Editor's Note: This article is an unabridged version of one that appeared in the November issue of Oil and Gas Investor. To view the magazine version click here...

The boiler-plate text citing Petrohawk Energy Corp.'s assets in its earnings reports changed often. The company, which was sold in August to Australian conglomerate BHP Billiton Ltd., had been in plays ranging from the conventional, vertical Hunton in Oklahoma to coalbed methane in western Arkansas to the Gulf of Mexico.

Floyd Wilson, founder, chairman and chief executive officer, was a strict ...