About this episode

Newt Gingrich interviews Dan Doyle about his experiences founding a fracking company during the financial crisis and the challenges he faced in the oil industry.

Newt talks with Dan Doyle, president of Reliance Well Services and Arena Resources and author of the new book, “Of Roughnecks & Riches: A Start-Up in the Great American Fracking Boom.” They discuss his decision to found a fracking company in 2009 amid the post-2008 financial crisis, despite severe industry volatility and personal setbacks. Doyle recounts his early fascination with oil sparked by family drilling projects in northwestern Pennsylvania, his shift to geology at the University of Pittsburgh, and his early career raising money for wells in Pennsylvania and Texas. He characterizes the broader oil and gas sector as a high-risk, “cowboy” culture that persists even as the industry becomes more corporate. Doyle explains that he wrote “Of Roughnecks and Riches” because the chaotic, risk-filled story of his startup, from volatile partners and a truck builder who pulled a knife on him after receiving substantial funds, to visits from the Attorney General’s office, was too dramatic not to document. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Newt Gingrich

Guest: Dan Doyle

Topics covered

• fracking
• oil industry
• startups
• risk management
• personal stories

Keywords

• fracking
• oil and gas
• start-up
• risk
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
• entrepreneurship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Reliance Well Services, Arena Resources

Books & works: Of Roughnecks & Riches: A Start-Up in the Great American Fracking Boom

Places: Pennsylvania, Texas

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