DeGolyer and MacNaughton is a petroleum consulting company based in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Houston, Buenos Aires, and Algiers.
DeGolyer and MacNaughton was founded in 1936 by Everette Lee DeGolyer and Lewis MacNaughton.[1] DeGolyer had formerly known McNaughton through their work with the petroleum exploration company Amerada. While serving as President, DeGolyer hired McNaughton to work for Amerada in 1928.
Company founding and early years
In the 1930s bankers began offering essential long-term loans to prospective oil companies only after they had secured the unknown, subterranean collateral of the oil reserves at a particular site, which required the banks to rely on the integrity, competence, honesty, and experience of those individual assessing the value of the reserves. New financing methods were required which created a need for reliable and fully independent studies and evaluations of reservoirs. DeGolyer and McNaughton was established to meet these needs.[2]
On October 30, 1936, Everett DeGolyer drafted an informal business proposition inquiring whether Lewis McNaughton,"might be willing, from time to time, to associate himself with me in doing...geological and other work." DeGolyer originally guaranteed a minimum salary of $350 a month to McNaughton with the possibility of greater remuneration if business developed.