Oil and Gas Investor Magazine - July 2011
Cover Story
Poland
Developing shale gas in Poland is in the early innings. Test wells and seismic surveys are under way, but meaningful production could be years away.
Feature
Eagle Ford Data Points
Operators in this South Texas shale play provide incremental updates.
Going The Distance
Telling retail investors the story in person, while keeping analysts and institutions happy, is no small feat when you represent the biggest exploration and production MLP.
Hill's Focus At Hess
Hess Corp.’s Greg Hill balances conventional and unconventional assets as he seeks growth and returns around the world.
Pioneering Water Management
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. is the largest oil and gas operator in Colorado's Raton Basin, where it has been producing coalbed methane (CBM) for years.
Utica Shale
The Utica shale is mighty alluring, and the land rush and early drilling are under way. Will it prove to be the next big play?
At Closing
The Ethane Prize
Royal Dutch Shell Plc fraced half of the Marcellus wet-gas conundrum at press time, announcing it will build a 60,000- to 80,000-barrel-a-day ethane cracker. And, no big transportation deal is necessary: It will build it right there in Appalachia, in the midst of hundreds, and soon to be thousands, of 1,400-plus Btu wells.
Bright Spots
Meet Price Moncrief
Price Moncrief first met up with the Concho Resources Inc. management team when he was an investment banker at JP Morgan. One of his early assignments involved Concho's IPO, which was executed in the summer of 2007.
Capital Markets
The LNG Effect
On May 20, the Department of Energy authorized Cheniere Energy Inc. to export U.S.-produced natural gas from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana to any country with import capacity.
Company Briefs
Company Briefs
Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) plans to double its position in the South Texas Eagle Ford shale with the acquisition of assets from Hilcorp Resources Holdings LP for $3.5 billion in cash.
Completions
Not So Fast, Shale Gas
Over his 55-year career, Henry Groppe has a reputation for being ahead of the curve, and for being right more often than wrong.
E&P Momentum
Argentina's Neuquen Basin Shales
Argentina's Neuquén Basin is fast becoming a world hotspot for shale exploration, and it is already well known as an area that is rich in tight-gas potential.
Eastern
Eastern U.S. Highlights
1 Crows Point Exploration Ltd., based in Chicago, has scheduled three Silurian wildcats in Cass County, Ill. The #1 Fulton and #1 Votsmeier will be in Section 21-17n-8w and are each permitted to a total depth of 1,300 ft.
From the Editor-in-Chief
Help Wanted
Help wanted. If you're against natural gas drilling, you need not apply.
Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast Highlights
1 Two horizontal Briscoe Ranch-Eagle Ford wells were completed in Webb County (RRC Dist. 4), Texas, by SM Energy Co. The new wells are on a 64,828-acre lease in Section 2182, Joaquin Galan Survey, A-65.
International Highlights
International Highlights
The lower house of the French National Assembly voted in May to ban drilling for shale gas and drilling using hydraulic fracturing.
Legends
Chatting With Charlie Stephenson
Charles C. Stephenson graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1959 with a petroleum engineering degree, and set out to build E&P companies. His latest is Tulsa-based Premier Natural Resources LLC, founded in 2006.
MidContinent & Permian Basin
Midcontinent & Permian Basin
1 Cimarex Energy of Denver reported two Abo-Wolfcamp producers in Section 30-15s-31e, Chaves County, N.M. The #2 Saratoga 30 State Com had an initial daily potential of 150 bbl. of 40.4-degree oil, 284,000 cu. ft. of gas and 98 bbl. of water from an acid- and fracture-treated interval at 8,950-13,193 ft.
NewsWell
Newswell
Development spending in the U.S. by the 50 largest E&P companies, as measured by year-end 2010 reserves, rose 36% in 2010, and exploration spending rose as well.
Trends & Analysis
Oil Vs. Gas Transaction Metrics
Never have natural gas and oil commodity prices been so dramatically decoupled. The 6:1 heating-value relationship has been replaced by roughly a 24:1 thousand cubic foot (Mcf) of gas to barrel of oil ratio.
Western US
Western U.S.
1 V.F. Neuhaus Properties Inc. of Mission, Texas, scheduled a 2,200-ft. wildcat in Railroad Valley, Nev.