The 7 months after Anadarko announced it was buying KMG and WGR in ‘06 were pretty eye opening for the young engineer named DRW.

I was in Calgary; I loved my job so much (it is hard to remember how young I was) and all my friends were people I had met at work. And then… it happened. June 24, 2006. We announced we were buying not one but two companies for $21b cash! Even though I had nothing to do with it- I was so proud.  We were going to be the best onshore natural gas company ever!! (Ha!)

7 months later- I was living in a hotel in Denver, commuting every week (for 14 months) with a young child, a pregnant wife living at her parent’s and doing my MBA on weekends. And that was the easy part of that year.

The reorg was announced in about January. All the people I had known were laid off, all my bosses were people I didn’t know and it became pretty clear that it wasn’t a merger- It was a takeover- and not by the company I expected.

In a merger, you have to pick your horse. You may be wrong- but most likely- you ride the folks that got you there. The merger was done for the KMG assets and so the people on top were the people that had been running them.  Period. Nothing personal. But man did it sting. 

I left in 2009.

#hottakeoftheday