Nathaniel Harding has an extensive background in petroleum engineering, management and statistical modeling. He oversees engineering, operations, geo-science, financial analysis, planning, and partner relations. Nathaniel’s experience in unconventional drilling & completions led to his bringing horizontal development to Antioch’s predecessor, H&S, in 2010, drilling 20 wells in 3 years, and exiting for $120mm.
Nathaniel’s previous experience includes Encana, Occidental, Burlington Resources, and Marathon in unconventional plays of California, Colorado, West Texas and Wyoming in reservoir, drilling, completions and production engineering. Nathaniel developed a stochastic prospect analysis program and trained corporate A&D at EnCana. His experience includes field-level operations in multi-well pad drilling & completions, and developing drilling prognoses for wildcat fields. He has managed field asset teams with $10mm+ LOE budgets, and successfully designed and implemented cost & performance optimizing protocols. For his work in horizontal drilling & completions, and in statistical analysis, he has been published in SPE, Oil & Gas Monitor, and China Petroleum Exploration.
Nathaniel is a licensed Professional Engineer, and a University of Oklahoma cum laude graduate in mechanical engineering (BS) and Russian (BA), and an MBA from Oklahoma City University. He is a decorated Air Force captain, having served at NATO HQ in Afghanistan. In 2015 the Journal Record recognized Nathaniel as one of Oklahoma’s most admired CEOs. He is a board director for the OK Independent Petroleum Assoc, the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, and Oklahoma Contemporary, among other business and community organizations. In 2019 Nathaniel was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and a Most Admired CEO in Oklahoma by the Journal Record.
Kevin Dunnington joined Antioch’s predecessor, H&S, in 2004 and oversees contract negotiations, finance, real estate, insurance, general administration, midstream management, and other related issues arising in the land and legal departments. Over the last 12 years he has participated in each discipline of the business. In addition to the E&P focus of the company his experience spans the oil field service and midstream space. In 2013 Kevin was the architect for the company’s largest divestiture in history ($120mm), spanning two years and involving eight sellers and two buyers. His work in the company’s subsidiaries lead to the successful implementation of a 5 rig work-over operation and a midstream company that moved up to 10mmcfpd into interstate pipelines. Both subsidiaries were divested in 2013 separately from the company’s legacy asset divestiture.
He holds a Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University School of Law and a B.S. in Business Management from Southern Nazarene University. He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, OIPA Wildcatters Club, Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society and serves as a Director for the Metropolitan Library Endowment Trust. He and his wife, Alisha, live in Oklahoma City and have three sons.
Keith brings 37 years of experience to Antioch in well-site evaluation, log analysis, prospect generation and evaluation, and operations planning. Prior to joining Antioch, Keith owned and operated Tier Hydrocarbon Exploration for more than 25 years with partner Dr. David J. Fruit. The company was associated with some of the most significant mid-continent discoveries, with decades of successful geologic experience in the Arkoma basin.
Throughout his career, Keith has identified, assembled, and monetized several play opportunities, specializing in bypassed tight sands, CBM, and shale resource plays. As an “extraction play” geologist focused on unconventional exploration generated by science-based evidence, Keith has invested more than 20 years evaluating fundamental research to explain how oil and gas is stored in, and moves through, source rocks and accompanying lithologies.
Keith provides geologic leadership to the Antioch team and coordinates with engineering, operations, and land with a data-driven approach to development. Keith attended Phillips University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geology.
David Fruit serves Antioch as lead generator of intellectual property, identifying, mapping and presenting resource play opportunities. David started his career as a summer intern, while at Duke University, with the founders of Antioch’s predecessor Harding & Shelton in 1980. Subsequent to returning to graduate school at OU and receiving his PhD in 1994 he formed Tier Hydrocarbon Exploration with R. Keith Downing. Tier generated play concepts in tight sands, coal bed methane and shales. Tier Clients gained early positions in the Cana and Arkoma Woodford, Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle Cleveland, Anadarko Basin Tonkawa, Arkoma Hartshorne Coal and the Ohio Utica Shale plays. Through education, research and testing concepts with the bit, he has continued to delve into the conditions under which increasingly low permeability resources can be targeted. Keeping current on new technology and matching it to geological opportunities catalogued through extensive experience is his strength.
He holds a B.S. in Geology Magna Cum Laude from Duke University, an M.S. in Geology and a PH.D. in Geophysics from the University of Oklahoma. He has authored nine technical articles and fourteen abstracts.
Tyler Chastain is VP Land for Antioch Energy, and has 14 years of upstream experience in the Arkoma Basin, including land management, project management, lease acquisitions, joint venture and operating agreements, prospects sales and marketing, expert land witness, operations, and asset evaluations. With his unique experience in the MA&D market, Tyler has managed or contributed to deals ranging up to $250MM. Previous employers and clients include Silver Oak, Chesapeake, and Continental Land Resources.
Recently Tyler founded Graves Creek Energy, whose Mid-Continent assets included operated wells, non-operated interests, term-leases, and minerals. From 2007-2014, Tyler co-founded and served as President of C Bar K Enterprises, which successfully acquired, developed, inventoried and sold producing and undeveloped reserves in the Arkoma basin. C Bar K was fully divested in 2014 with an excellent return partners.
From 2008 to 2012, Tyler was an in-house Landman at Canaan PE Funds where he was involved in drilling over 200 horizontal wells in the Arkoma basin. Also, he shared responsibilities in A&D and corporate development.
Tyler has a BS in Business Administration from SNU, is a member of AAPL, a CPL, and expert land witness. Other memberships include, OIPA, OCAPL, and ADAM.
Wayne Brown is Controller for Antioch Energy and other affiliated entities. Over the past ten years, he has supervised the accounting for six oil and gas exploration companies, and companies in well servicing, gas gathering and real estate holdings. He works closely with the principal owners evaluating potential sales and purchases of assets, including the sale of the well servicing company in 2013. Due to his excellent supervision and written response to approximately 30 plus JIB audits, there have been minimal or no adjustment to amounts billed out to working interest owners involving $60MM+ in drilling and completion costs.
His previous experience includes serving as CFO or Controller of several entities, including a gas process plant, an aloe vera manufacturing company, a company with operations in Bangladesh and a natural gas sales/pipeline company. His time with pipeline company saw annual sales grow from zero to $30MM and operating pipelines in four states.
Wayne also continues to do consulting work, primarily in the fraud and litigation support area. He serves an expert witness in court hearings, assists in evaluating damages, and prepares exhibits. He is a CPA and has his Masters of Accountancy from the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the AICPA and the Oklahoma Society of CPAs. He and his wife, Susan, live in Norman and have one son.
