Davies, who previously served as chief financial officer at QGC, had been asked to come aboard VicPet by shareholders who had also been with QGC.

"VicPet had a lot of history, had some good assets, [but] it needed to be completely focused in what it did and that's really what I saw I could bring to the company," Davies said.

Since taking the reins in July 2010, Davies has had an eventful time at VicPet, through its name change to Senex Energy, hanging on to its stake of Impress Energy until close to the last minute before accepting Beach Energy's takeover offer, and the acquisition of Stuart Petroleum, which he described as his defining moment at Senex so far.

"When it comes to the value … no one would argue that Victoria Petroleum was hugely undervalued and it is easy to argue that Stuart Petroleum was undervalued," he said.

"Stuart brought reserves and production which was something VicPet desperately needed after the terrible floods in the Cooper.

"It also brought that large-scale, high-risk, high-reward business, namely unconventional gas in the Cooper - shale gas.

"VicPet brought growth in the western flank oil that will make the whole thing happen."

Davies said while there had been a learning curve associated with leading a company for the first time, he was having a blast.

"It is absolutely fantastic," he said.

But at what point did Davies take his first step into the oil and gas industry or more broadly the resources industry?

Davies believes that it dates back all the way to when he started with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Brisbane tax practice, fresh out of the University of Queensland with a bachelor of business - accounting.

He was placed straight into corporate taxation in the giant accounting firm's Energy and Mining division.

"That started the whole thing in energy and mining, specifically quite a bit to do with gas and gold in my early days. But really it is the gas that stuck in my veins," Davies said.

"When you are in energy-mining, you rarely get out of it; you get it in your blood."

Davies then moved to Barclays Capital in London as an investment banker for nearly three years followed by a short stint at Austock Corporate Finance where he became re-acquainted with Richard Cottee, who he knew from his time at PwC.

The meeting was to lead to his eventual entry into QGC, the arguable leader in coal seam gas exploration and development.

However, there was no honeymoon period for Davies upon his appointment as QGC's CFO. In his second week in the role, Davies was packing his suitcase and flying to Singapore to kick-off negotiations with what would lead to the joint venture with BG Group.

"I led the negotiations of the detailed documents of the deal. That was pretty fantastic," he said.

"Following that there was the acquisition of Sunshine Gas, which I led, also the acquisition of Roma Petroleum and then clearly the acquisition of QGC by BG Group."

Davies stayed on at the new BG-owned QGC as its general manager for both business development and ports and infrastructure, where he picked up invaluable experience in getting a project through a final investment decision and understanding how a global gas major works.

His time at QGC then BG also taught Davies some key lessons for success.

"You need to be a leader in a particular area of the industry and make yourself very relevant by having material positions, which is exactly what we are doing in the Cooper Basin," he said.

Davies believes the only way ahead for Senex is upwards.

"Look at the three legs of our business - we have high margin, low risk western flank oil which we are very excited about," Davies said.

"We are going to be drilling again in a month's time so watch out for news on exploration and development success.

"The second leg of our business is coal seam gas, the value leg of our business. That industry is still moving - witness Bow Energy being taken over by Shell and PetroChina.

"Lastly, there's unconventional gas. We are drilling three dedicated shale wells in the next eight months or so."

Contrary to what some commentators believe about the take-up of shale in Australia, Davies believes the response has been faster than he expected.

"We saw shale early … the position with Stuart, I think, was some real foresight [but] the fact that it has moved as quickly as it has, has taken us by surprise," he said.

"My own view is that, if the shale gas industry takes off in Australia, it will be the global gas majors that make it happen."

Davies added that everything was pointing to east coast gas prices heading "majorly north", which would pave the way for new sources of gas - such as tight gas sands, deep coal seam gas and shale - to come in.

"There will be early commercialisation opportunities [for shale gas] because the east coast market is crying out for more supply," he said.

Despite this bullish view though, Davies still believes Senex is not completely appreciated by the market.

"We are completely undervalued and it is my job over this financial year to prove why," he said.