Hildebrand is the founder and owner of Hilcorp Energy, the largest closely held oil and gas producer in the U.S. The Houston-based company produced about 317,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day in 2018. It has operations in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Alaska where it's the state's biggest gas supplier.
Jeff Hildebrand's net worth of $6.01B can buy ...
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Hildebrand's fortune is derived from Hilcorp Energy. He's the sole owner of the company, according to company spokesperson Justin Furnace.
Hilcorp produced about 317,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day in 2018, according to the company's website. The company is valued based on Hilcorp's 2018 production of oil and gas. Revenue is calculated by multiplying production against the 12-month average price of WTI cushing oil and Henry Hub gas as of the end of 2018. Hilcorp is then compared to the enterprise value-to-sales and enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiples of publicly traded peers.
Hilcorp also owns 983 miles of oil and gas pipelines, according to data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, excluding a 2018 acquisition. The pipelines are valued using five year average replacement costs for 8-inch diameter natural gas pipelines, as estimated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission between 2012 and 2017 and reported by the Oil and Gas Journal, and the 2018 acquisition is valued at cost.
Hilcorp companies have $5.835 billion of debt outstanding as at November 2019, according to data on Bloomberg. This includes three revolving debt facilities totaling $3.1 billion which are assumed to be fully utilized. This debt is recorded as a separate liability.
Justin Furnace, a spokesman for Hildebrand, said in 2012 the billionaire declined to comment on his net worth. Requests for comment since by phone and e-mail haven't been returned.
Born in Houston in 1959, Jeffery Hildebrand's father was a veterinarian who owned an animal hospital near the airport, according to the Houston Chronicle. His mother was a pilot, best known for winning the cross-country Powder Puff Derby before dying in a crash during the Angel Derby Air Race in 1974.
After attending the University of Texas at Austin as an undergraduate, Hildebrand received a masters degree in petroleum engineering at the college's Cockrell School in 1985. He worked as a petroleum geologist for Dan A. Hughes Co., American Energy Capital Corp. and Exxon Company U.S.A. before founding Hilcorp Energy in 1989. While much of the industry was struggling under the low oil prices of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hilcorp expanded, often using debt to buy assets.
In recent years, Hildebrand has sold some of his Texas and Louisiana wells, and has raised $3.3 billion since 2010. In 2011, he purchased Cook Inlet wells from Chevron in his first foray into Alaskan exploration and production. Hilcorp was the largest closely held oil and gas producer in the U.S. in 2015, according to data compiled by IHS Herold and published in the Oil and Gas Finance Journal in 2016.
Hildebrand is married with three children. He focuses much of his charitable giving on related educational outreach programs.