?The North Sea is mostly the playground of the majors, but Endeav?our International Corp., a small-cap independent, is continuing to make waves there.

View the video interview with Bill Transier.


“It’s a challenging environment, but it’s also one with lots of opportunities,” says Endeavour co-founder and chief executive Bill Transier.


He spoke at a recent U.K. Trade & Investment and Texas Alliance of Energy Producers program.


Being a small-cap in the North Sea has its disadvantages, he says. The company has a limited portfolio, capital is hard to find, it has no market influence, and smaller companies can’t wait four to seven years for a project to go from concept to production.


“We brought just a ton of enthusiasm to the North Sea,” Transier says. “And our goal is to continue to grow our base and increase production.


“The one thing you will notice about the North Sea is that as smaller companies grow in size and scope, they inevitably get bought up by the majors.


“Overall, though, the North Sea is a good place to do business.”


A start-up founded in 2004, Houston-based Endeavour has interests in 10 oil and gas fields in the U.K. and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. The company plans to spend approximately $90 million to fund oil and gas exploration and development activities in 2008.


Production for 2008 is estimated to average between 8,600 and 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and total proved plus probable reserves were approximately 30 million barrels of oil equivalent as of year-end 2007.


“The North Sea is a very competitive environment that is dominated by the supermajors, national oil companies and large European utilities,” Transier says.


“The challenges are rapidly escalating costs and an infrastructure that is in need of upgrades. Most of the infrastructure was built back in the 1960s and 1970s and very little upgrading has been done over the years.”


The rewards, though, are an estimated 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent still untapped in the U.K. sector and another 21.3 billion barrels in the Norwegian area.


There is also a ready-made market in Europe, which is searching for new sources of natural gas.


“We were very bullish when we went into the North Sea on natural gas. When we started, the price was about $3 per thousand cubic feet. Today, it is well north of $12.”


Endeavour has three jewels in its North Sea crown:


• Cygnus, a gas field that Endeavour has a 12.5% working interest in that has an estimated reserve of 570 billion cubic feet with production set for the second quarter of 2010;
• Columbus, another gas field with up to 150 billion cubic feet of reserves that the company has a 25% working interest in with production scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2010; and
• Rochelle, an oil field with up to 21 million barrels of oil equivalent that the company has a 55.6% interest in with production also scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2010.

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