When Energy and Natural Resources Companies Bring Us In
Energy businesses rarely fail from a single bad price. They fail from a cost structure built for the top of the cycle, capital committed against a price deck that was optimism, leverage that left no room for a bad year, and reporting that could not tell management which assets were actually making money. Our executives step in at these moments.
We Are Most Often Called For:
Are you experiencing operational, market, strategic or leadership disruptions?
The Energy and Natural Resources Businesses We Serve
Energy covers models with little in common on the P&L. An oilfield services company exposed to rig count, a midstream operator living on fee-based contracts, an independent power producer managing offtake and interconnection risk, and an aggregates producer tied to regional construction demand each face different commodity exposure, different capital intensity, and different reasons to worry. Our executives have led companies across these models.
We work with upstream producers and oilfield services companies, midstream, refining and fuel distribution businesses, power generation and utility service providers, renewable energy, storage and energy transition companies, mining, metals and aggregates producers, and forestry, agriculture and water resource businesses. Whether your revenue is set by a commodity strip, a long-term contract, or a regulated rate, we understand where the risk sits, what your lenders are watching, and what it takes to protect value through the cycle.
Deep Experience Across the Sector
Our executives have owned these numbers. They have sat across from a bank group during a borrowing base redetermination, shut in production that could not cover its costs, and rebuilt a budget in a week because the price deck changed. That history shapes the advice.
Upstream & Oilfield Services
Lifting cost and breakeven analysis by asset, reserve-based lending and borrowing base management, hedging strategy and counterparty exposure, rig and crew utilization, equipment maintenance and capital replacement, and the cost structure that has to flex with activity levels.
Midstream, Refining & Fuel Distribution
Contract structure and volume commitments, throughput and utilization by asset, customer and counterparty credit risk, crack spread and margin exposure, terminal and logistics economics, and the maintenance and turnaround planning that protects uptime.
Power Generation & Utility Services
Offtake and PPA structure, capacity and merchant market exposure, plant availability and heat rate performance, regulatory rate cases and compliance, contractor and field service economics, and the capital planning that keeps aging infrastructure reliable.
Renewables, Storage & Energy Transition
Project finance and tax equity structures, interconnection queues and development timelines, incentive and credit eligibility, EPC and supply chain risk, the move from development platform to operating company, and the reporting investors require at each stage.
Mining, Metals & Aggregates
Cost per ton and grade economics, reserve life and permitting risk, equipment fleet and maintenance strategy, freight and logistics to market, reclamation and environmental liabilities, and pricing discipline in regional construction and industrial markets.
Forestry, Agriculture & Water Resources
Land and resource valuation, harvest and yield planning, commodity price and weather exposure, processing and conversion margins, water rights and usage economics, and the working capital cycle that seasonality creates.
Find the Right Operating Executive for Your Business
A CXO Partners executive can assess your assets, your cost structure, and your capital position, stabilize the numbers, and build the financial and operating discipline that carries a company through the cycle.
Steady
Our executives separate the price deck from the P&L quickly. Within weeks they can tell you which assets carry the business, which projects return the capital put into them, and how long your liquidity lasts if prices stay where they are. They make the shut-in, divestiture, and spending calls that management teams defer, with the asset-level data behind them.
Reliable
Lenders, sponsors, and regulators recognize the profile. Our executives have led borrowing base redeterminations, negotiated covenant relief, defended budgets to boards, and answered the diligence questions energy companies face on reserves, contracts, and liabilities. Crews, customers, and counterparties keep moving because someone credible is running it.
Effective
Our executives change what the numbers look like. They rebuild capital allocation around realistic pricing, reset operating costs to survive the trough, strengthen hedging and contract strategy, integrate acquisitions so the synergies actually arrive, and install the reporting that shows returns by asset. The gains hold after they leave.
Why the Downturn Decides the Business
Two energy services companies enter a downturn with the same $80M in revenue. One carries debt at 1.5x EBITDA and a cost structure that is half variable. The other carries debt at 3.5x and a cost structure built for full utilization. Eighteen months later the first company is buying the second company's equipment at auction, and the difference never showed up in a peak-year revenue comparison.
Price sets the revenue, and cost structure sets what survives. When a large share of your costs flex with activity, a price drop compresses margin rather than eliminating it, and you keep the crews and customers you will need in the recovery. When costs are fixed, every point of revenue decline goes straight to cash burn, and the choices get made by your lenders rather than by you.
Discipline starts before the downturn. Capital committed at peak prices, acquisitions priced on peak earnings, and leverage sized to peak cash flow all create obligations that outlast the prices that justified them. Testing every major capital decision against mid-cycle and low-case pricing does more for resilience than any cost program launched after the fact.
Lenders and counterparties get a vote as well. Borrowing bases get redetermined, covenants get tested, and customers renegotiate contracts when their own margins compress. Companies that model those pressures in advance open the conversation with a plan and keep control of the outcome. Companies that do not discover their options narrowed while they were waiting for prices to come back.
Then there is the recovery. The companies that capture it are the ones that kept their best people, maintained their equipment, and preserved the balance sheet capacity to move when assets became cheap. Our executives build that discipline from inside the business, own the number, and stay until it moves.
Results from the clients we’ve served
The team transformed our professional services offerings and accelerated our ability to scale. They also provided expert M&A due diligence and guidance leading to our successful exit. - Bonz Hart, CEO, Meridium
Within a highly challenging environment, Bill was integral to the development of the strategy and execution of the tactics to protect, enhance, and then secure the value of RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ - RIBT). - Multiple Board Members
Mark's biggest contribution has been to inject confidence into our finances and financial reporting for our entire leadership team. We can base our management decisions on his very reliable information and insights. He's an excellent communicator, and under his financial leadership, we've seen our EBITDA increase substantially. - Jay McCumber, CEO, Pine Hill Manufacturing
We leveraged CXO Partners' CFO services to grow. They helped us package two businesses that led to successful M&A exits. I can’t recommend them and Mike Casey highly enough. - Alexei Rojanets, President & CCO, Aptitude Health
Let’s Begin
We enable businesses to focus on core competencies by providing flexible, customized professional services supporting our clients’ strategic objectives.
Schedule a 15-minute call with our team.
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Our Team
Rick Gruenhagen
Richard Rothschild
E. Jeffrey Hutchinson
Alejandro Mainetto
Tracy Deuell
Alan Eddie
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