With all the noise about Canadian Natural Resources’ recent takeover of Rio Alto Exploration, another significant oilpatch merger almost got lost in the shuffle.

And you can’t shake the feeling that’s the way the deal’s primary architect, Clay Riddell of Paramount Resources Ltd., likes it.

Now in his mid-60s, Paramount’s founder and president had been eyeballing the target, Summit Resources, since the late 1990s when it first went up for sale.

Paramount Resources Ltd. photo
Paramount president Clay Riddell was architect of the recent merger with Summit Resources.

Things didn’t work out then, but his decades in the ’patch have taught Riddell patience. When Summit again became available this spring, the deal was done in jig time.

Something about Summit – notwithstanding its $80-million debt load – appealed to Riddell’s sense of symmetry.

“Between the two companies, we control the bulk of (natural gas reserves) in west- central Alberta,” said Riddell. “That’s what attracted us.”

This was the largest ($252 million) acquisition in the company’s 23-year history and, as such, somewhat out of character.

Riddell’s approach has been methodical, almost plodding. He advances by placing one prudent foot in front of the other. Paramount has grown by degrees, on an inclined plane rather than via skyrocket.

“Until now, we’ve never made any large acquisitions. And this one was purchased with cash, not with stocks,” he stressed.

“We treat our equity as something very important. We never wanted to get bigger for the sake of getting bigger.”

No doubt the shareholders appreciate the strategy. Because even with gas prices softer than Mike Duffy’s midsection, analysts have generally agreed Paramount (POU-TSX) remains a strong buy for oil and gas investors.

Much of that is due to the style of Riddell, who craftily muttered he sees no reason to retire as long as there’s still so much work to do around the office.

Though one of the ablest – and wealthiest – operators around, Riddell answers his own phone, wears shirts open at the collar and almost seems lost atop the spiral staircase that leads to his splendiferous Bankers Hall office.

A celebrity CEO he ain’t. You’re more likely to mistake the quiet-spoken bossman for the pleasant old gentleman who runs the mail room.

But last December, Canadian Business magazine estimated his personal worth at $55 million. And when Paramount’s annual report assures you 54 per cent of company shares are owned by management, it’s because Riddell holds almost half the shares himself.

He got his expertise the old-fashioned way, by staining his boot heels with tundra mud. Trained as a geologist, Riddell spent three months a year mooching through the north from the 1950s through the early 1970s, prospecting for Chevron.

Perhaps as a result of his by-the-bootstraps training, his views on matters such as proposed northern pipelines seem, well . . . the tiniest bit Neanderthal.

Or maybe they’re just common sense. His first-hand knowledge of the north has convinced him, for example, that environmental fears about overland pipelines are so much hot air.

“If it was my choice, I’d build an Alaska pipeline right across the (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) from Alaska to the Mackenzie Valley, and south from there,” Riddell mused.

“This isn’t even on the table, but if they tried it, they’re not gonna hurt the environment at all,” he continued. “In my view, they wouldn’t threaten the caribou herd. But everybody’s afraid to suggest you could build a pipeline across the wildlife reserve.”

Riddell pointed out he has no axe to grind, since Paramount, which deals almost exclusively (90 per cent) in natural gas, has no holdings on the Alaska side. But the company does control large chunks of the Liard, Colville Lake and Cameron Hills reserves in the Northwest Territories.

Riddell believes it’s just a matter of time before a Mackenzie Valley pipeline becomes a reality. Nevertheless, his ardour remains tempered with that characteristic caution Paramount shareholders have come to know and love.

“There seem to be enough reserves to justify a pipeline,” reflected the methodical non-celebrity.

“But before that huge expenditure, there will have to be a lot of delineation drilling to ensure the reserves are really there,” he cautioned.

Before he excused himself to keep his next appointment, Riddell was asked whether his years of experience give him a leg up on the energy industry’s new breed of young keeners.

“Probably not,” he drawled with that aw-shucks grin. “I get as excited as everybody else about going forward when prices are high. And I probably over-pay for things, too.”

That’s Riddell’s story. But we don’t have to buy it.