February 27, 2017
Texas Oilman’s Life and Exploration Spans Six Continents
Memoir traces America’s shift from coal to oil and one man’s journey to the top
DALLAS, TEXAS (02/24/2017) — For more than 60 years Albert Hrubetz III, a Dallas geophysicist, oilman and president of Hrubetz Oil Co., has crisscrossed the globe exploring for oil. His recently-published memoir, “A Geophysicist’s Memoir: Searching for Oil on Six Continents,” details his life and career, beginning with a tough, depression-era childhood in an Illinois coal-mining town, devastated by America’s shift to oil. Determined to take his place in this dynamic new field, he scraped his way through college, earned his way into the energy industry, and began an uncharted adventure in pursuit of oil around the world.
Hrubetz’s memoir has already received high praise from legendary oilmen, such as legendary energy magnate T. Boone Pickens, who calls the book “a wild ride.” And renowned Texas oilman Herbert Hunt endorses it as “an entertaining book full of intriguing happenings, untold and unrecorded stories, and events of international significance.”
The book provides a fascinating account of the oil industry’s evolution — shaping the American landscape as well as the global geopolitical playing field. “Al’s life reads like great fiction — from his accounts of growing up in a saloon in the era of Pretty Boy Floyd, or making bombs behind his house, to his defiant discovery of oil in Dubai after experts insisted there was none,” said the book’s editor, Nina Flournoy.
An insightful and witty storyteller, Hrubetz relays the pitfalls and glories of his childhood, his days as a Marine and in oil exploration. His candid accounts of innovative, sometimes covert schemes played out in the competitive, often dicey energy sector, underscore the bravado and sharp business acumen that helped Hrubetz scale the corporate ranks in the global oil industry. After working with top oil company executives, political figures, sheikhs, military rulers, business leaders and wildcatters, he formed his own oil company. His efforts to steer Hrubetz Oil through devastating busts and government regulations, provide insight into oil company operations. Overall, Hrubetz’s personal account of oil’s evolution during his lifetime, parallels the history of America over the last 80 years, illustrating the impact of the energy industry on the country and the world.
“A Geophysicist’s Memoir: Searching for Oil on Six Continents” is available on Amazon and on BookLaunch. For more information, contact NFES or email npflournoy@gmail.com.
About the Author
Albert Hrubetz III, Chairman and President of Dallas-based Hrubetz Oil Co., has been active in the petroleum industry for 63 years. He earned degrees in Geological Engineering from the Institute of Technology, St. Louis University, and in Advanced Management from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University.
In 1953 Hrubetz joined the Exploration Department of Continental Oil Co. (CONOCO) as a geophysicist, progressing to Chief Geophysicist, International Exploration and Executive Assistant to President. He held executive responsibility for integrated petroleum operations in CONOCO’s largest and most important profit center. He served as vice president of an independent oil company from 1968 to 1972, with worldwide responsibility for negotiations, exploration and production activities, before joining Texas Pacific Oil Co. as Senior Vice President, Exploration and International. In 1975 he became Executive Vice President, serving as a Director of Texas Pacific and as President and Director of its 17 foreign subsidiaries. In 1978 he became President of Texas Pacific Oil Co. and was named CEO the following year. After Texas Pacific sold its domestic oil properties to Sun Oil Co. in 1980, in what was then the second-largest commercial sale in U. S. history, he founded Dallas-based Hrubetz Oil Co.
Hrubetz has held leadership positions in numerous petroleum industry organizations, including the American Petroleum Institute, U. S. Oil and Gas Association, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Oil & Gas Association, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, All-American Wildcat Committee and Dallas Wildcat Committee. He is past president of the Dallas Petroleum Club, Trustee Emeritus/past Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Dallas and Advisory Board member of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU’s Cox School of Business. He received the Alumni Merit Award from St. Louis University in recognition of distinguished achievement in geophysical exploration.
Hrubetz is also author of “Maryville Illinois — Growing up During the Great Depression.”
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Contact: NFES npflournoy@gmail.com