Movie buffs hold dear the precept that the first movie in a series is usually the best. That's not always the case; for example, the second in The Godfather trilogy is regarded by many as the finest. In mid-2003, Denver-based private firm Cordillera Energy Partners LLC was sold to Patina Oil & Gas Corp. for $248 million. The acquisition involved 600 producing wells in the Anadarko, San Juan and Permian basins. Now Cordillera II is enjoying the limelight. And this particular sequel is on track to rack up even more impressive returns than its predecessor. Cordillera II, formed in December 2004, has focused its efforts in solid, multi-pay areas such as the Texas Panhandle, deep Anadarko and East Texas basins. (It had some properties in the Williston Basin, but divested those.) At present, the company has 215,000 acres of leasehold and produces 82 million gross (35 million net) cubic feet of gas per day. Its growth is robust, and it expects to double that volume within a year. Cordillera's main stage is the Texas Panhandle, and its leading play is the Granite Wash. The company works the thick Granite Wash sequence in Hemphill and Roberts counties, Texas. The wash deposits were formed during Pennsylvanian times when great masses of sediment were shed from uplifts bounding the basin to the southwest. These sediments spread laterally and stacked vertically to create a submarine fan complex composed of interlayered sandstone, siltstone and shale. For more on this, see the October issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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