Greg Bensen joined QEP Resources Inc. as director of investor relations in May 2012, just months before its recently announced $1.4-billion acquisition of Bakken oil shale assets from multiple sellers. It is a transformative deal for the natural gas-weighted E&P.

Bensen grew up on a dairy farm in New Jersey. He excelled in math and science, and he entered the Colorado School of Mines as a declared geophysics major.

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After college he took two years off before entering the PhD geophysics program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2003. His research focused on developing and applying an advanced seismic imaging technique to better understand the structure of the North American continent.

While he enjoyed research, he realized business was a better fit for him. Intrigued by finance, after graduation he joined Marsico Capital Management LLC in Denver as a research analyst. He covered E&P, oil service and clean technology, among other sectors. He then joined Halliburton as a market and business analyst and seven months later moved to Houston as the junior member of the company's two-person investor relations team. Next came the QEP opportunity and a return to Denver.

Bensen talked with Oil and Gas Investor recently about the Bakken deal, how the company manages low gas prices, and his investor relations role.

Investor You've been in academia, finance, and energy. What attracted you to E&P?

Bensen I enjoy the asset-management aspects, running a portfolio. Services is very tactical. I knew from my time on the buyside and with Halliburton that QEP was well-positioned from an asset-quality and scale standpoint. I like to say we're small enough to grow, but big enough to be stable.

Investor How does the Bakken deal change QEP?

Bensen Pro forma for the acquisition, our fourth-quarter production is expected to be 27% oil and liquids, with nearly 17,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the Williston, up from about 6,000 per day in the second quarter. Also, the acquired properties are 12 miles from our existing properties, offering operational flexibility and the scale we needed to drive efficiency.

Investor In 2011, you were 86% weighted toward gas.

Bensen We definitely were seeking a more balanced portfolio, but it's not something we pursue at all costs. We understand the Williston Basin very well, and we have a plan to create value on top of the purchase price. Having a balanced portfolio, just like having a diversified portfolio, allows us to respond to market conditions.

Investor Are your gas assets economic at current prices?

Bensen The Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming and the Haynesville shale are our largest gas-producing assets. Although it's not a "shale," the Pinedale is very low-cost gas and we get a liquids uplift from our midstream business, which significantly helps the economics. We laid down all our rigs in the Haynes - ville, but we have a strong acreage position in the core of the play that provides option value to shareholders. We have a new liquids-rich vertical gas play in the Uinta Basin's Red Wash Mesaverde formation, with up to 3,200 locations to develop. Our midstream business handles all the gas processing in the area, and we're investing in new infrastructure there. Low gas prices aren't fun, but I think we manage well. We came into the downturn with a pretty healthy hedge position. This year we are roughly hedged 75% on our gas, and next year about 35% of our production is hedged, at roughly $5 per MMBtu. It's helped us weather the storm. And, our midstream operations represent about a quarter of our earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—that's a nice support for us and is a sort of natural hedge.

Depending on market conditions, we can invest in the midstream, dry gas, rich gas or crude. It's something some analysts don't fully appreciate. From the standpoint of generating a consistent cash-flow stream, it's great to be diversified.

Investor What do you enjoy about IR?

Bensen I spend a lot of time informing the investing public about who QEP is and why it's a company you want to own for the long term. There's still a lack of familiarity, since we spun off just two years ago from Questar. Now we're a competitive E&P with a $5-billion-plus market cap.

Investors are an incredibly smart group of men and women with great ideas about how to run a business. I have to distill that into a coherent message for senior management and down through the ranks.

Investor What will be the challenge for E&Ps over the next five to 10 years?

Bensen The U.S. onshore business is going to require a greater focus on efficiency and returns to succeed in the long term. In the past a lot of companies were helped by commodity prices or technical advances to deliver growth. I don't know that as an industry we can count on that today, and a lot more of a company's destiny is in its own hands.

QEP has the right skill set for this environment. We are world-class experts at development drilling and squeezing every bit of value out of a play.