KWK

Quicksilver Resources Inc.

An oil and natural gas exploration company based in Fort Worth, Texas, it pulled fuel from unconventional places like fractured shales and coal beds, with big holdings in the Barnett Shale of Texas and Canada's Horn River Basin. It grew out of the Darden family's Mercury Exploration Company, and its name winks at the old nickname for mercury — the fast-flowing "quicksilver" metal — echoing its Mercury roots. In 2001 it even bought Mercury Exploration's gas assets, keeping the family's liquid-silver theme alive.