By Rebecca Hargus
Howard Parker and Joe Parsley, this year’s recipients of the PBPA’s “Top Hand” award, are exemplars of what it means to be an oil and gas executive. And yet they are more than that, as well. Jan. 22 marks the grand and gala occasion, set for the Midland Center, in Midland, Texas.
When Howard Parker walked into the Petroleum Club, he had the look of someone with a quiet, intelligent demeanor, and integrity as well. Integrity is a theme that runs through the story of Parker and Parsley, that innovative and high-achieving firm that made such a mark on the Permian Basin. Integrity. It is a word heard over and again when the names Howard Parker and Joe Parsley are brought up, and in fact, may just be the key to their success and legacy. That success, and that legacy, will be celebrated Jan. 22 when the convened membership of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, along with invited guests, hundreds of celebrants in all, gather at the Midland Center to see these two men receive the PBPA’s highest honor, its lifetime achievement award, the “Top Hand.”
But today’s occasion, which is an informal luncheon affair held at Midland’s Petroleum Club, brings Parker out to renew acquaintances with old friends. He finds time to share with PBOG Magazine part of the remarkable story of Parker and Parsley.
The story began at a card party in the early ’60s where the engineer and geologist first met. Joe Parsley was, according to Howard Parker, “THE hot-shot engineer in the area” at the time. Joe, for his own part, had mentioned to Howard that a friend of a friend was opening an office in Midland, and needed an engineer to run the office. Joe was seriously considering the position, but he would need a geologist. Joe indeed took on the job, and Howard asked if Joe would mention his name as a candidate for the geologist position. Howard was eventually hired. This working relationship lasted about a year, until the office in Midland closed, leaving Howard and Joe with no paycheck. The two had other options, though. They could return to their jobs at major oil companies, or they could take a risk with a leap of faith and try to make their own way. Joe and Howard agreed that they should strike out on their own, together, and this marked the beginning of a partnership and a legacy.
A partnership and a legacy must have a name, and Howard and Joe decided on theirs with a coin toss. In the beginning, with the opening of a bank account, the pair were asked what they would name their company, Parker said, “We looked at each other and we hadn’t thought of that. If we were going to use our names it had to be either Parker and Parsley or Parsley and Parker. So, we flipped a coin, and I won. And that’s the truth!”
For quite some time, Parker and Parsley only turned deals for other independents. This went slowly and, as Parker put it, “we ate a lot of beans!” Eventually, the two became operators, drilling wells for their own investors. This too went rather slowly. There was no wildcatting for Parker and Parsley. They were interested in only low risk ventures. The two kept at it, working hard and keeping it honest. Eventually, with the closing of the Suez Canal and the embargos that went along with it, oil prices went up and Parker and Parsley became more active. Parsley put it this way: “The investors would tell their friends about us, and we got more investors, more money, more wells. We grew from there. Eventually, we went public, and went pretty far to do that.” One of the major investors that approached Parker and Parsley was Shearson Lehman/American Express. Parsley said with a chuckle, “that’s when we really got active because they covered us up with money.” But even in the down turns, investors kept investing. Parsley said, “We told them, ‘Now’s the time to drill. You buy your straw hats in the winter. Costs are low, and now is the time to do your drilling. Oil prices will come back.’ And thank God they did!”
With the pickup in business, Parker was doing a lot of traveling and a lot of selling. He says he learned some very important lessons about sobriety, and preparedness, and during this time. “One of which is that you can’t do a good job of selling if you’re drinking. When I left town on a business trip, I never had one drop of liquor… I couldn’t risk having a few drinks and not being able to answer a logical question. The other thing I learned is that you’ve got to be prepared to answer questions that don’t have anything to do with what you’re doing, but they [investors] don’t know that. … When investors said they read something in the paper, I had to be ready to answer, ‘Yeah I read that, too.’ So, I started reading the World Trade Center cover to cover every morning, along with other publications.”
Parker says he also learned that personal contact with investors was crucial to the company’s success. He made sure investors were first to be paid and that they were well informed. To keep investors happy, Howard made himself available to them, no matter where he was. “I made sure they knew they could get hold of me anywhere I was. Jane and I would go on a fishing trip in South Padre, and I may have been reeling in a fish and [would] get a question from a guy in Seattle.” Parker says the most important thing he learned through his journey with Parker and Parsley though, was honesty. “I learned to always be truthful.”
When asked what his definition of success is, Joe Parsley responded, “Well, I guess respect in the oil community.”
Loyalty matters to both partners. When the downturn came, Clint Hurt, Parker and Parsley’s drilling contractor for many years, could not slash his own costs to meet the prices of other drilling companies. But because he had always been so honest and good to both Parker and Parsley, they decided to stay with him anyway. Parker said, “But when business came back, and he [Hurt] could get a lot more money from others, he stayed with us. So, I think maintaining a relationship with people that you deal with is important.”
Parsley attributes the company’s success to good employees and friends in the community. “Good employees helped us immensely, some of whom have gone on to form their own companies… and good friends helped us a lot. I think Howard and I were very fortunate to have our operation in the Permian Basin, because Midland and Odessa are great oil towns. The infrastructure there is tremendous. It has everything that an operator needs to explore for and produce oil—land men, geologists, engineers, lawyers—they’re all knowledgeable oil people.
“All we had to do was point to a place we wanted to drill a well, and there were people in the Permian Basin that could make it happen,” he says with a laugh, “all the way to the tank!”
Others who knew the two men are generally in agreement when the question comes to what made Parker and Parsley successful. And that “integrity” word often comes into play. Bob Bledsoe, Parker’s good friend and tennis buddy, cited “integrity—a reputation for integrity—and honesty, and a willingness to work hard.” Charlie Tighe, Parker’s good friend and golf buddy, said “And they were very competent. They understood the business, and, as Bob said, they were very forthcoming, very sincere, very honest, and highly respected. That’s what makes a difference in that business.” Hurt said, “They were selling funds to the public, and that was a very hard thing to do. They did it very well, and very honestly… Their deals were worthwhile.”
Hurt said Parker and Parsley deserve the Top Hand Award because “what Joe and Howard did with Parker and Parsley, along with John Cox and BTA, led the way in developing the Spraberry. Because of this [development] and the technology available today, the Permian Basin now has a market value of about $60 billion, the best we can tell.”
Scott Sheffield, CEO and chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, agrees. “They started something in 1962 when they both left two larger oil and gas companies. They created the foundation for developing the largest field in United States. They decided to go into the Spraberry, the most un-economical field in the world, and focus on 100 percent success in low-risk drilling.”
Tighe feels Parker and Parsley deserve the Top Hand Award because of what they have done with the company, and what it has turned into. “The origin of Pioneer really is Parker and Parsley. They were in the business when it was a little harder to make a profit than it is right now. They were tested, and they passed the test.” Bledsoe said, “They weathered the hard times and came through them successfully, and that wasn’t always the case with all the independent oil operators. Some just didn’t make it.”
After many years of hard work, high stress, and resounding achievement, Howard Parker and Joe Parsley both felt it was time to move on. They sold the company, and moved out of Midland. Pioneer Natural Resources is continuing the legacy of hard work and integrity that Howard Parker and Joe Parsley started. Speaking of Howard and Joe, Sheffield says, “They are very down to earth. This allowed people like myself to thrive.”
Parker says, “Scott Sheffield and Brian Sheffield have built on what they learned through Parker and Parsley.” He pauses, maybe waxing nostalgic, and he ventures a thought that seems to please him: “So, in a way we’re still in the business,” he says. “I feel like we’ve done something very important.”
Rebecca Hargus is a nontraditional student, freelance writer, and editorial assistant for PBOG. You can contact her at rhargus@zacpubs.com