Pioneer Companies history

The drive to exploit mineral mining and marketing continued until 1988, when mineral sales represented only 5% of Pioneer's total revenue.

Ill health forced Quirk into early retirement, and in April 1989 Rodney Price was appointed managing director.

Mesa CEO Jon Brumley initiated the merger after Richard Rainwater, a wealthy investor who saved Mesa from bankruptcy in 1996, hired Brumley for the purpose of helping Mesa grow beyond its debt-ridden state.

In the fourth quarter Pioneer took a noncash write-down of $863 million on certain reserves, resulting in a loss of $890.7 million on revenues of $546 million in 1997.

Through a joint venture with state-owned Soeker Exploration & Production Pty, Ltd., in which Pioneer owned a 49 percent interest, the company made the Sable oil discovery in shallow water offshore South Africa in June 1998.

In the deepwater Gulf, a joint venture made the March 1999 Aconcagua discovery in a lease property known as Mississippi Canyon Block 35, in which Pioneer owned a 25 percent interest.

Oil and gas prices continued to rise during 2000, however, allowing Pioneer to improve its balance sheet without the bonds and to expand its holdings through incremental increases in existing interests.

Shareholders approved the merger in December 2001; four partnerships, however, did not approve the merger and remained partially owned subsidiaries of the company.

Gas production began at the Camden Hills discoveries at Canyon Express in September 2002, extracting 110 to 120 MMcfd of gas with prices rising to new highs.

Progress in other international locations involved renegotiation of Pioneer's exploration interests in Gabon and initial production at the Sable field, after some delays due to problems with leased equipment, in late 2003.