Special Energy

What Special Energy does

Special Energy Corporation (SEC) is a privately held, founder-owned independent oil and gas operating company headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma, founded in May 1979 by John F. Special. The company targets mature, divested, or previously considered unrecoverable oil and gas properties across the U.S. Mid-Continent and Southwest, including Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. SEC acquires producing and non-producing wells from major and mid-major energy companies that are downsizing or exiting specific basins (historical sellers include ORYX Energy, Chevron, Apache, Exxon, Fina Oil, OXY USA, Cimarex Energy, and Resolute Energy), then applies unconventional recovery methods to extend productive life and improve returns.

Name

Special Energy

Legal name

Special Energy Corporation

Website

https://specialenergycorp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Special Energy Corporation is a privately held, founder-owned independent oil and gas operating company based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, that acquires mature and divested properties from major energy firms across the U.S. Mid-Continent and applies unconventional recovery techniques—including horizontal drilling and lowered bottom-hole pressure methods—to produce oil and natural gas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Upstream Oil and Gas Operations

NAICS

Oil and Gas Extraction (2111), Crude Petroleum Extraction (21112), Natural Gas Extraction (21113)

SIC

Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (1311), Drilling Oil & Gas Wells (1381), Oil & Gas Field Exploration Services (1382)

akta.pro primary industry

Production Operations & Artificial Lift (Surface Facilities, Compression, Flow Assurance) (EUAAAAAK)

Keywords

• Oil and gas exploration
• Oil and gas production
• Upstream oil operations
• Well acquisition services
• Unconventional reservoir recovery

Headquarters

HQ city

Stillwater

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Oil and Gas Production: Revenue generated from production of oil and gas from operated properties in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and other regions.
2. Property Acquisition and Divestiture: Company initiates and completes acquisition or divestiture of oil and gas properties, having transacted over $500 million of properties since formation.
3. Well Bartering and Liability Assumption: Bartered for non-core wells and production in exchange for assuming plugging liabilities, converting portions of equipment to cash.

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Special Energy Corporation is an independent oil and gas operating company that explores, drills, and produces oil and gas from operated properties across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The company acquires mature and unconventional oil and gas properties, designs and implements the associated electrical and pipeline infrastructure, and optimizes production from those properties.

Product overview

Special Energy Corporation is an independent oil and gas operating company offering integrated exploration and production services. The company operates a portfolio of producing properties across multiple Mid-Continent basins, with core operations in Oklahoma (Mississippian wells in Grant, Kay, and Noble Counties) and New Mexico (Indian Basin in Eddy County and Llano Estacado Project in Lea County). Services include well acquisition and divestiture, 3D seismic data processing and interpretation, drilling operations (vertical and horizontal wells), infrastructure development, and well re-work and optimization. The company partners with Sage Road Capital on the Llano Estacado San Andres Project and conducts all business phases with in-house staff and expertise including field, land, geological, geophysical, accounting, and support teams.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Exploration, drilling (vertical and horizontal), and production operations across multiple basins in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana using unconventional production processes for oil and gas reserves previously considered unrecoverable.
• Well Acquisition and Divestiture Services Acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas properties, including creative deal structures (such as using plugging liabilities as currency), full due diligence evaluation, and transaction execution for producing wells and leasehold acreage from major energy companies.
• Well Re-work and Optimization Services Re-work opportunities and well optimization services to maximize production from existing wells, including submersible pump specialist services for producing properties.
• Llano Estacado San Andres Project 33,000-acre San Andres project in northern Lea County, New Mexico, involving a joint drilling program with Sage Road Capital to prove concepts and develop the area, with extensive infrastructure including 3-phase electrical grid, saltwater disposal system, and gas takeaway capacity.
• Indian Basin Operations 10,000 held-by-production acres in the Indian Basin, Eddy County, New Mexico, with 33 producing and disposal wells producing from the Cisco Pennsylvanian age carbonate reservoir, having produced over 200 BCF of natural gas and hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil.

Quantifiable outcome

• Converted plugging liabilities into cash and production improvements through equipment sales
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Chernico ExplorationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1998Joint venture partner in forming New Dominion, LLC (NDL) in late 1998. Mr. Special contributed certain oil and gas assets into the venture which drilled over 60 producing wells in central and eastern Oklahoma.
• The McDaniel Company, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1994Dallas, Texas-based partner that has worked with Special Energy Corporation since 1994 on joint property acquisitions. Together they have acquired wells from major companies including ORYX Energy, Chevron, Apache, Exxon, Fina Oil, and OXY USA.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mewbourne Oil Company: Private, family-owned independent E&P operator focused primarily on the Anadarko and Permian Basins. Comparable in size, ownership structure (privately-held, founder-led), and Mid-Continent unconventional production focus, with similarly vertically integrated in-house capabilities.
• Kaiser-Francis Oil Company: Private Oklahoma-based family-owned E&P company operating in the Mid-Continent region. Highly comparable in scale, geographic focus (Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas), and acquisition-driven growth model targeting non-core assets from larger operators.
• Citation Oil & Gas: Houston-based independent focused on mature, long-life oil properties across multiple US basins. Comparable in operating mature fields, managing legacy infrastructure, and optimizing production from assets divested by larger operators.
• Tug Hill Operating: Private upstream operator with focus on Mid-Continent and Appalachian basins, often partnering with private equity for project development. Comparable private-company structure, project-finance approach, and unconventional resource development strategy.
• Range Resources: Mid-sized independent E&P with concentrated operations in the Appalachian/Marcellus and Mid-Continent regions. Similar application of horizontal drilling and unconventional techniques in mature sedimentary basins.

Broad incumbents

• Linn Energy (formerly)/Endeavor Natural Resources: Mid-Continent focused independent E&P operator with similar mature-field acquisition and optimization strategy. Larger scale and capital base than SEC, but historically competed for similar non-core asset divestitures from majors.
• Continental Resources: Large independent E&P with major operations in Oklahoma's Mississippian play (where SEC also holds 70,000 acres). Applies horizontal drilling techniques in the same basins where SEC pioneered unconventional recovery methods.
• Devon Energy: Major independent with significant Mid-Continent footprint including the Delaware Basin. Competes in the same geological formations and has acquired non-core assets in similar regions; representative buyer/seller counterparty for SEC transactions.
• Apache Corporation: Major independent that sold 10,000 acres and 33 wells in Indian Basin to SEC in 2013. Operates in the same Permian/Delaware Basin regions and represents the type of large operator that divests non-core assets SEC targets.
• SandRidge Energy: Mid-Continent focused independent that has historically operated in the Mississippian Lime trend alongside SEC. Similar acquisition-driven strategy targeting mature and unconventional assets from major operators.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/special-energy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Special Energy