Oil and Gas Investor Magazine - August 2011
Cover Story
The Bakken Boom
E&P companies, frac crews and midstream firms are mounting an all-out assault on the biggest oil prize the U.S. has seen in decades.
Feature
Building Gas Demand
Producers and industry advocates recognize that stable natural gas prices are key to wooing new customers. Here’s how they’re moving forward.
Concho’S Factory
Relying on horizontal drilling and multiple-stage hydraulic fracturing, Concho Resources is adding ever-increasing volumes in the legendary Permian Basin.
Contrarian In The Conventional
Here’s how a well-executed set of contrarian strategies can yield handsome profits for independents.
EIG Spins Out, Gears Up
In the past few months, EIG Global Energy Partners has taken on a new name and launched its latest fund. But over the past 29 years, it has quietly expanded into a global energy finance dynamo.
Game-Changers, 1981-2011
Driving growth and efficiencies in the U.S. E&P industry have been technology, M&A, more capital sources and a way to guarantee prices for the oil and gas produced.
Petrie Turns 40
Informed by a 40-years-and-counting career in the energy industry, Thomas A. Petrie looks forward to what the future holds for oil and gas producers, their investors, and financiers.
Thanks Lowell
If these photos could talk, they would say that photo editor Lowell Georgia has been an avid and enthusiastic chronicler of the oil and gas industry for 30 years. He always has a keen eye for detail and shoots from unusual vantage points, while remaining ever mindful of the story each photograph must convey.
The China JV
Memories of Unocal aside, CNOOC lands onshore the U.S. in two big shale deals with Chesapeake Energy Corp.
At Closing
Dirty Chalk
"It's always fascinating to me to see old oil- and gas-producing areas get reborn with the application of new technology," says Dan Morrison, managing director and senior research analyst for Global Hunter Securities LLC. "We see it in the Permian, in the Bakken…
Bright Spots
Meet Shannon Lemke
Working in a small shop is the right fit for geological engineer Shannon Lemke. She joined Vitruvian Exploration this past fall to explore for oil resource plays in the continental U.S. The company was founded by Richard Lane, past exploration head of Southwestern Energy Co., in October 2009.
Capital Markets
2011: So Far, So Good
Myriad macro, external factors in the energy markets contributed to high oil-price volatility in the past six months. Crude prices continued to climb in the first quarter of 2011, thanks to increased world demand related to a global recovery from the Great Recession.
Completions
Less Bang For The Buck
How do you value an oil and gas company? Finding and development costs are critical.
E&P Momentum
Say Hello To The Heath
For several years, the potential of central Montana's Heath shale has been bandied about among Rocky Mountain explorers, and now this intriguing unconventional oil target is being introduced to wider industry circles.
Eastern
Eastern U.S.
1 A 2,100-ft. exploratory test in Shelby County, Ill., has been permitted by RK Petroleum Corp. The Midland, Texas-based operator's #1 Stremming is scheduled to be drilled in Section 5-10n-5e and the wildcat will target pays in Rosiclare.
From the Editor-in-Chief
Thirty And Counting
The terse email came from a good friend at Petrohawk Energy Corp. after hours: "Big day for HK."
Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast
1 Swift Energy Operating LLC, Houston, completed two high-volume horizontal Eagle Ford tests as part of Hawkville Field in Webb County (RRC Dist. 4), Texas.
International Highlights
International Highlights
At the International Association of Drilling Contractors World Drilling Conference in Copenhagen, a business and research analysis firm, Douglas-Westwood, stated that three regions of the globe—the Arctic, Brazil, and West Africa—will see the most drilling activity in the foreseeable future. According to Douglas-Westwood, “emerging markets will have the most impact on global drilling in coming years with the Arctic becoming “the next frontier in offshore discovery.”
Legends
Chatting With Lowell Georgia
Next month our distinguished photo editor, Lowell Georgia, will retire after 30 years, having co-founded this magazine in 1981 with original publisher Donald Hart. He has shot 353 of 361 covers.
MidContinent & Permian Basin
Midcontinent & Permian Basin
1 Yates Petroleum Corp. of Artesia, N.M., completed a horizontal Bone Spring well in Eddy County, N.M. The #1H Maduro BOZ State flowed 148 bbl. of oil and 1,235 bbl. of water per day, with no gas, from an acidized, fracture-treated zone at 8,451-12,447 ft. Located in Section 10-25s-27e, the well was drilled to 12,550 ft. and the lateral bottomed to the west at a true vertical depth of 8,038 ft. The top of Bone Spring was logged at 5,904 ft., but additional completion information was not available.
Trends & Analysis
Going Up: Global GDP Growth And Oil Demand
Amid a stalling U.S. recovery and economic soft patch, the demand fundamentals in first-half 2011 didn't warrant WTI crude oil prices rising to more than $110 per barrel.
The Flow Slows
Second-quarter 2011 U.S. oil and gas transaction volume was up in terms of deal numbers—at 85, it was double first-quarter 2011's tally—but down modestly to an anemic $11.7 billion in total deal value.
Western US
Western U.S.
1 In Kern County, Calif., NiMin Energy subsidiary Legacy Energy Ltd. reported results from two vertical development wells in the Pleito Creek Field. The #23-35 Ten West is in Section 35-11n-21w and was drilled to 4,665 ft. in the south flank of the field.