Admiral’s Management Team
Brings decades of experience and a strong track record of creating value by successfully acquiring, building, operating, optimizing and monetizing upstream and midstream assets throughout the Permian basin. Our leadership is deeply aligned with investor interests, prioritizing profitable growth, prudent risk management, and capital efficiency.
Denzil West, P.E.
Chief Executive Officer
Jason Henderson
Chief Financial Officer
Michelle Estes
Vice President of Operations
Jay Blaylock
Vice President of Geosciences
Tyler West
Vice President of Engineering
Cameron Null
Vice President of Finance
Travis Hutt
Vice President of Land
Grant Sirgo
Business Development Manager
Jeremy Ward
Drilling Manager
Ryan West
Completions Manager
Chad O’Connor
Production Manager
Candace Clark
Controller
Denzil West, P.E.
Chief Executive Officer
Denzil West is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Admiral Permian and is a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.
Prior to founding Admiral in 2017, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Reliance Energy where he was primarily responsible for the technical, operational, and financial performance of the company. During that 10-year engagement at Reliance, he also was a co-founder in two regional intrastate midstream companies that Reliance and partners successfully built and monetized.
Prior to Reliance, Denzil was an independent investor and started multiple successful companies.
In his early career he was a petroleum engineer with ARCO Oil and Gas working in the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain, and Permian Basin regions. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association for many years and currently serves on the Executive Committee. In addition, he served for many years as a Board Director of Vesta Energy Ltd, a Calgary based E&P. In 1981, Denzil earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M.
Jason Henderson
Chief Financial Officer
Jason Henderson joined Admiral Permian as a co-founding member, serves as Chief Financial Officer and is on the Company’s Board of Directors. He has over 25 years of oil and gas corporate finance and banking experience. Mr. Henderson’s focus has been on the upstream sector, however, he also has extensive midstream experience in gas gathering and processing and crude oil gathering. Prior to Admiral Permian, Mr. Henderson joined the Reliance Energy in 2012 and served as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. He was responsible for all corporate finance matters of the Reliance group of companies and played a key role in the strategy, development and monetization of the upstream and midstream business units in 2016. Before joining Reliance, Mr. Henderson spent 13 years at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB), most recently as a Managing Director and US Head of the Reserve Based Finance group. Mr. Henderson earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from Saint Mary’s University in 1998.
Michelle Estes
Vice President of Operations
Michelle Estes serves as Vice President of Operations for Admiral Permian, bringing over 30 years of oil and gas engineering and operations expertise to the role. Her career has primarily focused on conventional and unconventional plays in the Permian Basin. At Admiral, Ms. Estes oversees all operational and engineering functions across the company’s properties, including drilling, completions, production, infrastructure, and daily operations. She is also responsible for health, safety, and environmental (HSE) management, overseeing master service agreements (MSAs), and assisting in the negotiation and securing of midstream marketing contracts. Before joining Admiral, Ms. Estes was Vice President of Operations at Reliance Energy, where she handled similar responsibilities. Prior to Reliance, she served as North Permian Production Engineering Manager at Apache Corporation, managing property development, engineering, and a team of engineers and artificial lift specialists. Ms. Estes began her career as a Petroleum Engineer at Texaco, later advancing to Senior Operations Engineer at XTO Energy, where she remained until joining Apache. Ms. Estes holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University, which she earned in 1995.
Jay Blaylock
Vice President of Geosciences
Jay Blaylock serves as Vice President of Geoscience for Admiral Permian and he has over 25 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and development. Prior to joining Admiral, Mr. Blaylock served as Vice President of Geoscience (2013-2016) and Geoscience Manager (2008-2013) at Plantation Petroleum, where he focused on exploration, development, and asset evaluation in the Permian Basin. From 2007 to 2008, he worked for Whiting Petroleum Corporation where he evaluated the Permian Basin as a Geoscientist. Mr. Blaylock began his career as a Geophysicist at Marathon Oil in 1999, before moving to Anadarko Petroleum in 2000. While at Anadarko, he worked a variety of domestic and international basins, including the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast, Alaskan North Slope, Norwegian Sea, West Africa, and Maturin Sub-Basin in Venezuela. Mr. Blaylock earned BS degrees in Geophysics and Geology from Texas A&M in 1996, and a MS in Geophysics from Colorado School of Mines in 1999.
Tyler West
Vice President of Engineering
Tyler West is the Vice President of Engineering at Admiral Permian, where he leads engineering and operational strategies with a focus on optimizing development in the Permian Basin. Mr. West also serves as a member on the Company’s Board of Directors. With over 15 years of experience in oil and gas, Tyler has a deep understanding of engineering, operations, and asset development. Before joining Admiral, he served as Engineering & Operations Manager at Reliance Energy, overseeing the company’s ~32,000-acre core asset in the Northern Midland Basin. He began his career at Merit Energy in 2009, gaining experience in operations, reservoir, and production engineering before transitioning to acquisitions and divestitures. Tyler holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2009.
Cameron Null
Vice President of Finance
Cameron Null serves as Vice President of Finance at Admiral Permian. He has over 22 years of oil and gas corporate finance and banking experience. Mr. Null also serves as a member on the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Null’s focus has been on the upstream sector, however, he also has experience in the oil and gas midstream sector. Most recently, Mr. Null served as Director of Finance for Reliance Energy. He joined Reliance in 2012 and was responsible for supporting all corporate finance matters, including capital raising, budgeting, acquisition and divestiture valuations, hedging, internal and external reporting and compliance. Before joining Reliance, Mr. Null spent 6 years at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB), most recently as a Vice President for the Reserve Based Finance group. Prior to joining SGCIB, Mr. Null spent 3 years at Comerica Bank predominately working on upstream, midstream and energy service transactions. Mr. Null earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Houston in 2002.
Travis Hutt
Vice President of Land
Travis Hutt serves as Vice President of Land at Admiral Permian, bringing more than 15 years of experience in oil and gas land management. He joined Admiral in 2021 after holding the position of Vice President of Land at Victerra Energy, a private equity backed E&P company focused on exploration and development in the Delaware Basin.
Throughout his career, Mr. Hutt has held a range of leadership roles in land management and business development across the upstream sector. He has successfully led investments and managed multiple private mineral and leasehold funds. Mr. Hutt holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Energy Commerce from Texas Tech University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Grant Sirgo
Business Development Manager
Grant Sirgo is the Business Development Manager for Admiral Permian and brings over 10 years of Permian private E&P experience to his role. He joined Admiral in 2018, initially serving in various Operations and Production Engineering functions before being appointed to lead the company’s Business Development efforts in 2021. In this capacity, Mr. Sirgo focuses on deal sourcing, financial underwriting, and asset capture strategies to grow Admiral. Previously, Mr. Sirgo worked with Three Rivers Operating Company II & III as a Drilling Engineer. During his tenure at Three Rivers, he oversaw the execution of over 100 vertical and horizontal wells prior to the company’s successful exits of Three Rivers II & III in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Mr. Sirgo holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jeremy Ward
Drilling Manager
Mr. Ward serves as Drilling Manager at Admiral Permian, bringing more than 22 years of experience in drilling engineering and operations. His career has been focused in the Permian Basin, where he has led multi-rig drilling programs and championed initiatives that improve both performance and cost efficiency. Jeremy is recognized for his expertise in engineering complex well designs, including multi-well horizontal pads, U-turn wells, and other technically challenging projects. He joined Admiral Permian in 2018 after serving as Drilling Engineering Supervisor at Parsley Energy. Prior to that, he held drilling engineering roles at Occidental Petroleum and Apache Corporation. Jeremy began his career on the service side, first as a Cement Engineer with Halliburton and then as a Well Planning Engineer at Intrepid Directional Drilling. Mr. Ward holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University.
Ryan West
Completions Manager
Mr. West is the Completions Manager at Admiral Permian. He has over 15 years of oil and gas engineering and operations experience across three unconventional plays, including Eagle Ford, Midland and Delaware Basins. Mr. West joined Admiral in 2018 as the Completions Manager to facilitate and manage the completion program for their Delaware Basin asset. Under his direction, the Admiral completions program has been top decile in both operational performance and execution costs versus public Delaware Basin peers. Prior to joining Admiral, Mr. West was a Senior Completions Engineer for EOG Resources, overseeing completion projects in the Texas Delaware. Prior to EOG, he spent several years at SM Energy as a Facilities Engineer and a Completions Engineer in the South Texas Eagle Ford and Midland Basin in the Permian. Mr. West began his career as a Project Manager in Houston managing extensive land developments for large developers in the Houston area. Mr. West earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2006 and a Professional Engineering license in 2010.
Chad O’Connor
Production Manager
Mr. O’Connor serves as Production Manager at Admiral Permian, where he leads multidisciplinary teams overseeing facilities design and construction, production engineering, well design, artificial lift systems, and field operations. With over 17 years of oil and gas engineering and operational experience, Mr. O’Connor has worked across both conventional and unconventional plays in major U.S. basins, including the Permian, Anadarko, Eagle Ford, Barnett, Gulf Coast (onshore), and DJ Basin. Prior to joining Admiral Permian, he was Engineering Manager for Apache Corporation’s Mid-Continent region. During his tenure at Apache, he also held various leadership and technical roles including Production Foreman and engineering positions in production, completions, and reservoir. Mr. O’Connor began his career with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, working in the Barnett Shale and DJ Basin as a Petroleum Engineer in production, completions, and drilling. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University, which he earned in 2008.
Candace Clark
Controller
Mrs. Clark has served as Controller at Admiral Permian since 2017. In this role, she oversees all aspects of accounting, as well as many functions of treasury and HR. Collectively, she has over 21 years of experience in oil and gas accounting. She previously served as Controller at Remora Petroleum from 2015-2017 and Assistant Controller at Three Rivers Operating Company from 2012-2015. Prior to her transition to industry, she worked her way through the ranks at Ernst & Young in Houston to the role of Audit Manager. While at Ernst & Young, she served primarily oil and gas clients, including Apache Corporation, Sheridan Production Partners, and Tetra Technologies. Mrs. Clark graduated from Texas State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude, and a Master of Accountancy. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.