Rusty Hutson isn’t your typical gas producer. As the founder and CEO of Ala.-based Diversified Energy, he walks his own path—even one he didn’t expect to find again....

If there’s a soul alive in the shale business who hasn’t heard of Harold Hamm, well, God bless your heart. The CEO of Okla. City-based Continental Resources is not only legend among American wildcatters who bet big and won big, he could also well be the GOAT of modern times....

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the C-suite when “advanced talks” of a potential merger conclude with a final agreement. There’s a certain romanticism to the dance—at least one can envision—when negotiations are at last settled, and a hard-fought deal is ultimately reached that promises more bounties ahead....