History
A Texas oil explorer that went public through a shell in 2002 and chased Colombian oil, then exited it and became a plastics-to-fuel company through a 2025 reverse merger.
2001-2002: A small start and a shell merger
Houston American Energy was four months old in August 2001, with three wells drilled in Lavaca County, Texas and almost no revenue. It registered a merger with Texas Nevada Oil & Gas Co. (TNOG), a dormant shell spun out of Unicorp, Inc. The aim was to gain a shareholder base big enough to create a public market and access to outside capital.
SEC review forced frank disclosure. The company admitted it had never estimated proved reserves or flow-tested a well, and that it survived on 10% demand loans from companies controlled by its sole officer, John Terwilliger. By November the third well, a 16,500-foot test, was a dry hole. In December an internal study forced a $428,887 write-down, restating the loss to September from $40,826 to $469,713. The merger closed on 22 January 2002, with about 596,469 shares (roughly 5% dilution) issued to TNOG holders.
2003-2012: Colombia and the cost of drilling
In February 2003 the company paid $312,500 for a 12.5% interest in Hupecol, LLC and its Tambaqui contract in Colombia, which became its core business for two decades. In April 2006 it raised $16.6 million in a private placement of 5.5 million shares at roughly $3. In November 2006 it said its 2005 quarterly statements could not be relied on, because embedded features in convertible notes and warrants had been wrongly accounted for. Over these years the listing moved through the American Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.
In 2009 it agreed to provide up to $300,000 of financing to bankrupt companies, aiming to buy their seismic data and assets for up to $5.6 million. In October 2009 it finalised a farmout with SK Energy for the CPO-4 block in the Llanos Basin, earning a 25% interest. In December it agreed to place up to 3 million shares at $4.68 each, for gross proceeds of about $14 million.
Drilling brought setbacks. In 2011 the first CPO-4 well, Tamandua #1, hit a strong hydrocarbon kick and stuck pipe, though strong oil and gas shows were seen as encouraging. In May 2012 the company raised about $13.1 million at $2.12 a unit. In June it chose to test the Cachirre #1 well at its own risk after partners wanted to abandon it. In October it raised about $10 million at $0.675 a unit, a price about a third of May's. Shares on issue rose from about 31 million in 2011 to about 52 million in 2012.
2013-2019: Listing trouble and a Permian detour
The record is quiet for 2013 to 2015. In March 2016 the exchange said stockholders' equity of $5.5 million was below the $6 million required after five straight years of losses, and that the stock price was too low. A September deadline was missed and extended to January 2017.
In 2017 the company bought a 25% interest in Reeves County, Texas leases from Founders Oil and Gas III, its first step into the Permian Basin, completed in February for $986,046 and funded by 12% convertible preferred stock. In March it reported equity had fallen to $2.86 million at the end of 2016. In September 2019 it issued $621,052 of 12% bridge loan notes to its CEO, James Schoonover, for $590,000, and in October the exchange set an April 2020 deadline on the low share price. The share count fell from about 62 million in 2018 to about 5 million in 2019, a change the record does not explain.
2025-2026: Becoming Abundia
In February 2025 the company signed a share exchange agreement for a reverse merger with Abundia Global Impact Group, LLC, under which Abundia's owners would receive 94% of the combined company. In March it sold its last Colombian asset, an 18% interest in Hupecol Meta, for $1, confirming a $6.4 million impairment.
The merger closed on 1 July 2025. Abundia Financial held 84.6% directly, Peter Longo became Chairman only, and Edward Gillespie became CEO. In July a $5.43 million convertible note, backed by a $100 million committed equity line, paid for a 25-acre Baytown, Texas site, bought for $8.5 million. In November it raised $8.0 million by selling 2.3 million shares at $3.50. In December it amended its 2021 Alterra Energy licence, securing rights to two more U.S. plastics recycling sites, and said it was in advanced talks to buy RPD Technologies America from its largest stockholder, Abundia Financial.
In February 2026 it restated its third-quarter 2025 results, because a $12.4 million stock success fee paid to Univest Securities had been left out of general and administrative expense. Later that month it raised about $20 million from an institutional investor. On 2 April 2026 it bought RPD Technologies America from its controlling shareholder, Abundia Financial, for $4.04 million, paid by a one-year 10% convertible note. At that date it was a plastics-to-fuel company with about 44 million shares on issue in the 2026 count, building its first plant at Baytown.
Written from the 36 story beats below (2001 to 2 Apr 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.