Carnelian Energy Capital

Co-Founders and Partners Tomas Ackerman and Daniel Goodman lead investment decisions. Both came from NGP Energy Capital Management, where they gained direct experience deploying institutional capital into North American energy assets, before launching Carnelian in 2015.

The firm targets lower-middle-market upstream exploration and production companies and midstream infrastructure assets in onshore U.S. basins, including the Permian, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, and DJ Basin. It generally seeks equity investments in companies with enterprise values under $500 million.

Carnelian closed its third fund, Carnelian Energy Capital III, at $1.0 billion in June 2022, exceeding its $800 million target. Aggregate capital commitments across the firm's three funds total $1.9 billion (per the firm, 2022).

Carnelian deploys capital almost exclusively through direct equity investments into platform companies, typically taking control or significant minority positions. It does not publicly operate as a fund-of-funds or make LP commitments to other managers.

Tomas Ackerman and Daniel Goodman founded Carnelian in 2015 following their tenure at NGP Energy Capital Management. They launched the firm to pursue a strategy they believed was underserved: backing small, founder-operated energy companies in a period of widespread institutional retrenchment from the sector.

The firm invests across major U.S. onshore basins including the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, Haynesville Shale, and Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, selecting areas where it identifies cost-advantaged, low-decline or infrastructure-supported production.

Carnelian is an investment management firm structured as a traditional private equity fund manager, not a family office. It raises committed capital from institutional limited partners through a series of blind-pool, closed-end funds.