John Yates (1929-2022), in the words of Hank Williams Jr., was...

John Yates (1929-2022), in the words of Hank Williams Jr., was just carrying on an old family tradition.

His father, Martin Yates Jr., founded Yates Petroleum. Martin and Mary Yates were true Permian Basin pioneers, drilling their first successful oil well, named the Illinois State #3, just southeast of Artesia, N.M., in 1924. That was mere months after the Santa Rita #1 well in Reagan County, Texas, which is considered the discovery well for the Permian.

John, along with older brothers Harvey, Martin II (known as Bitsy) and Saint Clair Peyton (known as S.P.) also pursued their individual ventures while still taking part in the business started by their father.

Most notably, the Yates brothers developed some of New Mexico’s largest fields, including the Grayburg-Jackson, Loco Hills, Dagger Daw, Empire Abo, Eagle Creek, Penasco Draw, Pecos Slope Abo and many Morrow gas fields.

John was born in Artesia in August 1929, just a few months before the Wall Street crash and start of the Great Depression. Venturing to the other end of the country, he studied economics at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., but returned to his home state and the oil patch.

Although all the brothers pursued their own business interests in addition to Yates Petroleum, he focused on the parent (literally) company with an emphasis on operating wells. By 2005, Yates Petroleum had more than 400 employees and operated more than 5,000 wells, and was the largest lease holder in New Mexico.

“The idea was to all work together,” S.P. Yates wrote in the published family history. “Instead of dividing up the property, we decided we’d keep it and operate it. As time went on, we kept putting more and more into Yates Brothers, even some deals that we had individually. We tried to assure that we were all pulling [together], that we weren’t out competing.”

John served in various leadership roles at Yates Petroleum until he retired as chairman emeritus in 2016, when the company was acquired by EOG Resources for about $2.5 billion.

At the time of the deal, Yates Petroleum held 1.6 million net acres across the western United States, including 186,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin, 138,000 net acres in the Northwest Shelf, 200,000 acres in the Powder River Basin, and an additional 1.1 million net acres in New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and Utah. The company’s production total was 29,600 boe/d (48% crude oil).

Not one to sit in a rocking chair on his porch, John founded the John A. & Charlotte G. Yates Legacy, where he served as chairman of the board until his passing. John served on the National Petroleum Council and was a member of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, American Petroleum Institute and Roswell Geological Society, and has been inducted into the All-American Wildcatters Association. The IPAA awarded him Chief Roughneck of the Year in 1996. He also received an honorary doctorate from New Mexico State University.