Ted Collins, Jr., Midland, TX

1938 – 2018

Inducted 2009

Ted Collins’ father, a pioneering Texas oil man, passed away just as Ted was entering high school. But not before he left Ted some advice: a career in oil should be built on knowledge of its science.  So Ted earned his degree in geological engineering.  Three years out of college, he decided to “go independent,” opening his own office in 1964.  With partners and investors, he bought and sold leases, managed producing fields and grew the business to become the American Quasar Petroleum Company.  It was there, in 1969, he met Herbert Ware. The resulting partnership spanned most of three decades, flourishing through the ‘70s with several discoveries in the Delaware Basin. Collins left in 1982 to become president of Houston Natural Gas, which became Enron…but he resigned in 1988 before their financial misdeeds.  Reunited, Collins and Ware were one of the first to use 3D seismic technology as an exploration tool. This allowed for new discoveries in the Mississippi Reef on the Eastern Shelf, the Fusselman/Ellenburger zones in the Midland Basin, and the Red River Bakken in the Williston Basin. Ultimately, Collins and Ware operated 500 wells here.  They sold the majority of their assets to Apache Corporation in 2000 and Ware passed away a year later.  But Ted Collins has stayed active…and capped his career with another huge success in Rising Star Petroleum.