I’m often asked about the origin of the name Roxanna. There’s a story behind it that will shed a little light on what the company has become over the past thirty years.
Roxanna was the name of the Persian princess who was wedded to Alexander the Great to seal the peace between the Greeks and the Persians.
When Royal Dutch Shell entered the U.S. in the 20’s, the Shell manager (apparently a classics scholar) selected the name Roxanna Oil for the new U.S. company because of its allusions to bridging differing cultures.
When I retired from Shell in ’87 and wanted a name for my new company, I found that Shell had not copyrighted the name or used it in thirty years. I asked their permission to use the name (after I copyrighted it) and they reluctantly agreed. We are now thirty years old and remain a closely held family company with no debt.
For the past seven years Roxanna has specialized in the creation of major new play opportunities, resulting in acreage blocks of up to 250,000 acres for clients and partners. Roxanna is happy to co-invest in these blocks and currently has working and royalty interests in over 500,000 net acres of hydrocarbon-prospective or producing leases.
We have done major projects with Shell, Matador Resources, Marathon Oil, Kimmeridge Energy, Petrohunt, Novus, DG Petro, EPI and OAG Analytics just to name a few. Ask our clients/partners about us.
We help make our associates successful.
– Marlan W. Downey
Chairman, Roxanna Oil Company