In 2003, Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. was primarily an offshore producer and frontier explorer, with assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and had previously been in as many as 15 countries. But during the next two years, the Mile High City operator shifted gears, becoming more of an onshore North American acquire-and-exploit producer. During this period, it acquired more than $1.3 billion worth of properties-primarily in onshore East Texas, the Permian Basin and in Alberta. "We wanted to build this company on a portfolio basis-in places close to home that we understood best-such that we would never leave this company hanging on any one play," explains H. Craig Clark, Forest president and chief executive officer. In July 2004, this strategy prompted the $330-million acquisition of Dallas-based Wiser Oil, whose assets were mainly in onshore the Gulf Coast and in Canada, and subsequently, the purchase of 120 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of proved reserves in the Texas Panhandle's Buffalo Wallow Field at a cost of $1.96 per thousand cubic feet equivalent. For more on this, see the April issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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