XEC

Cimarex Energy Co

An independent oil and gas exploration and production company based in Denver, Colorado, that drilled for crude oil and natural gas across the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico and in Oklahoma's shale regions. It was formed in 2002 when the Tulsa-based drilling contractor Helmerich & Payne spun off its exploration-and-production business and merged it with Key Production Company. The founders wanted to call it "Cimarron Exploration," after the Cimarron Territory where their predecessors had worked, but that name was taken — so they blended "Cimar" and "ex" to create Cimarex.