PIE Operating

Petroleum Independent & Exploration | Houston, Texas | Founder, Est. 1981

Phil Mulacek founded Petroleum Independent & Exploration Corporation (PIE) in Texas in 1981 with USD 2,500 of capital. More than four and a half decades later, PIE remains the private company behind his oil and gas work, from Texas oil wells to the founding of InterOil.

Oil and gas in the United States

PIE was set up to explore for, drill, complete and produce oil and gas. Under Phil’s direction it operated across the south-western United States, developing and taking part in more than 100 wells at depths from 1,500 to 26,000 feet.

Beyond drilling, PIE designed and built the infrastructure that oil fields rely on, including salt-water disposal systems, waste-oil reclamation, and crude oil treatment and blending facilities.

The company behind InterOil

In 1994, PIE began developing a refinery project for Papua New Guinea, a country that produced oil but had no refinery of its own. PIE led the commercial work that made the refinery viable and managed InterOil’s refinery subsidiary in its early years. PIE also supported InterOil financially during construction, when the young company needed it most.

That project became InterOil Corporation, founded in 1997, which built Papua New Guinea’s first oil refinery and went on to discover the Elk-Antelope gas fields.

PIE today

Today, PIE and its sister companies focus on oil and gas royalty and mineral interests in the United States, holding interests in more than 400 properties covering over 500,000 acres in Texas and Louisiana.

PIE, Phil and affiliates have been the key investors in building Empire Petroleum.