Times may be tough all around, but Houston is home to a new onshore exploration and production company, one that initially plans to look for opportunities in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, the CEO said Thursday.

Houston-based Invictus Energy LLC was launched in December and this week secured a $150 million private equity commitment from Kayne Anderson Energy Funds and management.

The independent is led by CEO Kevin Green, who told NGI’s Shale Daily that the executive team he is helming brings a wealth of U.S. onshore experience to the table.

“I was an opportunity/asset manager for the Piceance Basin, Barnett Shale and Eagle Ford assets for ConocoPhillips [COP],” Green said. “Elliott Hough, the Invictus Energy COO, and I worked together at COP. After he retired from COP, he became the reservoir engineering manager for the Eagle Ford Shale project at Rosetta Resources Inc.”

Hough, CFO Robert Estrada and Vice President of Land Jon Moreland all were formerly employed in North American land operations for ConocoPhillips or Noble Energy Inc. and/or Rosetta Resources Inc. Noble and Rosetta merged last year (see Shale Daily, Nov. 12, 2015; May 11, 2015).

Hough was Noble’s manager of geology and reservoir engineering in the Eagle Ford, and he held a similar position with Rosetta before the merger. Estrada previously worked for Rosetta, while Moreland had been Noble’s land supervisor in South Texas until December; he previously was land manager for Rosetta’s South Texas assets.

“We are interested in pursuing undeveloped acreage in the Eagle Ford, Wolfcamp and Spraberry shale plays,” Green said. The Wolfcamp and Spraberry are two of the main draws today in the Permian. Invictus, Latin for “unconquered,” also plans to pursue leasehold opportunities “with scalable development upside” in select North American basins.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to partner with a like-minded, technically focused equity provider in Kayne Anderson, which has a consistent and successful track record partnering with management teams in the energy space.”

Kayne Anderson’s private equity portfolio in the energy space is deep and wide, with funds directed to producers, midstreamers, oilfield services and pipeliners that have included Caddo Resources, Catera Energy, Catamount Energy Partners, Crestwood Midstream, Cross Creek Energy, Crusader Energy, Ensign Oil & Gas, MarkWest Energy, Meridian Resource Corp., Momentum Oil and Gas, Plains All American Pipeline, Plains Resources, Quintana Minerals and Riverbend Exploration & Production.