August is OGFJ's annual Unconventional Resources Issue, and we have an outstanding lineup of authors and articles. The information in this issue brings a breadth and depth to the discussion that we hope you find useful.
Unconventional resources have been a game-changer in the oil and gas industry. Luckily, this source of natural gas, gas liquids, and crude oil reserves has come along at a good time. The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to make offshore drilling in US waters a lot more expensive due to stricter safety and environmental regulations, and some E&P companies will leave the Gulf and seek opportunities elsewhere.
As a result, some Gulf participants are taking a look at shale plays onshore. In fact, this began occurring even before the BP incident. Companies like Statoil, Total, BP, BG Group — to just name a few — have already begun partnering with US independents in many of the resource plays. ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Anadarko, Apache, Devon, and others have already staked out positions in multiple shale resource plays.
For the past few years, the emergence of shale gas and other forms of "unconventional" petroleum resources has dominated most discussions about onshore drilling in the US and Canada. Swift Energy's Bruce Vincent told me recently, "Unconventional resources have become so commonplace they shouldn't be called 'unconventional' anymore."
Long-time OGFJ contributor Don Warlick, president of Warlick International, has written an article for this issue on "Seven factors that drive today's gas shale business." In it, he provides a mid-year update on the current state of gas shale development and markets for natural gas. He explains why we are still observing growth in current and early-stage plays accompanied by reasonable returns even with sub-$5 gas. Don's latest reports — "North American Unconventional Gas Market Report 2010" and "Gas Shale Market Report and Five-Year Forecast 2010" — are available through Oil & Gas Journal's Online Research Center.
Rusty Braziel, managing director of Bentek Energy and a long-time friend, has penned an excellent piece — "The race to liquids" — that examines the move by many shale players to high-BTU, liquid-rich plays and the impact this will have on gas processing, NGL markets, and petrochem feedstocks. Rusty's analysis is spot on and backed up by extensive research. It is required reading for participants in this market.
With new natural gas coming into the market, gas storage becomes an issue. Houston attorney David Schumacher of McDermott Will & Emery discusses some of the key issues that could affect the financing of gas storage projects.
Keith Behrens of Stephens Investment Banking in Dallas provides a look at how mezzanine funding is ramping up in the current market following a wave of consolidation in the late 2000s. The post-crisis financial landscape is highly conservative, and Keith explains how mezzanine financing can be a solution for companies in the capital-intensive upstream sector.
Our cover story for August is an interview with Gordon Kerr, president and CEO of Calgary-based Enerplus Resources. Enerplus is transitioning from an income fund into a growth business and has been acquiring assets in the Marcellus and Bakken shale plays. Enerplus has acquired 136,000 net acres in the Marcellus and will be operator in some of them. The company has been drilling in the Bakken on both sides of the US-Canadian border.
This month also features our quarterly OGJ150 report on public companies and our monthly Deal Monitor covering US and international transactions. Jason Reimbold of Rodman Energy Group breaks down the deals in five shale plays — the Marcellus, Haynesville/Bossier, Niobrara, Bakken, and Eagle Ford.
In this month's "Beyond the Well" column, OGFJ associate editor Mikaila Adams writes about the contributions of legendary oilman George Mitchell to the shale gas revolution.
The August issue includes a special report on Russia, produced by the team at Focus Reports. The report emphasizes that old stereotypes of Russia are not applicable today.
And we can't fail to mention that OGFJ has launched its own Unconventional Resources Center on our website — www.ogfj.com. Not only will you find maps, news stories, reports, and other valuable information on current and emerging shale plays in North America and elsewhere, but also news you can use about tight gas, coalbed methane, oil sands, and other unconventional resources.
Lastly, we'd like to call your attention to PennWell's annual Unconventional Gas International Conference & Exhibition, Oct. 5-7, in Fort Worth, Tex. Keynote speakers include Larry Nichols, co-founder and executive chairman of Devon Energy; John Pinkerton, chairman, CEO, and director of Range Resources; and James Hackett, chairman and CEO of Anadarko Petroleum. This year's event includes separate tracks on "Business and Finance" and "Technology and Operations." For information, visit www.unconventionalgas.net.
Have an opinion about this? Visit www.ogfj.com to comment.
More Oil & Gas Financial Journal Current Issue Articles
More Oil & Gas Financial Journal Archives Issue Articles
View Oil and Gas Articles on PennEnergy.com
