Matador Resources was founded in 2003 by Joseph Wm. Foran and Scott E. King, launching with modest initial capitalization. Over time it built its identity as a U.S. independent exploration & production (E&P) firm focused on hydrocarbon resource plays. Its name officially changed from Matador Holdco, Inc. to Matador Resources Company in 2011, consolidating its public identity around the E&P business.
Matador’s operational focus lies in unconventional shale and tight resource plays across the United States. Its core acreage and development efforts center on the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations in the Delaware Basin (Southeast New Mexico & West Texas). In addition, it maintains positions and potential activity in the Eagle Ford shale (South Texas), and natural gas–rich formations such as the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley in Northwest Louisiana.
Alongside upstream E&P operations, Matador also runs midstream-related businesses to support and capture value from flow, gathering, and treatment functions. For example, it provides gas processing, oil transportation, gathering of produced fluids, and disposal services (especially for produced water) both to its own operations and third parties in its core basins. This vertical integration helps the company exert more control over cost, logistics, and flow assurance in its targeted regions.
Strategically, Matador seeks to grow its reserves, production, and cash flows through disciplined investment, optimized well development, and opportunistic acquisitions. The company emphasizes cost efficiency, technical optimization in drilling and completion, and prudent capital deployment. In recent years, Matador has pursued bolt-on deals to expand its Delaware Basin footprint, strengthening its midstream tie-ins and scale. Its long-term position depends heavily on effectively managing commodity cycles, balancing upstream and midstream execution, and sustaining reservoir and acreage depth in key basins.