CIE

Cobalt International Energy Inc

A Houston-based petroleum company that explored for oil and gas in deep water, hunting "below-salt" reserves beneath the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of Angola and Gabon in West Africa. Founded in 2005 by energy veterans, it went public in 2009 and helped develop the Heidelberg field in the Gulf before filing for bankruptcy in 2017. The name nods to the metallic element cobalt, which itself comes from the German "kobold," a goblin blamed by old miners for a troublesome ore.