To know oil and gas producer Tom Ward is to understand his dyed-in-the-denim Okla., roots and a legacy he calls all his own. Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from Ward, coined a “natural gas icon” by Bloomberg in 2017—the same year he launched Okla. City-based Mach Resources.

With a resume that includes co-founding Chesapeake Energy in 1989 along with Aubrey McClendon, Ward went on to form Sandridge and later Tapstone before hitting the accelerator to launch Mach. He then made a U-turn back to Chesapeake, where Mach snapped up 238,000 net acres in the Mississippi Lime for about $500 million, marking the company’s first acquisition.

Since then, Mach has kept Mid-Continent-focused, making as many as 12 other deals in Western Okla., Southern Kans., and the Texas Panhandle where Ward specializes in “finding wealth in under-performing plays.” The Anadarko Basin fits that bill to a T, offering up 57% of Mach’s total production. With more than 2,000 undeveloped drilling locations, the company today operates 936,000 net acres and 4,500 wells producing 65 MBOED, along with gathering, processing, and saltwater disposal assets.

Ward’s ambition, shared with financial partner Bayou City Energy, has never wavered from buying up unwanted or bankrupt shale assets and turning them to profit. Ward now plans to take Mach Resources public, revving up that same ambition with more horses in the engine and a big dose of Okla., gumption.