Lario Oil & Gas Company

Lario Oil & Gas Company – 88 year old private oil and gas company with operations throughout the United States, with a long history of value creation.

• In the decades following it's founding, Lario grew to be one of the largest independent oil companies in the U.S.
• Deep knowledge and experience in the energy business with a long history of exploration success
• Lario has always been committed to a corporate culture of integrity and long standing relationships with its partners, vendors and stakeholders

Lario has interests and operations in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, the Greater Green River Basin of Colorado and Wyoming, the Williston Basin of Montana and North Dakota (Bakken/Three Forks), the Denver Julesburg Basin (Niobrara Shale), the Mid Continent Region (Oklahoma and Kansas), the Arkoma Basin (Eastern Oklahoma), South Texas and acreage in the Appalachian Basin in Ohio (Utica Shale).

The History of Lario Oil & Gas Company

Company founder I. A. O’Shaughnessy first ventured into the energy industry in Oklahoma in 1916 with the formation of the Globe Oil and Refining Company. I.A. O’Shaughnessy was born in 1885, the son of Irish immigrants. “Nash”, as he was called by close friends and family, believed that success came from recognizing a good opportunity and acting on it, along with a combination of hard work and innovation.  Having a bit of good luck didn’t hurt, either. After the formation of Globe Refining, O’Shaughnessy soon realized that participating in the exploration and production process itself was a logical addition to the refining business and that successful wells would provide feedstock for Globe’s refinery near Blackwell, Oklahoma. With this aim in mind, O’Shaughnessy established Lario Oil & Gas Company in 1927 which later grew to supply crude oil to Globe’s multiple refineries largely by rail.

By the 1930’s, the integrated companies of Lario and Globe had become one of the largest independent energy companies in the U.S. at the time.  Throughout the remaining decade, Lario focused its efforts in Kansas and Oklahoma where the company still runs multi-rig drilling programs to this day.  

The 1940’s and 1950’s provided multiple opportunities to expand exploration efforts beyond the Mid-Continent and during this time, Lario opened a second office in Midland, Texas to establish a presence in the Permian Basin. For the next two decades, Lario focused it’s efforts on growing the exploration and production business in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

In the 1960’s, Lario became an international company by opening a Calgary office and starting a 50+ year run of Canadian successes.  Lario continued it’s expansion into the Rocky Mountain region, establishing an office in Denver in 1977 and becoming an active operator in the Powder River and Williston Basins.  Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, Lario continued to prudently grow by navigating the many cycles of this era as it has done throughout it’s history.  More recently, as resource plays have revolutionized the domestic onshore oil and gas industry, the company has strategically pursued these unconventional opportunities. For example, Lario was an early mover in the Bakken/Three Forks play in the Williston Basin, dedicating significant capital towards the leasing and development of the unconventional play. As of December 2014, Lario had working interests in over 600 Bakken/Three Forks wells and continues to have a deep inventory of drilling locations on its Bakken acreage to this day.  Likewise, taking an early position in the Niobrara led to a significant transaction with major oil company ConocoPhillips.

So as it was in I. A. O’Shaughnessy’s day, Lario is still identifying and pursuing select opportunities with innovation and hard work. Current exploration efforts are focused in the Permian, Williston, Appalachian and Mid-Continent regions with continued great results. In it’s 88 year history, Lario has flourished during the good times and stoically weathered many industry lows with the help of experienced management and dedicated employees, all of whom take great pride in the company’s success and longevity in an industry where both can be elusive.  As Lario moves toward the end of it’s first century, the O’Shaughnessys are already looking ahead to a second century of success.