Tyler Abadie is doubling down on oil and gas. Even though some market segments are transitioning to renewables, he feels traditional forms of energy will continue to play a significant role for years to come.
That’s why he rebranded and repurposed his engineering and consulting firm into ABADIE, a nationally recognized firm focused on the development, investment, operations and management of midstream assets and energy-related portfolio companies.
Abadie’s upward trajectory has been swift. A few years after graduating from LSU with a degree in civil engineering, he saw an opportunity: there weren’t many engineering, consulting and field management firms servicing smaller, independent oil companies. “At 26, I began to serve that niche,” he says.
Abadie wasn’t a traditional engineer. He didn’t mind going out in the field to understand his clients at a macro and micro level, and that made him an invaluable resource. He took on various critical roles, such as engineering and operations lead for Harvest-Marks Pipeline, a private equity joint venture acquiring Chevron and British Petroleum Cypress Pipeline assets in southeast Louisiana. While there, he worked directly with ownership to achieve revenue benchmarks and managed daily operations.
The oil bust of the mid 2010s dropped another opportunity in his lap. As major oil companies began divesting their assets, his clients were in a position to acquire them. “So, they turned to me, 27 years old at the time, to help them,” he adds. “That was a real catalyst for us, and we kept growing and growing.”
Eventually, Abadie moved to Mandeville and re-branded the firm as ABADIE. “I decided that if people were going to exit these traditional energy spaces, we were going to re-enter as a different entity,” Abadie says. “That’s how ABADIE was formed.” To date, he has been involved as an owner’s representative, strategic consultant and due diligence advisor for more than $1 billion in acquisitions and divestments between major corporations and independent operators.
Abadie has been careful to maintain his company’s identity throughout its various iterations. That, he admits, can be a complex dance. “The individuals who get you from Point A to Point B are often not the same ones that get you to Point C, but you want to make sure you don’t lose your identity and that you stay loyal and valued to those individuals that helped you get to where you are.”
Read more about the next generation driving Louisiana’s industrial future.
