On the record with Patrick Taylor, named to Forbes list of the 400

New Orleans CityBusiness, Dec 1, 2003 by Amber Bethel

I do have a superior intellect. I know that. But it doesn't take that to be successful, Taylor said. I just wanted to be somebody. I wanted to be better than I was.

Taylor wanted to be an oilman so he started knocking on doors to find out about the best petroleum engineering schools. The decision was easy - Louisiana State University offered free tuition at the time.

Taylor carried 21 credit hours his first semester and kept up the intense study pace, graduating with his bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering in just three and a half years. He joined the Marine Corps officer-training program while in college, taking an honorable discharge two years later due to a heart condition. To this day, he holds the military in the highest regard and remains involved with all branches as well as with law enforcement.

Upon graduation, Taylor went to work for independent oilman John Mecom Sr. whom he considers his biggest mentor.

Taylor said Mecom called him the most argumentative son of a bitch who ever worked for him.

Taylor retains his Southern charm and to this day uses ma'am, sir and other courtesy titles with everyone he encounters. So when Mecom asked him to start calling him by his first name, Taylor was too uncomfortable to do it.

When I'd refer to him in his presence as Mr. Mecom, it hurt his feelings, Taylor said. So I finally settled on calling him 'chief.'

Mecom found out Taylor was bull riding in 1963. He made him choose between his job and his high-risk hobby, telling him he had invested too much in him to lose him. So Taylor quit bull riding and took up skydiving instead.

Three years later, Mecom fired Taylor for parachuting.

My world came crashing down. It was brutal, Taylor said.

Back again

Taylor went to work for another company at double the salary and eventually went into consulting on his own.

Mecom then wanted to work with him again. Taylor hesitantly agreed.

I told him if you ever disagree with me, find yourself somebody else, Taylor said.

One day the pair went up to New York for a meeting and Mecom introduced Taylor, saying Taylor had quit. When they returned to the Waldorff Astoria hotel, Mecom invited Taylor to join him for a nightcap. When they were settling down with a cocktail, Taylor told Mecom he had a bone to pick with him.

You told them that I quit and that's not the way I remember it, Taylor told him. You fired my ass.

Mecom looked at Taylor and told him that no, he had quit.

He wasn't lying, Taylor said. He actually believed it. In his own mind he simply rewrote history.

In 1974, Taylor started Circle Bar Drilling Co. with Mecom as a silent partner. They sold the company in 1979 for $65 million. Mecom's health was weakening and Taylor did not want to be in business with his heirs.

We did sell at the right time, Taylor said. Everything crashed in 1981. Those experiences impressed upon me that I should do things alone.

So he did. Taylor Energy Co. was founded in 1979, and Taylor was adamant that no outside investors would be included.

I don't even have customers. What I produce is sold on the open market, Taylor said.