Forest Oil Corp.'s aggressive M&A strategy during the past three and a half years is a feat underappreciated by peers, says chief executive Craig Clark. "You have a couple-billion-dollar company where virtually every asset has been sold a brick at a time to focus on a new portfolio," Clark said recently at an IPAA/Tipro program in Houston.

Now, "we have a portfolio that supports what we are good at. The company is highly focused-and the map is a lot easier to put on PowerPoint."

Most notably, Forest sold all of its Gulf of Mexico assets to Mariner Energy Inc. in 2006 for $1.17 billion and its Alaska holdings to Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. in August for $490 million, representing more than 75% of its total portfolio.

Scattered international assets have disappeared from the balance sheet as well. On the flip side, Forest bought $1.5 billion worth of assets in June when it acquired The Houston Exploration Co.

"The Gulf of Mexico and Alaska are out of here," he said. "Houston Ex is in. We had to balance our portfolio."

Clark believes a portfolio should be focused on a company's strengths but not one geographic area. "I've never focused a company on one single asset," he said. "We will not conform to one single rock play; we will not conform to one single geographic play. The rocks are the same. If (a technique) works in one tight gas play, it will work in the others."