Matt Riddle comes from a background in the oil and gas business, though he did not originally see himself following the family career path. His father, Mark Riddle, worked for Dallas-based Hunt Petroleum Corp. for more than 23 years, reaching the position of safety and environmental manager.

Riddle earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Texas A&M University, attending as a President’s Endowed Scholar. After graduating, he taught at Tarrant County College and tutored on the side. When Riddle was tutoring the daughter of one of his father’s co-workers, her father suggested that he should apply at Hunt. Nepotism rules prevented Riddle from joining the company, but on a tip, he joined another firm in the same office building that was hiring math majors.

That company was Dallas-based, third-party petroleum consulting firm Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. Riddle spent a year and a half working as a petroleum analyst, focusing on many different areas, including the Barnett, Bakken and New Albany shales.

While at Netherland Sewell, he worked with an engineer named Damian Wells, who later joined Dallas-based divestment-service firm Energy Spectrum Advisors Inc. Wells eventually lured Riddle to Energy Spectrum as an engineering analyst.

A couple of years later, Netherland Sewell’s founder, Fred Sewell, began putting together an E&P team for his new company, Sovereign Resources LLC. He asked Riddle if he wanted to join. Riddle was attracted to the E&P side of the industry and became a technical director in the new firm. He assists in financial decisions and evaluating potential acquisitions and performs engineering and geological technical work.

Riddle spoke with Oil and Gas Investor about the differences between the advisory and E&P sides of the business, his work in trying to get a start-up functioning and the best advice his father gave him.

Investor What were some of the highlights of working at Netherland Sewell?

Riddle A lot of the jobs you have there have really short fuses. You go home on Friday night thinking, “Well, next week I’ll be working this many hours on this job.” You show up Monday and there’s a new job that has now jumped to the front of the queue. That can be somewhat frustrating, but also challenging and interesting. There’s never a dull moment.

Investor What caused you to move to an E&P?

Riddle You have a limit at an advisory shop, and you’re only as good as your last deal. Which is fun and exciting, but at some point, you want to be able to build something and grow it organically. You don’t get to claim ownership on what you’re doing in the advisory business because you’re always working for someone else.

Investor What are some things you’re trying to do at Sovereign?

Riddle We’re looking at deals on the market, but we’re also trying to generate in-house deals that aren’t necessarily on the market. As for shales, we’re trying to stay away from them. We’re trying to find stuff that’s overlooked and not go with the herd.

Investor How is the current market affecting Sovereign Resources?

Riddle It has affected what we’re looking at and the pricing we’re considering. If gas prices are constant at $4, we can see how things work at that price and go from there. Right now, though, the prices are inconsistent and it’s hard to settle down and get comfortable.

We had a specific deal we were looking at right before the market turned, and it looked great at high prices. But it went from looking fantastic to just okay. So now we have to be a lot pickier about what we are looking at.

Investor What do you like most about your job?

Riddle I like all the people I work with. We’ve got smart people who are goal-oriented and like to get things done. Also, Fred is good at letting people choose what they want to do. He lets people fall into what they naturally like to do. People step up and you get to take a lot of ownership over what you are doing.

Investor Who was a good professional mentor and what advice did they give you?

Riddle My dad often says, “I may not be as smart as the next guy, but I can definitely outwork him.” That has always stuck with me. If you need to work until 2 o’clock in the morning to get something done, you do it.

Investor Where do you see yourself in five years?

Riddle Ideally, with Sovereign. We hopefully can gepefully can get a deal off the ground and build it up. I’m planning on starting a part-time MBA this fall. Depending on how the MBA program goes, I’d definitely be interested in a leadership role within Sovereign. I’d like to work my way into the upper echelons of a company. I might be interested in eventually starting my own company, but that’s way down the line.

Investor How do you spend your free time?

Riddle I like to read whenever I can, and I also like to golf. I play on a basketball team with some guys from Netherland Sewell; we try to keep it active and play in a league at least once a year. I enjoy chess and anything else that challenges my mind.