Paul Basinski

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of one of my dearest friends, Paul Basinski. Paul died on April 4, 2018 in a hospital in Houston, never regaining consciousness after a heart transplant. He was 64 and had battled heart trouble for years, though he never spoke of that to anyone. Paul had a huge impact on our industry and he was one of the best geologists I ever encountered. 

I had the opportunity to spend time with Paul well into the mid-night hours, days before his transplant surgery. He had calculated the probabilities of a successful transplant outcome, in a way that would amaze most engineers. He knew the likelihood of getting a donor heart that would be a perfect match and a successful surgery, was not high, and when he was given this opportunity for a new heart with a perfect match, he believed this was not statistically possible and was more in the realms of a miracle. So he believed whole heartily that this transplant opportunity was a miracle for a second chance at life and we talked at great length that night, about what he would do differently if this perfect matches gives him a second chance at life. He talked on and on about how he wanted to spend the first year of his new life to go see and talk to every friend he has, and tell them how much he appreciated their friendship and all they have done for him. He mentioned that he wanted to spend the second year of his new life doing things for others that he had not found time to do. He talked about how blessed his life has been with all the wonderful friendships and wanted to spend the rest of his life being thankful and more giving to everyone he came in contact.

He truly believed if God was going to allow him to have this miracle, his life would be different than ever before. I asked him what he thought were the probabilities of what happens if this surgery doesn’t work out and he doesn’t survive the heart transplant. He told me he had been thinking about that a lot and had talked to every clergy person in the hospital that came to see him and concluded he didn’t deserve to go to heaven but that God had forgiven him for all that he had done and had a place for him in heaven. So his conclusions were if God provides and him a new heart and a second chance of life, he would tell everyone he came in contact about his miracle. He also said he was ok if the surgery didn’t work out because he would be waiting to see me in Heaven on the other side. So we both rejoiced in however the outcome might play out, and with tears in our eyes, we hugged each other and I said good bye that night to one of my dearest friends, not knowing that would be the last time.

The following is an obituary written by Dan Herbeck, a high school friend, and author of “American Terrorist”, with limited data his brother Tommy had collected about Paul’s involvement in the energy business, which they felt they knew very little about. All of us that know Paul personally, and worked with him directly, know he impacted our industry like very few have ever done. I had the privilege of working with Paul when he was at Burlington Resources, before it was acquired by Conoco Phillips. He believed the Eagleford formation had the potential of being a prolific shale play and Luis Baez, Sara Old Martin and myself provided the technical resources to analyze the Eagleford’s capability from Florida to West Texas and identified South Texas as the prominent place it would be found in an over-pressured state. Later, there were so many others that Paul got involved in helping him determine the boundaries and capabilities of one of the largest oil accumulations in the world.

Paul was a dearly loved friend. I am very honored to have known him. Our industry has lost a geologic legend who has touched so many lives in our industry. The Houston Symphony Orchestra, whom he and his wife Rene enthusiastically supported, will be giving a special performance on May 20, 2018 in Paul’s honor, with a “Celebration of Life” party to follow.

https://buffalonews.com/2018/04/20/paul-m-basinski-64-a-fracking-pioneer-who-loved-the-outdoors/