Among the numerous challenges North American oil-company executives report they face today, simply being public has become one, according to Peter Canty, president and chief executive officer of Lafayette, Louisiana-based Stone Energy Corp. The rules of Regulation FD have created "a system I believe is just broken," he said at the recent IPAA annual meeting in New Orleans. Increasingly, CEOs find it difficult to tell their companies' stories except through press releases and that's ineffective, he said. Another challenge is to find places to grow, said Claire Farley, chief executive officer of Houston-based asset-divestment firm Randall & Dewey Inc. The majors are saying they can't redeploy their cash profitably. Some are buying back stock. Meanwhile, the investment community is seeing risk and is dialing that into stock prices, she said. John Sinders, managing director with investment-banking firm Jefferies & Co. Inc., said investors are not excited about oil companies paying down debt and buying back stock. "You buy a stock for a return...Analysts are getting tired of companies not showing ways to reinvest...That game is just about over." He added that oil companies have plenty of opportunities to spend profits "other than in reserves in the U.S." Remaining challenges, Canty said, besides being public include knowing when to quit; where to deploy assets, and not just cash assets but talent; and selection of growth vehicles. Stone has expanded to the deepwater Gulf. -Nissa Darbonne

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