Raven Rock Exploration is a heavy oil startup led by a team with over 100 combined years of conventional heavy oil experience across the Lloydminster–Cold Lake corridor. Our goal: acquire a cash-flowing foundational asset with development upside, then grow organically through the drill bit.
The Raven Rock Exploration team has spent their careers in the conventional heavy oil corridor of Eastern Alberta and Western Saskatchewan. Since 2008, our team has been drilling, developing, and optimizing heavy oil reservoirs at several of Canada’s most significant operators: Strathcona Resources, Gear Energy, Lycos Energy and CNRL.
Our approach is grounded in deep technical knowledge of the Mannville stack — from stacked vertical targets to lined and unlined horizontal multilaterals, from primary CHOPS production through secondary waterflood and polymer EOR. We know how to unlock value that others leave behind.
A proven record of value creation in heavy oil with over 800 wells drilled and 1,000+ reactivated across CNRL, Gear Energy, and Strathcona Resources.
Conventional heavy oil rewards creative development. We deploy cutting-edge and proven technologies in novel applications — from unlined multilaterals to advanced flood optimization.
Many operators struggle with heavy oil geology and operations. Those assets become acquisition targets for teams who know how to execute. We are that team.
The Raven Rock executive team has years of creating value together across Canada’s top heavy oil operators. We bring a shared operating history and a proven track record in every discipline required to find, finance, acquire, and develop heavy oil assets.
20+ years of heavy oil exploration and development with CNRL and Gear Energy. Proposed and drilled over 500 vertical, horizontal, and multilateral wells throughout the Mannville stack in Eastern Alberta and West Central Saskatchewan.
20+ years of heavy oil operations and development engineering with CNRL, Gear Energy, and Strathcona Resources. Reactivated and recompleted 300+ wells. Piloted and optimized waterflood and polymer floods across multiple fields.
20+ years across engineering, capital markets, private equity, and restructuring. As CFO and board director of Greenfire Resources, he led the restructuring of the insolvent company and grew production from 0 to over 20,000 bbl/d before taking it public on the NYSE at a US$950M valuation. Earlier, he led Canadian oil & gas equity research at Credit Suisse and held exploitation and operations engineering roles at Talisman Energy.
20+ years of heavy oil operations, production and well servicing with Strathcona, Northern Blizzard Resources and CNRL. Operational leadership in the Conventional Heavy Oil Business Unit — 5,000 wellbores, 1,500 active wells — over a period when production grew from 12,000 to over 25,000 boe/d (2016–2025).
20+ years of land strategy and negotiation focused on acquisitions, divestments, and land consolidation across Western Canada. Served as VP Land at Lycos Energy, with prior land roles at Elkhorn Resources and Action Energy. Established relationships with landowners, brokers, and regulators throughout the heavy oil fairway.
Former President & CEO, Gear Energy. Astara Energy Board member, former Astra Oil Board member. 30+ years with Gear Energy, ARC Resources, Talisman Energy, and Gulf Canada.
Former CFO & VP Finance, Gear Energy. 27 years of finance, accounting, and capital markets experience with Deloitte, EnCana, ARC Resources, and Gear Energy.
Former Geophysicist at Gear Energy. 40+ years of exploration and development experience throughout Western Canada.
Technologist — 30+ yrs operations, drilling, surface & mineral land (Gear Energy)
Legal Counsel & Corporate Secretary — Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Hands-on heavy oil experience across verticals, horizontals, multilaterals, secondary recovery, and large-scale operations — complemented by A&D, land, and public and private capital-markets depth.
Team experience drilling 116 wells at CNRL’s Golden Lake asset across Sparky and Waseca targets, with top wells achieving IPs over 300 bbl/d. Modern completion technology applied to legacy vintage wells helped lift production from under 100 to over 1,300 bbl/d through 100+ workovers.
Golden Lake · Sparky · WasecaTeam experience through the drilling evolution from single-lined horizontals to unlined multilaterals, including the first horizontal multilaterals drilled at Gear and Strathcona. Contributed to the Wildmere Cummings J pool discovery (1.5M+ barrels produced to date) and the Paradise Hill McLaren development, which delivered a 3x+ recycle ratio with top wells exceeding 210 Mbbl EUR. Implemented plug-and-perf completions and AICV liners at both Druid and Winter to lift recovery factors.
Wildmere · Paradise Hill · Druid · WinterTeam has extensive experience commercially developing and managing polymer floods at Brintnell, Cactus Lake, East Bodo, Cosine and Bellis — including a $200MM commercial polymer flood expansion at Brintnell. Across these properties the team has drilled ~800 wells, converted 500+ to injectors, held production flat-to-increasing, and achieved recovery factors up to 35%. Additional expertise in waterflood expansion and management at Cactus Lake and Court.
Brintnell · Cactus Lake · East Bodo · Cosine · BellisOperational leadership within a Conventional Heavy Oil Business Unit — 5,000 wellbores, 1,500 active wells — growing production from 12,000 to over 25,000 boe/d (2016–2025) through lift strategies, sand management, and systematic reactivation at scale. Team experience also includes building a SAGD oil sands operation from 0 to over 20,000 bbl/d at Greenfire Resources.
Conventional Heavy Oil BU · SAGD · 25,000+ boe/dHands-on A&D experience from distressed corporate acquisitions to multi-million dollar asset packages — identifying under-optimized assets, leading technical due diligence, and integrating operations post-close. Complemented by 20+ years of land strategy and consolidation across the heavy oil fairway, with established relationships among landowners, regulators, and A&D brokers.
Acquisitions · Divestitures · Land ConsolidationPublic and private capital markets, corporate finance, and restructuring expertise — including taking a company public on the NYSE at a US$950M valuation, raising over US$300M in debt capital, and leading Canadian oil & gas equity research at a global investment bank. Strengthens Raven Rock’s ability to finance acquisitions and access growth capital.
NYSE Listing · US$950M · Capital RaisingOur experience is concentrated in the conventional heavy oil corridor of Eastern Alberta and Western Saskatchewan — the Mannville stack. We know these reservoirs intimately: their geology, their failure modes, and the specific interventions that unlock value.
Our primary target area. Shallow Mannville sand targets (400–900m) with decades of production history, established surface infrastructure, and extensive drilling inventory across stacked vertical, lined horizontal, and unlined multilateral play types.
The team has been active in this corridor continuously since 2008 across multiple operators and capital programs.
Grand Rapids, Clearwater, and McMurray sub-play experience. Knowledge of EOR potential and proximity to major operator infrastructure reduces capital intensity on acquisition targets.
Primary recovery via multizone vertical/deviated and horizontal wells. Secondary recovery through waterflood and polymer EOR for assets with existing pattern infrastructure — delivering low-decline, stable cash flow with recovery factors up to 35%.