Shale pioneer who turned Enron reject into gold takes a gamble again

Washington

AFTER helping to give birth to the US shale boom a decade ago, Mark Papa is starting over at age 70 with a new US$3.6 billion oil explorer he built from scrap amid the worst market crash in a generation.

Mr Papa forged a reputation by building the Enron Corp castoff EOG Resources into the fourth biggest US driller. Now, starting with a US$500 million private-equity stake, he's boosted the value of Centennial Resource Development Inc more than sixfold in under two years. The company has no debt, unheard of in the industry, and is flush with assets in one of the world's busiest oil patches.