TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1056824
to get into this first big shale play before the energy gi- ants did. "There's a saying: 'Oil is found in the minds of men,'" Weiner said. "Someone thinks that's one way for it to be there, but what if there was another way? That's what we've done typically, because there are a lot of smart peo- ple who've done a lot of normal things and we always had to come up with something different. And that difference made a difference." "It was unconventional," Fluor added. "A lot of people think that you just drilled a well and found something and were lucky. But you have to put yourself in a position where something good can happen to you. Twenty years ago, K.C. and I decided the only way we could effectively determine the quality of what we look at is to internally generate more, because you control your own destiny, if you're good." Texas Crude drilled the first well at Eagle Ford, allowing the company to buy up land there before the boom hit. "It was very exciting, because we knew that it had a long way to go," Weiner said. "We knew it could stretch from Louisiana to Mexico, and it ended up being almost like that." Fluor and Weiner's breakthrough windfall in Eagle Ford led directly to Speedway Stable when Fluor, with his fam- ily's future secured, decided after three decades to re-en- ter the racing world.