Permian Experts
Our experience and execution make us the top choice for mineral owners.
Company Profile
Contender Energy Partners, LP is a well-funded mineral and royalty acquisition firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Contender was founded by Chase Gibson and Kevin Christian, who cut their teeth in the Permian by buying and selling minerals with their own capital earned from successful drilling and operations. Success and growth came quickly to the team. Their track record and transaction history soon enticed expanded funding opportunities, and Contender Permian II, LP was formed in partnership with a group of Texas-based family offices. Contender is Texan managed and Texan funded. We have closed over 175 mineral and royalty transactions covering over 250,000 gross acres in the Permian. This acreage stretches across 10 counties in Texas and New Mexico, including over 250 producing or permitted horizontal wells.
We utilize proven analytics to target buy areas, evaluate prospects, and acquire mineral interest while working directly with mineral owners to improve the speed and quality of our deals. Sometimes the process can get complicated, but our educational approach builds confidence in sellers and our experience and flexibility enables us to reliably execute.
We diligently strive for clarity and transparency at each step in the process, providing succinct, time-tested documentation sellers can easily absorb and understand. We are happy to work with a family’s legal, tax, and financial planning advisors to ensure the deal is structured clearly, properly, and tax efficiently. Through proper alignment with mineral owners, we leverage our knowledge to efficiently secure and close deals time and time again.

Our Culture
Contender’s culture prioritizes relationships and repeatable results.
We are proud that families and industry sellers often come back to us for repeat business. Whether to sell more acreage or refer relatives, roughly half of our new opportunities are referred from past satisfied sellers. Industry partners consistently return to us, having become accustomed to our predictable and reliable due diligence and acquisition process.
Contender’s Values

Mineral ownership is about legacy and heritage centered on family, trust, and longstanding relationships. We strive to honor families with patience and integrity while listening to their needs and understanding their goals. Mineral owners, operators, and brokerage firms can count on our actions to match our words, and our execution to match expectations.
Mineral owners trust us to guide them through the selling process, and we do not take that responsibility lightly. We have crafted an efficient and effective, proven process. When necessary we slow down and educate families about the particulars of buying and selling, and current market dynamics that relate to their property. Sometimes that educational process may influence a family to retain their minerals, or sometimes they are inclined to sell half of their holdings. Regardless, we strive to inform and empower families to make prudent and attractive selling decisions in light of realistic market opportunities, future risks, potential tax implications, and personal financial planning. These strategies have earned us a trusted reputation, which itself is a distinct differentiator in the oil and gas industry. That is a reputation we intend to keep.
Our Process
Prospect Discovery
Sourcing attractive opportunities through relationship building and strategic partnerships.
Streamlined Valuation
Typically deliver feedback and offers to families and brokers within 24 hours.
Reliable Offer
No smoke and mirrors. The offer we make is what we pay.
Efficient Diligence
Industry leading, three week due diligence periods. We pay faster.
Confident Closing
Most dependable buyer in the Permian. We’ve transacted 100% of deals we’ve contracted.