A.R. "Tony" Sanchez, originally from Laredo, Texas, became a successful lawyer, independent oilman, and entrepreneur. In 1972, he and his father formed the South Texas Exploration Company, changing the name to Sanchez-O’Brien when Brian O’Brien joined the Company in 1973. Together they discovered the Bob West Field located in Zapata and Starr counties in Texas, producing from Wilcox sands. They also found the large Lobo Wilcox Field in Webb County, Texas, north of the Rio Grande River. Later, Sanchez and O’Brien went their separate ways professionally, and Tony established Sanchez Oil and Gas, a family-owned company. He and his sons went on to establish two public companies, Sanchez Energy and Sanchez Production Partners. Both companies are active drilling wells in the Eagle Ford shale plays in Dimmit, Maverick, Gonzales and Fayette counties in Texas and in the Deep Tuscaloosa Marine shale play in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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See Also...

Dietrich Welte: Geologist and Chemist, Leader in Organic Geochemistry, and Father of Modern Petroleum System and Basin Modeling, Part 3
Jim Henry - How New Technology Led to the Discovery and Development of the Wolfberry Oil Play in the Midland Basin Portion of the Permian Basin, West Texas