Price Moncrief first met up with the Concho Resources Inc. management team when he was an investment banker at JP Morgan. One of his early assignments involved Concho's IPO, which was executed in the summer of 2007.

He continued to cover the company after he joined Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. LLC, and in the fall of 2010, Jack Harper, Concho's senior vice president and chief of staff, asked him to fill the newly created position of director of corporate development. The purchase of Marbob Energy Corp. and its Permian Basin assets had catapulted the company into a position as one of the most active operators in the basin, and Harper sought support on the capital markets and business development fronts. Moncrief joined Concho this past November.

At this transformative moment in the energy industry, as high oil prices and technological innovations unlock new potential and rejuvenate older basins across the U.S., particularly the Permian, Moncrief is enthused about his new position and Concho's prospects. "I had always thought how rewarding it would be to work on the corporate side and contribute to the growth of an outstanding business model," he says.

Moncrief is the son of the late Lee Moncrief, co-founder of Moncrief Willingham Energy Advisers LP and the investment manager of HedgeEnergy, both Houston-based. After graduating from high school, "I wanted to venture out of Texas but follow my dad's energy finance career path," notes Moncrief. He graduated from Washington & Lee University with a degree in business administration and set out for New York and Credit Suisse First Boston, joining the global energy investment banking group just a week before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A few years later he returned to Texas, earning his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin before joining JP Morgan's natural resources investment banking group in Houston. He executed more than $10 billion in transactions during his years at the bank before joining boutique firm Tudor, Pickering, which was carving out a successful niche in finance as the big banks struggled amid the economic crisis of 2008-2009.

Moncrief talked with Oil and Gas Investor recently about Concho's fast-paced growth and the role he hopes to play in the company's growth.

Investor: You believed from the start that Concho was the right fit.

Moncrief: Ever since the founding of Concho, this team has remained committed to its core philosophy of spending within cash flow. Our investment decision is rate-of-return driven and, given my background in finance, that is a strategy I can support.

It seems like everyone in Midland falls into the category of geologist, engineer, landman or lawyer—none of which describe me. But while I may not have the technical background, I understand rate of return and maximizing value, as do our shareholders. My hope is I can contribute my expertise from the investment and ROR standpoint to Concho's strategic planning.

Investor: You joined Concho at a very busy time.

Moncrief: In December 2010 we were going to the capital markets to raise equity and debt, simultaneously. Our objective was to put a more permanent financing structure in place following the Marbob acquisition and also provide us with greater liquidity to pursue acquisition opportunities that might complement or enhance our existing portfolio. In just two days we raised approximately $230 million of new equity and $600 million of senior notes, which, to put it into perspective, is equivalent to Concho's market cap at its IPO only three and a half years ago. Our market cap today is approaching $10 billion.

Investor: The company's growth has been impressive.

Moncrief: The business model has enabled us to grow production organically at least 20% year-over-year. The liquids nature of our asset base provides high-margin cash flow that we reinvest in our robust inventory of drilling projects, which are capable of generating between 50% and 75% rates of return at current commodity prices.

With our existing inventory and our new core area in the Bone Spring play, we expect to continue the same growth trajectory well into the future.

Investor: The activity explosion in the Permian right now seems to exemplify technology's ability to transform the industry.

Moncrief: We are no doubt experiencing a renaissance in the Permian. Since the first discovery of oil, the basin has produced some 30 billion barrels of oil. It peaked in the 1970s, and then began a long, slow decline, until 2007.

Today, we're actually growing production out of the Permian. And thanks to technology, the industry now estimates there could be another 30 billion barrels of oil recoverable. It's tough to step back and get your head around that.

Investor: You spend a lot of time talking to investors. What do they want to know?

Moncrief: Most of them are trying to understand the new potential in the Permian, particularly the Bone Spring. But we are routinely asked if we plan to expand outside the Permian Basin. When you consider how vast and profitable the opportunities are right here, why would we look elsewhere?