Although he comes from a long and esteemed line of geologists, Shane Matson wasn't certain, until his early twenties, it was the right path for him. The oil and gas industry was deep into a bust cycle when Matson graduated from high school in 1991. Rather than pursue college, he headed west to Florissant, Colorado, to work as a ranch hand and counselor at Sanborn Western Camps. The founding family of the camps were naturalists, and exploring the geology of the Pikes Peak region under their guidance made a lasting impression on him.

At 25, he entered the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville as a geology major and stayed on for his masters. He remains captivated by the department's “phenomenal” teachers and setting. “Leaving class, you'd walk past exposures of the Pennsylvanian Mississippian unconformity,” he recalls. The professors ensured students spent several days each week on the outcrops, in keeping with the department's informal motto: “Geology is learned by the soles of your shoes, not the seat of your pants.”

Upon completion of his studies in 2003, Matson joined Tulsa-based Ceja Corp., a fourth-generation E&P founded on high science and big thinking. Charles Wickstrom, who became Matson's mentor, was exploration manager.

Ceja had a large 3-D seismic shoot under way in Osage County, Oklahoma, and Matson found himself in the midst of his great-grandfather's old stomping ground, where the company had recently drilled the first modern horizontal Mississippian well targeting a conventional high-porosity reservoir, imaged using 3-D seismic. Over the next three years, Ceja's full-spectrum exploration program gave Matson a foundation for his career. “My exposure to the value placed on ethics, creative thinking and science was the opportunity of a lifetime,” he says.

In 2006, he joined Ram Energy, a newly public company focused on the Fort Worth Basin. Just nine months later, another chance of a lifetime arose when Wickstrom asked him to join Spyglass Energy Group LLC. Backed by two long-time and well-respected Tulsa oil families—Nadel and Gussman LLC and the Graves family, Spyglass' model was to identify discrete conventional Mississippian targets in northeast Oklahoma while exploring for larger-scale opportunities.

In early 2009, Wickstrom and Matson began studying the entire vertical Mississippian section in northeast Oklahoma, and in early 2010, Spyglass drilled a horizontal well targeting unconventional reservoir facies 200 feet deep into the section. The well came in strong, and the company took advantage of its position as an early mover, securing a sizable acreage block and de-risking the position by capturing science and establishing oil production from a wide-spread reservoir type that was unfamiliar to many.

Today he is working with Wickstrom on new and legacy projects focused in the Midcontinent.

Investor What was your experience like at Ceja?

Matson It was an incredible three years. We drilled 18 horizontal Mississippi wells that came in between 150 and 700 barrels of oil per day. It was cutting edge—and wild to be a part of. These were open-hole horizontals with no stimulation. It was truly a conventional reservoir. We used seismic to constrain the reservoir and subsurface work to predict fluid content.

Investor What did you like about working for a private company?

Matson You have the advantage of being part of the decision tree, having lunch daily with the people who not only sign your check but also have 30 years experience in finding oil and gas.

Investor How did Spyglass later extend the Mississippian play?

Matson We were identifying discrete plays and putting together larger positions to seismically hunt for traps. In 2009, we took the Sooner Trend model of central Oklahoma and extended that trapping mechanism into northeast Oklahoma. When we drilled the first horizontal in the Lime, only a handful of vertical wells had tested the truly tight unconventional facies.

Permitting of wells in Osage County, Oklahoma, is through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, so our initial wells were below the industry radar. We built our position from 40,000 to 450,000 acres with a small, incredibly bright and dedicated staff and partners, all working long hours. In late 2010 we began developing, joint venturing and divesting acreage. It was a crazy time.

Investor How did you use science?

Matson We were drilling one well at a time. The pace and nimble nature of our organization allowed us to work closely with Schlumberger to understand what the horizontal logs were telling us.

What we didn't anticipate was the formation wasn't just fractured—it was absolutely shattered. It was a paradigm shift in play dynamics to have a shattered rock with such low permeability. Understanding how to establish high connectivity with the reservoir was critical—as was the know-how to efficiently move high fluid volumes. We had an exceptional engineering and operations staff.

Investor What's next?

Matson The oil and gas community in Tulsa is built on looking at show wells from the past 100 years and thinking about what could be done differently today. The key is to work hard, maintain creativity and keep throwing ideas at the wall. And find oil.

—Susan Klann