Aubrey McClendon built a reputation for bucking industry views while he built Chesapeake Energy into one of the largest US natural gas producers by volume and helped pioneer the country’s unconventional resource revolution led by independent producers. McClendon also gained a reputation for bleeding shareholder cash as Chesapeake amassed a huge debt load before his involvement in a questionable well ownership program ultimately forced him out of the company he created.

McClendon has since moved on to a new shale gas venture and has maintained his outspoken ways. Speaking to the audience at a shale gas conference in Dallas, he extolled the virtues of US independent oil and gas producers that tend to be more nimble and less risk averse than their major oil company cousins.

“There is no worldwide equal of the U.S. independent producer, who is a hugely entrepreneurial creature,” he said at the World Shale Oil & Gas Summit in Dallas. “We will always be able to do things here that the majors cannot.” – Aubrey McClendon as reported by the Dallas News

His main point is that it’s unlikely US unconventional oil and gas development success will be replicated in other countries. With ExxonMobil and Chevron going big in Argentina’s nascent shale plays and numerous other attractive unconventional prospects drawing attention around the globe, the jury is still out on that.