Houston independent George Alcorn Sr. grew up in the oil patch. His father, Charles, started a drilling company in 1935, and in 1938 moved to Houston, where George grew up.

Thanks to his father, Alcorn lived next door to a chairman of Exxon, and met the likes of Pierre Schlumberger, Erle Halliburton and other prominent industry executives.

“To me this industry is a family affair,” he says. “My grandfather and father were in the business. When I first went independent, my older brothers Chuck and Fred were also independents. My son, George Jr., and I worked together for many years, and my pup, my youngest, Avery, graduates in May from the University of Texas in geology.”

Alcorn Sr. graduated from UT in 1955 with a business degree, served in the U.S. Army and realized he wanted to be an independent, not a drilling contractor like his father. He attended the University of Houston to earn his geology degree in 1960, taking the first course ever offered on television by a U.S. university.

“I worked for my father during the day and went to school nights and weekends. I had to take 100 extra hours because all the business courses I took didn’t count for geology…but I’m glad I did it.”
Alcorn went independent in 1961, and put together deals in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. In 1973, his brother Chuck drilled the discovery well for Giddings Field in central Texas. Two years later, the three formed Alcorn Brothers.

Today he is president of Alcorn Exploration Inc. and with his partner, Richard Beard, continues to work the Gulf Coast region.

Active in Republican circles, Alcorn is a longtime friend of former President George H.W. Bush and other GOP luminaries. He is on the board of the National Petroleum Council, the Natural Gas Council and Linn Energy, and has been on EOG Resources Corp.’s board for 10 years. Because of the latter, Alcorn elected not to pursue shale plays, to avoid a conflict of interest.

He joined the Independent Petroleum Association of America in 1975 and was named chairman in 1993. Lone Star Steel gave him its prestigious Chief Roughneck Award in 1997. He is especially pleased to have been elected an All-American Wildcatter in 1995.

Investor: Tell us about the time you met Howard Hughes.

Alcorn: It was in 1950, the summer. Dad called to say we were going on a trip…we went out to what is now Hobby Airport, to see this World War II-era twin engine that had been converted, that was the fastest prop plane in the world at that time. A man came from the front of the plane and Dad said, “George, this is Howard Hughes.” We played three-handed gin rummy with him all the way to Casper, Wyoming. He was funny and engaging. He told us Hollywood stories about a recent movie he had made, The Outlaw, with Jane Russell. Some fun.

Investor: What was your first deal like?

Alcorn: It was a deep Tex Miss play in Matagorda County, drilled to around 16,000 feet. We put the acreage together and showed it to, among others, Conoco, but their world-class exploration manager turned it down…We finally drilled it ourselves and found 250 feet of sand. That was a good early lesson for me. Nobody knows it all.

Later, as Alcorn Brothers, we put together tens of thousands of acres in the Austin Chalk trend. That was our cornerstone. At one time we had offices in Giddings, New Orleans, Shreveport and Jackson, Mississippi. We had a lot of fun, did a lot of good, and some of those properties still produce after 35 years.

Investor: Are they prospective for Eagle Ford?

Alcorn: That would be nice. The Eagle Ford is going to be a huge deal; maybe the biggest field in the country, and with the added attraction of an oil leg.

Investor: You’ve had a lot of adventures.

Alcorn: In 1987 we drilled a well literally two hours before the lease expired. It’s produced 40 Bcf so far. At one time it was the top gas well in the Gulf Coast, producing 10 million a day, and it’s still producing. Wow.

Investor: What else have you been doing lately?

Alcorn: We are Gulf Coast guys. We just generated 14 prospects in Newton County, Texas, and we’re leasing them now. We also have a package of 12 wells in two parishes in Louisiana.
The State Department recently had me host a delegation from Slovenia that was doing a documentary on the U.S. energy industry. They interviewed me and my partner, Richard Beard…and we had an interesting session with EOG’s Mark Papa (chairman and chief executive officer). Lamar McKay (chairman of BP America) arranged a visit to BP’s alternative-energy center here in Houston. Again, some fun.

Investor: You see any reason to slow down?

Alcorn: When you’re an independent, you don’t have to retire, and when you love it like I do, you don’t want to. It keeps reminding me I am truly blessed. Are other industries like this? I doubt it.