases of the industry will be represented. This has become an industry trade show, but you need to come. You will find something of interest, no matter what part of the industry you are involved in.”
As the “Industry Honoree,” Perry said he will attend the exhibitors’ party the night before the show begins as well as the opening of the show itself. He will also be honored at a luncheon on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at Odessa Country Club.
It is hard to imagine anyone who has had a more far-reaching and diversified career in the Permian Basin than Perry, who grew up in Odessa and was a tackle on Odessa High’s 1946 state championship team, blocking for future NFL star Byron Townsend and future SMU and University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry.
Perry started his career in the natural gas business by receiving a bachelor’s o
the engineer-to-be in his boyhood days in Odessa
f science degree in chemical engineering in 1951 at the University of Oklahoma, where he studied under legendary gas experts Professor Laurence Reid, Dr. John Campbell, and Dr. R.L. Huntington.
His first job after college was spent in the research and development of vinyl plastic for Union Carbide Corporation in Texas City. He helped design the company’s polyethylene plant in Victoria.
“Then I was invited to come to the Army for two years,” he said.
After his basic training at Fort Bliss, he was assigned to Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colo. There his career took a most unusual twist.
“I was assigned to research and development in bacteriology,” Perry recalled. “Trust me, an engineer is not designed to work in bacteriology. Most of my research was in the treatment of tuberculosis.”
While underselling his work, Perry’s research determined a most effective method for treating tuberculosis.
“I took my idea to a major, who was head of the tuberculosis unit,” Perry continued. “He took it to his boss, a colonel, who liked it and set up a research regiment. I would attend meetings to discuss the program, and it would be this colonel and that colonel and that lieutenant colonel—and Private Perry. The method we came up with is still basically used today to treat tuberculosis. In fact, I published a paper on it in the American Review of Tuberculosis. I can’t imagine very few engineers have been published in that publication.”
Perry at a closing bell ceremony on the New York Stock Exchange.
When he finished his two-year hitch in the Army, Perry returned to Odessa in 1956 and joined Sivalls Tanks, Inc., as vice president of marketing, manager of processing engineering, and research engineer.
After more than 11 years with Sivalls, he started his company Perry Gas Companies. When it started in 1967, Perry and his wife were the only employees. But by the time he merged the company with Parker Drilling in 1980, Perry Gas had 500 employees around the country and more than $250 million in revenue.
“I started out with the idea to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from gas, but I couldn’t get the majors to show much interest in it,” he explained. “Out of desperation, I told Shell that I would treat their gas and charge so much per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). No one had ever done contract processing before that. We drew up a proposal, and to my surprise they signed a deal. We built several plants, including the largest treating plant at Pyote.”
At one point, Perry Gas was processing 750 MMcf/d, he added, and the
Not yet officially a retiree, Perry nonetheless has carved time from his busy schedule to see some sights
Environmental Protection Agency listed Perry Gas as the 17th largest processor in the country. All of those listed above Perry Gas were public companies.
His company also built a pipeline from the Texas Panhandle to Sweetwater to take the gas to the Valero plant in South Texas in the late 1970s.
“We were the first to build a major transmission line to get Panhandle gas to the Gulf Coast,” he stated. “It had a 160 MMcf/d capacity.”
When Perry sold his company, gas was $10 per Mcf. “That was too high,” he said, “but, of course, $2 or $3 today is too low.”
When Perry Gas merged with Parker Drilling in 1980, Perry admitted he expected to retire. Instead, he started Perry Motor Freight, Inc., owned a real-estate business and was founder and chairman of the board of Avion Flight Centre, Ltd., which was the fixed base operator at Midland International Airport.
The Perrys with friends in Iceland
“I have built and sold a lot of businesses in my career,” Perry pointed out. “I like to have the guys who buy them make money and be successful. If you try to make every last dollar when you sell it, you become a hog. And hogs get slaughtered. I am proud that every company that I sold out to was successful. When we merged with Parker, I kept a 17 percent interest in the company and stayed on as advisor. After one year, my company had contributed 25 cents of every dollar Parker made that year. I said I had done my job and stepped down after one year.”
Perry is currently chairman of the board of Perry Management, Inc., and chairman of the board and president of Perry Gas Processors, Inc.
“Many of the amine treatment units that Perry Gas built in the 1970s are still operating,” he said. “I noticed that when they would come up for sale, they were in demand. So last year I made an agreement with Dick Saulsbury Industries to license Perry Gas Processors so we could build units like we used to.”
Perry, who was honored as the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s “Top Hand” recipient in 1985 and served as PBPA president in 1991-92, has seen numerous ups and downs in the oil and gas industry during his career.
“Prices will eventually come down,” he offered, “but I have noticed one difference between this boom and the late 1980s, when everything was done on borrowed money and we saw a lot of oil companies go bankrupt. When I sold to Parker in 1980, we had a $45 million line of credit. We were low leveraged. Parker was highly leveraged. I was borrowing at prime plus 2 percent. Parker was borrowing at prime plus 20 percent. They took our line of credit to fund their drilling program. This time, we won’t have the bankruptcies if the price comes down because most of the money today is equity investments, not borrowed money. The regulations have made it hard for banks to loan money.”
Those attending this year’s Permian Basin International Oil Show in Odessa will
“I have built and sold a lot of businesses in my career. I like to have the guys who buy them make money and be successful.” Perry has seen his wishes come true.
not only see the latest in technology that is fueling the latest boom in drilling activity in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico but they will also have the opportunity to meet Perry, whose career has spanned more than 60 years, ranging from finding a treatment for tuberculosis to being a leader in natural gas processing.
He has served on numerous business, association, and charitable organization boards and has received many awards during his remarkable career. The “Industry Honoree” award from the PBIOS is just one more honor for Perry, who is living proof that staying active keeps one young—even at age 82.