In 1995 Joel bought some oil wells and put them under the aegis of Raider Oil and Gas, which has no employees. Robert is now vice president of operations for Liberty, officing in Wink. "He's always been like a father figure to me," said Robert of his brother. One of his first hires was his brother Robert, 13 years his junior but no less an oil patch veteran, having done contract work for Chevron before coming on board with Liberty. It also honored his family's decision to come to America when Solis was 15, in order to take part in the American dream.Īs the business grew, Solis began to need employees. At that time he named the company Liberty Pump and Supply, partly in recognition of the fact that he was no longer an employee, but was running his own business. Because he needed to order parts for his own repair use anyway, adding a few more pieces to the order was easy - thus birthing the first expansion. He continued working for Shell in the daytime, then worked far into the night in his shop.īefore long, pump shop customers began to ask if he also carried parts and other supplies. It was awhile before the shop was profitable enough for Solis to make a living from it. This opportunity seemed like the natural next step for him. Solis took his savings and bought the shop in 1991.īecause of the availability of the pump shop, Solis said it never crossed his mind to simply get another job. As a lease operator for Shell, Solis repaired pumps and other equipment already, so there would be no learning curve involved in operating a repair shop. "(Shell) told me they were planning on selling all their Permian Basin operations and they said, 'You can still retire with Shell, but it will have to be offshore or overseas.'" Solis was living in McCamey with his young family and was not willing to be separated from them.Īt that time he learned of a man who wanted to sell Solis his small pump and oilfield repair shop in McCamey. It was family, in fact, that caused Solis to leave Shell Oil in the early 1990s.
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