What is the name of a small American company that 1}specializes in
coal bed methane(CBM) recovery/production, 2) has been called "the
next 'Drunkard's Wash'" (a wasteland now owned by Phillips Petroleum
and Texaco with 525 producing wells, 3) its current proven reserves
are worth about $720 million (at the wellhead), 4) the company's stock
is worth $109 million today, 5)its wells are on the fields of the
Great Plains, 6) pumps 3.2 million cubic feet per day (Feb. 2004
output), 7) since then five more wells are on line,to bring total
output to 6.4 mcf per day, 8) sels its gas for about $4.60 per
thousand cubic feet, 9) the company is waiting on an Environmental
Impact Statement approval to begin drilling on the other 90% of their
land, 10) by 2007, it could have over 100 wells, 11) insiders hold 30%
of the shares?

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 29 May 2004 03:07 PDT

With regard to the statement "the company's stock is worth $109
million today," should we understand "today" to literally mean May 28,
2004?

Or is there any possibility that "today" just refers to the stock
value on some recent date but not specifically Friday?

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Clarification of Question by eusonia-ga on 29 May 2004 17:11 PDT

The statement I am basing this on is approximately as
follows,"Conservatively, the company's discoveries are worth around
$360 million, but its stock trades for less than $190 million today".

So I would say that your latter interpretation is correct, namel that,
"that "today" just refers to the stock value on some recent date but
not specifically Friday".

And thank you for your prompt attention to my question so far.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 29 May 2004 22:59 PDT

Hi,

Thanks for your clarification.  I notice that you now mention that the
"stock trades for less than $190 million today."  Earlier, you had
written "$109 million."  So the figure is actually $190 instead of
$109 ?

Is there any possibility that you could provide the complete text of
the description on which you're basing this question?  Is it from a
web page or newsletter?

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Clarification of Question by eusonia-ga on 30 May 2004 00:40 PDT

Hi.

I apologize for the conflicting data. The correct capitalization is $190 million.

I got the data set from a friend. It is the best I have. Please give
it your best shot.

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 30 May 2004 00:55 PDT

Well, some of the descripion sounds like Fellows Energy.

See:
http://www.fellowsenergy.com
And:
http://www.dbusinessnews.com/print.php?sid=2257

However, the market cap doesn't fit.  Fellows' market cap is around $50 million.

I'll keep working on it.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 30 May 2004 01:16 PDT

Sorry for that typo:
"description"

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 30 May 2004 01:45 PDT

Just an update... We can rule out Fellows Energy.  Not only does the
market cap not match, but the company's production is not comparable
to 6.4 mcf per day.

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Clarification of Question by eusonia-ga on 30 May 2004 02:02 PDT

I can see that we both are night owls!

Maybe I can clarify the 6.4 mcf per day.  My friend's data says,
"Recently, output went up another 50%. Plus five more wells are now on
line (which I did mention). This should produce 6.4 mcf per day --
double the output from February, 2004".

I hope this helps, and I apologize for not including this info up front.

PS: My colleage received this information on 22 May, 2004.

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Request for Question Clarification by vercingatorix-ga on 03 Jun 2004 09:17 PDT

I've scoured a database containing all publicly traded energy stocks
and come to a conclusion:

I think your friend got some bad data, partly because most of the
companies valued at around $190 million have significantly higher
production, and partly because gas prices are so high that everyone is
selling for a lot more than $4.60 per thousand cubic feet.

I suspect the pricing data is out of date, which casts doubt on the
information regarding production volumes and reserve value.

Perhaps more importantly, as far as I can tell, no publicly traded
U.S. company meets all of the criteria you set out.

However, I found three companies that could be the stock you seek. All
of them meet some of the criteria and not others, depending on how the
data is presented.

I can provide information about those companies, if that would be acceptable.

V

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Clarification of Question by eusonia-ga on 04 Jun 2004 11:20 PDT

Yes. The three company names would be acceptable.

Thank you.

Using a database of publicly traded stocks, I found three that could
be the ones you?re looking for. As I mentioned earlier, none fit all
the criteria. But as far as I was able to tell, none of the hundreds
of publicly traded energy companies I looked at fit all the criteria.
I was able to find no companies of any size that were entirely
concentrated in the Great Plains. There just isn?t much oil and gas
there. I was not able to find any companies that exactly matched your
market value and production numbers, though the three below come
close, depending on how you make your calculations.

I?m assuming that your friend?s information was either outdated, or
provided out of context, or both. Here are the three companies that,
in my opinion, are most likely to be the one you seek:

Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) has a market value a bit over $150 million.
Gas production is higher than your number (about 14.6 mcf per day),
but has been rising steadily. If your production numbers are outdated,
this could be the company.
(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040513/nyth039_1.html ).

Cross Timers Realty Trust (CRT) owns oil- and gas-producing assets.
Its May sales were 202,000 mcf
(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040518/datu013_1.html ), or about 6.7 mcf
per day. This company?s market value on May 21 was about $175 million.
The company does not reveal production data for its properties.

Atlas America (ATLS) at first seems a little big, with a market value
of $196 million. But the company was spun off on My 10 by Resource
America (REXI), and it would be easy to miscalculate Atlas? market
value. Here?s an excerpt from Resource America?s quarterly SEC filing:
Based on Resource America?s 82.3% ownership stake, I calculate a total
share count of 12,994 million, for a market value of $238 million.
However, others have calculated the number differently, and it could
indeed have been considered less than $190 million on May 21. Atlas?
production is a lot higher than your estimate, but an inexperienced
researcher might have taken one fifth of the production because of the
stock?s 20% of shares outstanding. I don?t have access to current
production numbers, but a mistake like assuming production was
proportionally allocated to public shareholders could have yielded a
production estimate like yours.

V


Search strategy: Looked at financial and stock-market information for
the sector, then pulled more detailed data from SEC filings for
companies that might have qualified. No Web search required.

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Clarification of Answer by vercingatorix-ga on 08 Jun 2004 09:16 PDT

I'm sorry you're not happy with the answer. I did tell you that the
companies did not match all of your characteristics. And I did not
limit my search to "oil and gas" companies. I searched all energy
companies.

Most energy companies have interests all over, but may not report them
separately in their financials. They are not obligated to report
physical locations for all production assets, and would be wise not to
do so unless they wish to invite competition to a new field in the
early stages. And as I said, none of the publicly traded companies in
your specified size range were concentrated in the Great Plains
states.

Given that information, I determined that much of your data was either
outdated or inaccurate. It's quite possible that specs referred to a
small unit of a larger company, which meant that data like the CBM
specialization, reserve value, production volumes, and well location
could reflect that of a subsidiary, rather than an entire company.
That conclusion seemed likely given the lack of public companies that
fit all the specs. In addition, information like insider ownership and
projected numbers of wells is apocryphal at best.

So I searched based on company size, which was the variable least
likely to refer to a subsidiary, and went from there.

Infinity is headquartered in Kansas but concentrates on CBM projects
in the Rocky Mountains, and its market value is less than $40M.
Northern Border, located in Nebraska, operates a gas pipeline and is
worth nearly $2 billion. Most of the rest of of the energy companies
with significant holdings in the Midwest concentrate on drilling or
distribution technology, energy byproducts, or gas transmission. And
as I said, none of those companies is within spitting distance of $190
million in market value.

Again, I'm sorry you were not happy with my answer. But given my
analysis of the companies in the market, I believe the three names I
gave you are the most likely choices.

V

I do not doubt that work was done to come up with these company names.
But my FIRST requirement was that the companies had to derive the
methane from COAL BEDS. So a search for just Oil & Gas companies was
inappropriate. Coal beds ARE under the open plains. None of the
companies in the "answer" meet the most important reequirement -- Coal
Bed Methane production. I do not regard my question as having been
answered at all, i.e., the results are of no value to me.