Hart Energy

About Hart Energy

Hart Energy is a Houston-based energy industry publisher and information provider covering the petroleum sector through magazines, online news, data services, conferences, and consulting. Founded in Denver in 1973, the company publishes Oil and Gas Investor, E&P, and Midstream Business, and organizes the widely attended DUG series of shale basin conferences. Its editors and analysts serve energy investors, executives, and professionals with news on shale basins, mergers and acquisitions activity, midstream developments, commodity markets, technology, policy, and the emerging alternative energy sector. In February 2025 the company was acquired by Crain Communications. Its official website is hartenergy.com.

Founding in Denver

Hart Energy was founded in Denver in 1973 as a publisher of oil and gas trade titles. In its early years the company published publications such as the Western Oil Reporter, Drillbit, and the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Directory, serving the Rocky Mountain oil patch from offices above a downtown Denver bus station before moving to better quarters. Owner Don Hart saw an opening for a different kind of energy publication: a sophisticated, glossy magazine with firsthand reporting from the oilfield and field photography that would appeal to the businessman in the energy investor community, in contrast to the black-and-white, technology-focused trade publications of the era. The company built its reputation on expert, timely coverage of the global energy business, a positioning it has maintained for more than five decades.

Oil and Gas Investor

The company's flagship magazine, Oil and Gas Investor, debuted with its August 1981 issue, with the Williston Basin as its cover feature. Executive editor Leslie Haines and editor-in-chief Steve Toon have stewarded the title's coverage of the financial side of the oil and gas business, including exploration and production activity, company profiles, and analysis of industry game-changers. The magazine marked its 35th year in 2016 and remains a monthly publication delivering analysis and exclusive interviews with industry leaders. Deon Daugherty serves as editor-in-chief of Oil and Gas Investor, interviewing executives such as chief investment officers of energy investment firms at the company's conferences. The title has long positioned itself as the leading source of information about the financial world of oil and gas.

Magazine Portfolio

Beyond its flagship, Hart Energy publishes E&P, which covers exploration and production technology and operations, and Midstream Business, which follows the gathering, processing, transportation, and storage segments of the industry. The company has also published FUEL and a range of industry newsletters. The magazines are complemented by online news and data services, including OilandGasInvestor.com, the UGcenter, and the A-Dcenter for acquisition and divestiture professionals. Hart Energy's journalists provide up-to-the-minute news on shale basins, M&A activity, midstream developments, commodity markets, technology, policy and regulation. The company's mission, as it describes it, is to provide information across its platforms to enable business professionals to make knowledgeable, impactful decisions.

The DUG Conference Series

Hart Energy's DUG series of shale basin-focused conferences has become one of the energy industry's premier event franchises. DUG Eagle Ford, launched in 2010 in San Antonio, was named one of America's top 25 fastest-growing events by the Trade Show News Network, with its exhibition floor selling out every year since launch. The series expanded to cover the Permian Basin, the Midcontinent, and other plays, drawing thousands of attendees each year to hear from operators, investors, and analysts. The company also acquired the Executive Oil Conference in Midland from Petroleum Strategies in 2013. Recent editions, including Super DUG 2026 in Houston, have featured interviews with executives such as Energy Transfer executive chairman Kelcy Warren and BPX CEO Kyle Koontz on drilling technology, capital allocation, and market strategy.

Data, Maps, and Research

The company offers an extensive suite of data products, including a searchable database of U.S. and international exploration wells, asset information, buyer-seller listings and deal values, a database of oil and gas debt and equity offerings, price tracking for exploration and production stocks, and GIS datasets and mapping solutions. In October 2010 Hart Energy acquired Rextag Strategies Mapping & Data Services, building a catalog of energy infrastructure assets that became a core data offering; Rextag was sold to Yellow Point Energy Partners in 2025. The company also publishes shale play maps, playbooks, the North American Unconventional Yearbook, and research studies, and provides consulting services. Its A&D-focused products serve acquisition and divestiture professionals evaluating transactions across the upstream and midstream sectors.

Ownership History

Hart Energy's ownership has changed hands several times over its history. Phillips International acquired the company in 1991 and sold it in 2000 for more than 100 million dollars. In March 2004 the company was acquired by its management and renamed Hart Energy Publishing, LP. The management-led era saw the expansion of the DUG conferences, the acquisition of Subsea Engineering News in May 2013, and the growth of the data and mapping businesses. In February 2025, Detroit-based Crain Communications announced it had acquired Hart Energy for an undisclosed amount, adding the energy publisher to a portfolio of 21 business media brands that includes Automotive News, Ad Age, Pensions & Investments, and Modern Healthcare, along with Crain's city business publications in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and New York.

Recognition and Industry Initiatives

Hart Energy publishes an annual listing of influential women in energy, recognizing leaders across the industry. Its E&P magazine presents the Hart Energy Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation, honoring technological advances in exploration and production. The company has also awarded Refining and Energy Company of the Year honors to national and international companies. In 2023 the company celebrated its 50th anniversary with a Hall of Fame event at the A.D. Players Theater in Houston, recorded for Hart Energy LIVE, honoring figures who shaped the modern energy industry. These initiatives reflect the company's role as an institution within the energy business, documenting and celebrating the industry it covers.

Leadership and Newsroom

Hart Energy is led by chief executive John Hartig, chief financial officer Chris Arndt, and chief technology officer Mark Chiles. Its editorial leadership includes executive editor-at-large Nissa Darbonne, a longtime figure in the company's coverage of the upstream sector, and journalists such as Jordan Soto, who covers industry events and executives for Hart Energy LIVE. The company's reporters and editors are based in Houston, the center of the U.S. oil and gas industry, with the company's coverage extending worldwide. Muck Rack and other media directories describe the company as the energy industry's most trusted source for news and analysis for an audience of high-level executives and investors, a positioning built over more than 50 years of continuous publication.

Digital and Multimedia Presence

Hart Energy's website, hartenergy.com, delivers daily news, featured stories, and multimedia coverage of the energy sector, including video interviews and event coverage produced under the Hart Energy LIVE banner. The company's content spans upstream, midstream, and downstream topics as well as technology and innovation, energy market transactions, and international markets. Its newsletters and online data services complement the print magazines, and its conferences generate year-round editorial content from executive presentations and panels. The digital platform serves as the hub for the company's integrated offerings of news, data, events, and research.

Access and Subscriptions

Hart Energy's magazines and data services are sold on a subscription basis, with offerings ranging from individual magazine subscriptions to premium online packages that include exploration and production activity data, maps, white papers, and company profiles. Its conferences are ticketed events that draw operators, investors, bankers, and service companies. Under Crain Communications' ownership, the company has said it will provide readers and business partners with more ways to access its content. For subscriptions, event registration, and the latest energy news, visit the official website at hartenergy.com.