Chief Reservoir Engineer

David Nelson is a petroleum and geological engineer with over 40 years of experience in the energy and investment banking sectors. He has served in various senior managerial and technical roles, including CEO and President of public and private international and domestic corporations. David currently focuses on acquisition and development projects in unconventional basins in North America, leading the engineering and geoscience teams for multiple successful investment and acquisition projects. 

David began his career with Tenneco Oil Company in Oklahoma City as a geological engineer responsible for developing Tenneco’s assets in the Arkoma and Anadarko Basins of Oklahoma and Arkansas, later moving into the same role with Petro-Lewis in Denver, Colorado.  

David subsequently joined the Investment Banking Firm of Julander, Worster, Nelson (“JWN”).  While at JWN, David carried out reserve and economic analysis for Wall Street firms during the collapse of the high-yield market as part of their work-out efforts. JWN also assisted in developing early coalbed methane and unconventional shale plays in New Mexico, Wyoming, and North Dakota.  
After the fall of the Soviet Union, David joined the Project Management division of Wavetech Geophysical, working with the governments of the resulting FSU to build the technical and economic framework for western investment in Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. David was also responsible for the contract and financial modeling supporting the initial Production Sharing legislation to be approved and implemented by the Russian Federation.

In 2005, David formed Direct Petroleum Inc., serving as Vice President of Exploration and Production.  Direct acquired and operated exploration licenses in the United States, Russia, Bulgaria, and Morocco. Direct’s activities resulted in two major discoveries in Bulgaria, one of which was a new unconventional play age-equivalent to the Haynesville Shale. David became President of Direct in 2010 and managed the sale of the company in 2011. The company’s efforts on the Russian exploration licenses in the Volga Urals province later resulted in discovering a Bakken-equivalent unconventional reservoir. 
In 2012, David was appointed CEO of Esrey Energy (formerly LNG Energy), a TSX listed company. Esrey engaged in exploration activities on a non-op basis in unconventional plays in Poland and Bulgaria and operated five exploration licenses in Papua New Guinea. 

In 2017, David left Esrey to pursue opportunities in unconventional plays in North America, and joined Covenant Natural Resources in 2021 as Chief Reservoir Engineer. Mr. Nelson holds a BS Degree in Geological Engineering from Michigan Technological University and is a member of the school’s Distinguished Alumni Academy