WHAT'S NEW

     Welcome to the website of Ammonite Resources.  In addition to providing information about our firm's petroleum and mineral resources technical and business advisory services, our objective is to make the Ammonite website a friendly place where petroleum and mineral professionals, government regulators, and the investment community, can meet to exchange authoritative ideas on energy policy and industry activity in the Energy Forum and the In The Trenches web pages. Reviews of books of general geoscience interest can be found on the Geoscience Book Reviews web page. We look forward to your contributions!

March 15, 2010 

NATIONAL HYDROCARBON AGENCY OF COLOMBIA RETAINS AMMONITE AS ADVISORS
FOR THE COLOMBIAN 2010 OPEN LICENSING ROUND

     Ammonite was retained in January to advise the Colombian Government Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH) in marketing the Colombian 2010 Open Licensing Round. Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs, and senior exploration consultants Dr. Robert Merrill and Dr. Stephen Schamel worked during January in Bogota with ANH geotechnical staff, in reviewing the geotechnical data base for all the onshore and offshore basins of Colombia. PowerPoint presentations of the petroleum geology of the mature, emerging, and frontier basins were prepared for the ANH “Road Show” marketing campaign to the international petroleum industry. Ammonite was asked to introduce the technical part of the Road Show with a thirty minute overview and what we believe to be the most attractive aspects of the Colombia 2010 Open Round. Skip Hobbs spoke on behalf of ANH in Calgary on February 4th and in Houston on February 9th. Bob Merrill spoke at the Road Show in London on March 5th. Colombia has excellent exploration and development opportunities for all players – from the small independent to the multi-national oil company.
     

November 1, 2009 

G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs is President-Elect of the American Geological Institute

     Ammonite Managing Partner G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs was installed on October 19th as President-Elect of the American Geological Institute at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon. This professional honor follows Skip’s three-year tenure as a board member of the AGI, and earlier position as member society council representative for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

     The AGI is a federation of 46 geoscience societies representing over 120,000 professional earth scientists, covering such diverse disciplines as hydrology, seismology, geological engineering, paleontology, volcanology, mining and petroleum, soil science, environmental geology, and geoscience education. Founded in 1948, the American Geological Institute has a full-time staff of over 60 at its headquarters in Arlington Virginia, manages a global online database of over 3 million published geosciences citations, develops K-12 school earth science curricula, and coordinates the interests of its member societies for public outreach and government affairs. The AGI also publishes various online and print monthly newsletters, including Earth Magazine. Congress looks to the AGI to identify and bring experts to Washington to provide objective science-based testimony on such legislative issues as clean water resources, geological hazards, soil conservation, sustainable energy and mineral resource extraction; nuclear waste disposal, carbon sequestration, and climate change.

     Hobbs will serve as President-Elect from 2009-2010 and then as AGI President from 2010-2011. He is looking forward to playing a key role in national legislative matters concerning the geosciences, and earth science education. Increasing the role of women and minorities in the geosciences will be one of Skip’s management goals.

September 15, 2009 

MARK HUGHES JOINS AMMONITE AS SENIOR CONSULTANT FOR LAND

     Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs is pleased to announce that Mark Hughes has joined Ammonite as Senior Consultant for Land. Mark has over 35 years experience in all phases of oil and gas lease acquisition, mineral purchasing, right-of-way acquisition, lease take-off and mapping, title memorandum, due diligence, well permitting and staking, negotiating farmout agreements and other duties that are common in a land procurement effort. During his career he has supervised the leasing of over 750,000 acres. Hughes is President of Mark J. Hughes & Associates and Audubon Oil & Gas, LLC. He has a full office staff in place to handle all of a client’s needs including lease processing, timely payment of lease bonuses, mapping, title memorandums, and detailed billing. The company has the capacity to effectively manage 100+ landmen, with current management in place, and are capable of placing 18+ landmen ready to go within 10 days to begin a new project in the Appalachian Basin. Areas where Mark J Hughes & Associates has managed significant lease plays ranging from 10,000 up to 300,000 acres for oil and gas, coalbed methane and coal, include Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. The company has also worked in Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, New York, and Montana. Hughes began his career with Amax Coal company prior to forming his own independent land brokerage company. He is a member of many industry trade associations including the AAPL and IPAA, and has served as an officer of the Tri-State Association of Petroleum Landman and Kentucky Oil & Gas Association.


September 1, 2009 

Taury Smith Joins Ammonite as Senior Carbonate Specialist

     Ammonite is pleased to announce that Dr. Langhorne B. Smith, has joined Ammonite as a Senor Consultant for Carbonate Geology. “Taury” as he is called by friends, is a carbonate geologist with 13 years of experience in North and South America, the Middle East and offshore Angola. He is an expert in carbonate reservoir characterization, sequence stratigraphy and carbonate diagenesis. Dr. Smith works both as a consultant, and as the State Oil and Gas Geologist for the State of New York, at the State Museum of New York in Albany. Recent consulting projects include sequence stratigraphy and reservoir characterization of the Jurassic Arab D reservoir in Ghawar Field and other reservoirs in Saudi Arabia and a detailed reservoir characterization project on the Cretaceous Pinda carbonates and siliciclastics of offshore Angola. Present and former clients include Saudi Aramco, Angola LNG, Shell, Texaco, Repsol, Devon, Encana and more. In his work for New York State he has focused on hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs, shale gas plays and carbon sequestration. He has done due diligence work on carbonate prospects, cuttings and core studies, basin-scale log correlation and outcrop studies. He is equally comfortable with thin sections, cuttings, cores, logs and seismic data. Dr. Smith earned his B.S. in Geology form Temple University and his Ph.D. in carbonate sedimentology at Virginia Tech. He spent two years working for Chevron in New Orleans on carbonate reservoirs of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and another 2 years at the University of Miami working as a research scientist prior to starting in his current positions. Dr. Smith recently won a best paper award from AAPG Bulletin for a paper he co-wrote with Graham Davies on hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs, and has won three best talk awards from the AAPG Eastern section in the last 6 years.

 

March 4, 2009 

LYNN PITTINGER JOINS AMMONITE AS SENIOR CONSULTANT FOR ENGINEERING AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

     Ammonite Resources is pleased to announce that Lynn Pittinger has joined the firm as a Senior Consultant for Engineering and Economic Analysis. Pittinger has over 28 years of global experience in economic evaluation, decision analysis and reservoir engineering. Prior to becoming a consultant in 2008, Lynn worked from 2001-2007 for Occidental Oil and Gas in Houston, Texas, where he was Chief of Exploration Economics, and then Sr. Economics and Planning Consultant. As Chief, he was responsible for reviewing all exploration projects and focused on improving play and prospect resource assessment. He began his career with Unocal in 1981. His 20 years experience at Unocal included 10 years overseas in Indonesia, Philippines, Scotland and Thailand, and his last two positions were Director of Petroleum Engineering (Thailand business unit), and Manager of International Evaluations, with concurrent responsibility as Technology Integration Team Leader for Deepwater companywide in reservoir engineering and economics.

     Pittinger received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and a Degree of Engineer (Management Option) in Petroleum Engineering, from Stanford University. Following his graduate work in decision analysis, his main career interest has been incorporating risk and uncertainty into exploration, development and acquisition evaluations. He adopts a pragmatic approach to capture the range of potential outcomes with a limited number of scenarios, yet keeps the evaluation simple. This allows the discussion to focus on the most important input assumptions, their impact on financial results and how various alternatives compare, enabling the decision maker to manage risk and uncertainty more effectively.

     The addition of Lynn Pittinger to “Team Ammonite” significantly enhances the firm’s expertise in petroleum acquisition and finance due diligence.

January 2009 

AMMONITE IN 2008

     2008 was a tumultuous year for the global petroleum industry, and a busy year for Ammonite Resources. From our "hideout" in the woods of New Canaan, Connecticut, we have advised clients on some very diverse domestic and international assignments.

     Client due diligence assignments have taken us physically and virtually from one end of North America to the other, and overseas, to evaluate conventional and unconventional petroleum E&P projects. Domestic projects have been in: the Gulf Coast - both onshore and offshore, the Rockies, Kansas, Appalachians, Cook Inlet and North Slope of Alaska; and South Florida. While our work normally involves the review of offering company prior geotechnical studies, Ammonite's Dallas-based Dr. Jeffrey Levine prepared over a several month period a comprehensive report on the coalbed methane geology of the Cherokee Basin in Kansas and Oklahoma for a gas utility company client. The study identified areas of maximum resource potential and guided our client in making a $100+MM acquisition.

     We have been very active in Canada, looking at conventional, coalbed methane and oil sands projects. Ammonite consultants Dr. Robert Mummery (Calgary) and Dr. Robert Merrill (Houston) evaluated the large Western Canada prospect portfolio of a mid-size Canadian public company as part of the due diligence for a significant PIPE investment. A Monte Carlo analysis was made of the exploration and development portfolio of the company to determine a statistical P10-Pmean-P90 distribution of future reserves and production levels which had not been evaluated by the company's reserve engineers. Our most interesting Canadian project this year involved an assessment of a steam boiler technology and its applicability and market potential in the oil sands. Calgary-based consultant Susan Eaton conducted the study together with a process engineering firm which Ammonite sub-contracted, on behalf of a buyout firm that was interested in, and did purchase, a large steam boiler manufacturer.

      Latin America has been very active for us this past year. Bob Merrill has made multiple trips to Colombia and Brazil to evaluate E&P opportunities there. Skip Hobbs spent a week in Colombia in February, where he was a keynote luncheon speaker and represented the AAPG at a Latin American petroleum conference. His talk was titled "The Future of the Global Oil Industry - the Resources, the Challenges, and the Geoscience Workforce." Skip has given this speech at a number of conferences, lastly in Halifax in August as the keynote dinner speaker at the Atlantic Conjugate Margins Conference. It is regularly updated - and definitely needs an update now. West Africa, North Sea, Black Sea, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, and Indonesia have also been areas where we looked at acquisition opportunities for Ammonite clients. Our most interesting international project this year was in Ukraine in September. Our client had acquired an operating company in Ukraine, and was considering either making two additional acquisitions to reach an optimum critical mass, or selling their existing asset. Merrill and Hobbs, together with the client's acquisition VP, spent a week in Kiev and in the Donets Basin in Eastern Ukraine. Conventional wisdom says that the huge tight gas resources in the Paleozoic rocks of the interior basins of Ukraine would be ideal candidates for Western horizontal drilling and fracturing technologies. Maybe so, but we found was that Ukraine is an impossible operating environment for foreign companies due to import restrictions, bureaucratic road blocks, corruption, and myriad other negative factors. We advised our client to exit the country. The photo below is of Bob Merrill and Skip Hobbs in Kiev. The city center and historic district have been restored and are now quite lovely, a big contrast from 1995, when Hobbs first visited Ukraine to look at CBM opportunities.

     One of the factors that distinguishes Ammonite from many other consulting firms, is that we are - ever so modestly, perceptive at identifying future energy trends. We were one of the earliest firms in the 1980's to develop expertise in coalbed methane. We recognized the potential of heavy oil and the oil sands in the 1990's before the industry became "hot". Admittedly, we were late on the shale plays, but Ammonite is now very much up to speed in that resource. Texas-based consultant Mary Van der Loop, for example, participated in a multi-basin shale characterization study for a major oil service company (this was not an Ammonite engagement, but gives us some very valuable expertise).

      Two new areas for us this year are geothermal energy and carbon sequestration. Dr. Merrill and Skip Hobbs have looked at a number of geothermal projects, and Bob has built a Monte Carlo evaluation program for geothermal prospects. Skip's advisory work with NYSERDA - the New York State Energy Research and Development, Authority has exposed him to carbon sequestration technologies and site characterization. Several Ammonite consultants (including Hobbs) have recently taken short courses on reservoir characterization for carbon sequestration. It may be a bit early for the commercialization of carbon sequestration, but it is coming, given the political interest in climate change, and President Obama's commitment to green technologies. Ammonite is now in a position to identify and evaluate potential commercial-scale subsurface carbon sequestration opportunities.
     

JULY 12, 2008 

DR. JONATHAN T. KWAN JOINS AMMONITE IN HOUSTON SIGNIFICANTLY BOOSTING
THE FIRM’S EXPERTISE IN ALTERNATE ENERGY AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Jonathan T. Kwan, Ph.D.

     Ammonite Resources is honored to announce that Jonathan Kwan has joined the firm as a Senior Engineering Consultant in Houston. Jonathan will work with Ammonite’s Dr. Robert Merrill on unconventional energy resources, reservoir modeling, and carbon sequestration. Jonathan and Bob had previously worked together at Unocal. Dr. Kwan has over 25 years of oil, gas and geothermal experiences in research, operations, marketing, and international business development (SE Asia, Middle East and Greater Caspian, China, South America) with a strong technical and broad commercial background. After 20 years with Unocal in various technical and management assignments, he joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma. He was appointed Director of Natural Gas Engineering and the Mewbourne Endowed Chair Professor at the OU School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering. In July 2006, The Economist magazine cited the Master in Natural Gas Engineering and Management – the graduate program Dr. Kwan created in 2000, as the “only degree of its kind in the world”. After a 3-year stint at OU, he moved back to Houston to help Anadarko Petroleum build their engineering technology group. Projects that he initiated at Anadarko included gas-to-liquid conversion, unconventional gas development, methane hydrates exploration and assessment ($10 million Joint Industry Project in Alaska w/ USDOE), and a real-time engineering visualization, monitoring, and control center.

     Dr. Kwan teaches energy short courses worldwide, and has presented programs in Algeria, Austria, Bolivia, China, Jordan, and Russia. He was appointed as a guest scientist by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was a visiting professor at the Mining University of Leoben in Austria. He is currently consulting with Shell Exploration and Production Co. on oil shale technology. Jonathan’s first assignment with Ammonite was to review a proposal to utilize flue gases for enhanced methane recovery from coal seams.

     Dr. Kwan obtained his B.S. degree from UC Berkeley and his graduate degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California. He also finished an executive program at Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management. Jonathan is active in The Society of Petroleum Engineers, AIChE, ACS, and has chaired many meetings and workshops worldwide. His research interests are in hydrates, asphaltene, kerogen, green energy, and CO2 sequestration.

      Ammonite believes that public policy will eventually mandate carbon capture and sequestration for a cleaner global environment. We are confident that there are going to be significant investment opportunities in CCS, and with the addition of Dr. Kwan to Team Ammonite, we hope to be on the leading edge of the CCS “technology curve”.

September 15, 2007 

A PROBABILISTIC APPROACH TO
PETROLEUM RESOURCE DUE DILIGENCE

             The principal business of Ammonite Resource is performing geotechnical and economic due diligence on the producing assets and undrilled prospect portfolios of private companies on behalf of institutional clients considering making a significant equity investment in the company.  Typically, an offering company will provide single quantitative estimates for prospect reserve and production forecasts -  i.e. a well is expected to initially produce 2 MMCF/day of gas and will have an ultimate recovery of 4 BCF.  As history has repeatedly proven, the actual results may vary significantly.  The same applies to probable and possible reserve estimates of known discoveries. 

            In today’s highly competitive M&A market, a prospective buyer will not be a successful bidder unless it attributes value to unproved resources and the potential upside of the undrilled prospect portfolio.  Ammonite Resources now performs detailed risk analysis at the individual prospect level and for an entire portfolio of producing and non-producing assets. In this way, a range of resources and values can be established for all classes of assets.

            So how is this done? The quantified chance of “geological success” involves assigning a risk factor to each play element – reservoir quality, trap and seal, source rock presence and maturity, and timing of oil migration relative to trap formation.  Potential resources are then estimated using a probabilistic approach to estimating net reservoir pay, reservoir area, porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, and recovery factors. These data are then run through a statistical Monte Carlo analysis software program. A range of possible outcomes results with P90 –P50-Pmean-and P10 being the usual risk benchmarks.  “P90, for example, means that there is at least a 90% probability of the particular outcome (i.e., BCF reserves/resource) occurring, which would be a “low case” scenario.  “P10” is a “high side” scenario, as there would only be a 10% chance that this quantity or greater, would occur.  Individual prospects are aggregated into a company portfolio, which is then statistically analyzed by further Monte Carlo simulations. Future cash flow can be estimated by applying a price deck to the projected volumetrics. 

            Statistical analysis works well in nature, as naturally occurring phenomena – such as oilfield size distribution, have a log normal distribution. This means that there are a very small number of very large fields, and an increasing larger number of progressively smaller fields.

             A proved reserves report by a nationally recognized petroleum engineering firm quantifies past results. However, the usual deterministic (single figure) estimate for probable and possible reserves in known discoveries, and for undrilled prospects resource estimates rarely provides accurate forecasts of the future. Management’s expectations as to future production and cash flow are better managed by a statistical analysis of the company’s producing and non-producing properties. A statistical analysis of, for example, the possible outcomes of a three year drilling program, is an invaluable planning tool for expected drilling and completion costs, production profiles, reserves and cash flow.

             The figures reproduced below demonstrate the differences between risked and unrisked portfolio reserve/resource volumetrics, and show the range of benchmarked resource expectations.

August 17, 2007 

AMMONITE AND AJM PETROLEUM CONSULTANTS OF CALGARY
FORM A COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE

             Ammonite Resources is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with AJM Petroleum Consultants in Calgary, Alberta. AJM is a leading Canadian petroleum engineering firm with a Canadian and solid international practice. Ammonite has used AJM’s services over the past couple of years on behalf of our clients, and has been impressed by their attention to detail, geological as well as engineering expertise, and AJM’s professionalism. The firm developed a very useful Canadian well database with the trademarked name of “PetroCube”, which it has now sold to GeoLogic Systems, Ltd.  Ammonite has accessed PetroCube through the AJM license to research statistical production, reserve, and capital and operating cost data by specific pools, sections and townships in areas we have evaluated for Ammonite clients.  On future Canadian and International projects where reservoir and operational engineering expertise is required beyond Ammonite’s in-house skill sets, we will team up with AJM. More information about AJM Petroleum Consultants can be found on the firm’s website at www.ajma.net.

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August 3, 2007 

A LONG OVERDUE UPDATE
ON AMMONITE’S ACTIVITIES 

            It has been well over a year since Ammonite has updated our website. This has been due largely to the very busy pace of our business in the current petroleum industry boom. 

            We have been busy – working on exploration and development projects in North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.  Engagements have ranged from evaluating the producing assets and undrilled prospect portfolios of companies in the United States – including Alaska, Canada, Great Britain, Kuwait, North Africa, Colombia and Brazil for private equity investors; reviewing a number of heavy oil development projects in Alberta and offshore the United Kingdom; evaluating a farmout opportunity in Qatar for an independent oil company; preparing a regional assessment of the coalbed methane potential in the Cherokee Basin in Oklahoma; and evaluating several Canadian CBM projects. As geoscience experts to counsel, we have worked in oil and gas litigation matters offshore Louisiana and offshore Eastern Canada, and have also advised Canadian counsel in two international mining lawsuits.   

            Ammonite’s approach to prospect portfolio evaluation now includes a full probabilistic analysis. We assess the chance of geologic success for each prospect in a portfolio, and then run a Monte Carlo statistical evaluation of the possible outcomes that would result from drilling the portfolio. With probabilistic P90-P50-Pmean-P10 outcomes quantified, future production and cash flow expectations can be better managed. It is also very instructive to compare the projections of the company with the Ammonite risked forecasts.  Dr. Robert Merrill manages the firm’s portfolio risk analysis practice from Houston.

             The petroleum industry boom has impacted Ammonite in terms of personnel changes. There is a serious shortage of experienced geoscientists, and as a consequence, employee compensation packages have become very attractive. Senior Consultants Jeff Lund, Dick Bishop Russell Stands-Over-Bull and Jeff Levine have resigned from Ammonite to become full-time employees with other firms.  We wish them well in their new endeavors, and thank them for their contributions to Ammonite.  

            As a final update – we must report that Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs lost the election for President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in the Spring of 2006 (see What’s New posting of July 2005). It was a tremendous honor to have been nominated as a candidate for President-Elect, but it was just a tad too difficult for Texans to vote for a Connecticut Yankee as the future president of the AAPG.

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May 1, 2006

DAVID ABBOTT AWARDED

 HONORARY MEMBERSHIP BY

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF

 PROFESSIONAL GEOLOGISTS

David M. Abbott, Jr.

     Ammonite Senior Consultant David Abbott has been awarded Honorary Membership by the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG).  Honorary membership is awarded by AIPG to those who have an exemplary record of distinguished service to the geological profession and to the Institute.  David, a resident of Denver, Colorado is well-known for his papers and lectures on professional ethics. Since 1995 he has authored a column titled “Professional Ethics & Practices” in The Professional Geologist publication of AIPG. Prior to becoming a consultant in 1996, Abbott worked 21 years as a geologist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where his primary responsibility was to verify the geotechnical representations made in mining and petroleum company public securities offerings and other disclosures. He was a member of the SME’s Reserves and Resources committee that prepared the 1991 and 1999 versions of A Guide for Reporting Exploration Information, Mineral Resources, and Mineral Reserves.  David is Ammonite’s principal mining expert.  We congratulate him on this prestigious professional recognition.

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March 15, 2006

Bob Merrill Joins Ammonite in Houston

Dr. Robert Merrill

     Ammonite is pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Merrill has joined Ammonite in Houston as a Senior Exploration Consultant. Bob recently retired from the Samson Companies and has over thirty years experience in worldwide petroleum exploration and production.  He is an experienced prospect generator and evaluator, and exploration manager. His expertise includes both conventional and unconventional clastic reservoirs, including fractured reservoirs and tight gas sands, as well as carbonates.  Areas of expertise include the Rockies, West Texas Permian Basin, the Midcontinent, Gulf Coast onshore and offshore, and many international areas, including Central and Southeast Asia, Australia, the North Sea, and Latin America. Dr. Merrill is experienced in applying probabilistic methods to prospect evaluation and reserves estimation, and using this information for comprehensive portfolio management.  Additionally, he has been involved with evaluating and optimizing geological and geophysical workflow to reduce cycle time from the origination of an idea to prospect drilling.  Bob has taught courses on a range of subjects including structural geology, basin analysis and plate tectonics and geology for engineers.

      Prior to becoming a consultant in 2005 and forming Catheart Energy, Inc., Dr. Merrill worked for the Samson Companies, Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was Technical Manager of Geology  from 2000-2002, and then Exploration Manager of Samson International from 2002-2005. From 1989-2000, Bob was employed by the Unocal Corporation, lastly as Chief Geologist 1997-2000 of Unocal’s Spirit Energy Division in Sugarland, Texas. As Chief Geologist of Spirit Energy he was responsible for quality assurance for a $600 million capital budget for the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico, Shelf and Onshore Gulf of Mexico and the Permian Basin.  Prior to joining Unocal, Bob worked as an exploration geologist for the Cities Service Oil and Gas Corp. and then OXY USA, Inc. between 1974 -1989 in the Rockies, Permian Basin, and Midcontinent.

      Dr. Merrill has a PhD and MS in Geology from Arizona State University and a BA in Geology from Colby College.  He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society, and has served on committees for the American Geological Institute.  Bob has served as Secretary and President of the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is an active member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, where he co-edited the Giant Fields of the Decade 1990 – 2000 book and edited Source and Migration: Processes and Techniques for Evaluation.  Other publications include papers on risk analysis; deep, over-pressured gas in the Green River Basin; and origin and migration of oils, Wyoming/Utah/Idaho Overthrust belt.  He was the Technical Coordinator for the 2006 AAPG National Convention in Houston.

     Bob’s first assignment as an Ammonite consultant was to work with Dr. Richard Bishop in preparing a probabilistic analysis of the undeveloped reserves of a potential $55 million acquisition of a mature producing field offshore Texas.  The engagement was on behalf of a major private equity fund to assist one of its portfolio companies in evaluating the acquisition.  Bob and Dick Bishop reviewed field geological and seismic data; audited the deterministic reserve estimate of a major Houston-based engineering firm that had been prepared for the seller; identified the production and reserve risk variables; loaded and ran a Monte Carlo simulation of the PUD reserves; and then compared our probabilistic (P10-Pmean-P90) analysis with that of the engineering firm. This work has led to Ammonite’s retention by the operating company to advise them in setting up a probabilistic reserves and economic model for their portfolio of developed and undeveloped oil and gas properties.

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December 1, 2005 

AMMONITE ENGAGED AS ADVISOR TO
ZAHRA GROUP HOLDINGS, KUWAIT  

            In June 2005, Ammonite Resources was retained as advisors to Zahra Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of the Zahra Group Holding Company, Kuwait City, Kuwait. The scope of the engagement involves strategic planning, financial consulting, and assistance in new venture due diligence.  Zahra Oil & Gas, now named Kuwait Energy Company, is the first private Kuwaiti oil and gas exploration and production company. Its senior management previously worked as the new venture acquisitions arm of Kufpec, the international division of Kuwait Oil Company. The company’s chairman is Dr. Abdul Mohsen Al Medej, former Oil Minister of Kuwait (1993-1996). 

            During September through November, Ammonite Senior Financial Consultant Greg Moroney, worked very closely with Zahra Oil & Gas in advising the firm on debt and equity financing for a competitive bid in excess of US$500 million, for producing assets in the Middle East. Greg traveled to Kuwait, London, Paris, and Dubai on behalf of Zahra. Ammonite’s John Powell worked closely with Greg and the client in building a complex economic model for the asset acquisition financing. Unfortunately, our client was not the successful bidder in the end. 

            In November, Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs traveled to Kuwait to work with Kuwait Energy and its Kuwaiti investment banking firm, to put together a private equity investor presentation. Skip also looked at two new venture acquisitions.

Skip Hobbs visits with Kuwait Energy Company in Kuwait , November 2005.

From left to right- Dr. Abdulsamme Bahbahani, VP Exploration and COO; Ms. Sara Akbar, CEO; Skip Hobbs, Ammonite Resources; Husain Kothari, CEO, Zahra Group Holdings; Dr. Manssour Aboukhamseen, Chairman, Zahra Group Holdings; and Firas Al Amiri, Manager Engineering.

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October 6, 2005

AUTUMN UPDATE
TEAM AMMONITE ADDITIONS

   Ammonite’s team of worldwide energy experts has been strengthened by the addition of four new senior consultants. These include Greg Moroney, joining us as Senior Consultant-Corporate Finance; Dick Bishop, Senior Exploration Advisor and Risk Manager; and Jeff Levine – Senior Consultant for Unconventional Gas Resources; and Steve Schamel, Senior Exploration Advisor.

   After working 25 years in energy finance for Citicorp and Deutsche Bank, Greg Moroney brings tremendous experience and expertise in energy corporate finance to Ammonite. He provides his clients with extensive experience in raising capital for acquisitions and project developments from private sources as well as public capital markets, multilateral agencies (IFC, OPIC) and export credit agencies. While working at Deutsche Bank Securities from 1993 to 2002, Greg established and supervised a $250 million mezzanine finance program for the junior oil and gas sector. He also led and supervised teams that raised more than $10 billion of funding for upstream, downstream and pipeline projects throughout North and South America. Several of the transactions were awarded "Deal of the Year" by industry magazines including Project Finance International and Infrastructure Finance. Greg’s first assignment as an Ammonite is as an advisor to a newly formed private E&P company in Kuwait. He is advising the client on arranging the debt and equity components of a $500 million acquisition in the Middle East.

   Dick Bishop has joined Ammonite in Houston after a career with ExxonMobil, where he held senior staff positions in international exploration and portfolio risk management. He has “seen the world” both as an explorationist and as a synthesizer of global exploration opportunities. During his career at Exxon, Dr. Bishop developed geological ‘yardsticks’ for play and prospect evaluation, developed economic and geological criteria to compare diverse exploration opportunities for new business development, contributed fundamental scientific concepts of hydrocarbon accumulation and diaper mechanics, and mapped at the reservoir to multi-basin scale. He is a guy who has a grand time doing petroleum geology. As an expert on risk analysis, Dr. Bishop will be helping Ammonite and our clients take a probabilistic approach to economic analysis, and portfolio management. Dick is a past president of both the Houston Geological Society and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Bishop’s first assignment as an Ammonite involved, together with colleague Mary Van Der Loop, performing the due diligence for a $20 million mezzanine financing for a horizontal development drilling program in the Permian Basin. The report included a statistical analysis of the expected production rates and reserves, and costs for the horizontal completions.

Richard S. Bishop, Ph.D.

   Ammonite’s expertise in unconventional gas resources has been greatly strengthened by the addition of Dr. Jeff Levine to Team Ammonite in Richardson, Texas. Jeff has over 30 years of industry experience, and is a well-known expert on coalbed methane through his extensive professional publications and industry in-house training workshops. Over the course of his career, he has worked in most of the coal and shale basins in the United States and Canada, as well as projects overseas, in the United Kingdom, Poland, China, Australia, and Colombia. Recently, Dr. Levine has been doing quite a bit of work in shale gas. He is a past-president and Editor of the Society for Organic Petrography, and the Southwest Section representative on the Advisory Board of the AAPG Division of Energy Minerals.

Jeffrey R. Levine, Ph.D.

   Steve Schamel has joined Ammonite as Senior Exploration Advisor in Salt Lake City, Utah. With more than 26 years of senior academic and petroleum industry experience, Dr. Schamel is an expert on domestic and international regional geological studies. He is also an expert on unconventional gas resources, and recently completed an assessment of the shale gas resources of the State of Utah under contract to the Utah Geological Survey. Steve holds degrees from Franklin and Marshall College (A.B.) and Yale University (Ph.D). Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs has known Steve since the late 1960’s when he was an undergraduate geology major at Yale, and Steve was a grad student Dr. Schamel is the author of numerous papers related to petroleum geology and reservoir characterization, and is a co-author of the recently published Thrustbelts: Structural Architecture, Thermal Regimes, and Petroleum Systems. He is presently the President-elect of the AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, and is a recent Executive Board Chair of the SPE Salt Lake Petroleum Section. In 2003, he organized the SPE-ATW Coalbed Gas Resources of Utah. Steve is a registered Utah Professional Geologist (5366337-2250).

Steven Schamel, Ph.D.

   The curriculum vitae of these accomplished experts is now posted on the Curriculum Vitae web page of the Ammonite website.

   High oil and gas prices are not only keeping Ammonite busy, but have resulted in Ammonite consultants leaving the consulting world to become full-time employees of energy production and finance companies. Dick Gessinger has joined GE Capital Energy Services in Stamford, Connecticut; Jeff Lund has become Vice President of Exploration for Houston-based Access Exploration Corp.; Bob Dunn has joined Richardson Barr & Co. as Vice President in Houston; and Russell Stands-Over-Bull has rejoined BP Exploration in Houston. Ammonite thanks these gentlemen for their contributions to Ammonite and the firm’s clients. Even though they are no-longer official members of Team Ammonite, we will all remain in close contact and look for future opportunities where there may be synergies between Ammonite and the new employers.

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September 21, 2005

SUSAN EATON SELECTED AS A GLG SCHOLAR

Susan R. Eaton

    Ammonite is honored to have Susan Eaton, our Canadian Senior Exploration Advisor, selected as a Gerson Lehrman Group Scholar. Susan has been a very active participant in the Gerson Lehrman Group’s Council of Energy Advisors, a service that provides security analysts access to industry experts for consultation. During the past three years, Ms. Eaton has advised the clients of New York-based Gerson Lehrman about the public and private companies involved in the Canadian Oil Sands, and on the emerging coalbed methane play in Western Canada. She has also provided insights for American and British investors into the conventional operations of Canadian E&P companies. To be selected as a GLG scholar, one must rank in the top 20% of client ratings for Gerson Lehrman advisors. 

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July, 2005

SKIP HOBBS CANDIDATE FOR 2007 AAPG PRESIDENT

G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs

    Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs has been selected by the Advisory Council and Executive Committee of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists to stand as a candidate for President Elect of the prestigious international professional society. When advised of his selection as a candidate, Hobbs responded that “this is a tremendous honor, particularly for one who resides in Connecticut, outside of the heart of the USA “Oil Patch”. I sincerely thank my peers for having such confidence in my leadership abilities and commitment to AAPG. I look forward to being in a position to implement the recommendations of the 2005 AAPG Strategic Plan to make the AAPG responsive to changing global macro-economic, political and demographic realities, and to make the association as relevant as possible to each member’s professional career.” 

    The election will be held by mailed and electronic ballot in the Spring of 2006. If elected, Hobbs would serve as AAPG President Elect in 2006 and as AAPG President in 2007. The president of the AAPG is effectively the CEO and spokesman of the 33,000 member international organization. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the AAPG has a staff of 60 employees who manage the association’s extensive geotechnical publication business, regional and annual conventions, education programs and member services. AAPG’s annual budget stands at $12.5 million.

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January 18, 2005

LIBYAN OIL AND GAS OPPORTUNITIES

     A unique window of opportunity has emerged for the US oil and gas companies in Libya.  It is hard to believe that the politics has changed so much so fast in that country in spite of the fact that the Libyan leadership has not changed.  American companies are now welcome in Libya and are invited to become fully involved in developing and reviving the Libyan oil and gas industry, particularly in light of the fact that it represents 95% of their hard currency revenue. 

    The Lockerbie settlement was enough to satisfy the UN and cause their sanctions on the country to be lifted. But by voluntarily giving up their weapons of mass destruction, Libya has surprised the US and the world and opened the door for the lifting of the US sanctions.

    Two types of opportunities for US companies are evolving.  These are first, the re-introduction of the US multinational companies that were the foreign partners in the joint venture oil companies  like Oasis. These are typically large US oil and gas companies like Exxon, Amerada Hess, Conoco, Oxy, Marathon, etc.  Negotiations between the Libyans and these companies are currently ongoing.

    The second type of opportunity deals with large tracts of prospective acreage and several associated discoveries that, at the time they were made, were deemed to be marginal or non-commercial.

Proposal

    Utilizing their uniquely qualified pool of experienced consultants, Ammonite Resources can act as representative to interested US companies, solely for the purpose of screening and evaluating available Libyan opportunities. If requested by participating companies, Ammonite can also advise its clients in the negotiations of the commitment work programs, economic terms and in the drafting of the production sharing contract with the Libyans.

    Ammonite’s Libyan initiative will be led by Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Rahman. Prior to becoming a consultant in 1999, Dr. Abdel-Raham served as Regional Director, Middle East, Eurasia and N. Africa, Pennzoil Exploration and Production Company (1994-1999), and Exploration Manager, Middle East and N. Africa, Pennzoil Exploration and Production Company 1993-1994. While managing Pennzoil’s Middle East operations, Mo supervised a staff of 47 in offices in Egypt and Qatar, with annual budgets of $50 million. He is fluent in Arabic, and is a US citizen.  Ammonite’s UK-based consultant David Bodecott, also has extensive North African experience.  Ammonite’s Managing Partner Skip Hobbs studied the giant carbonate reservoirs in the Sirte Basin as part of his Masters Degree, and worked Libya for Amerada Hess in 1977-1980.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Rahman

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December 1, 2004

SKIP HOBBS REPRESENTS AAPG ON NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY AT THE ENERGY FORUM OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATORS

    Ammonite Managing Partner Skip Hobbs represented the American Association of Petroleum Geologists at the November 17-19, 2004 Energy Forum of the National Conference of State Legislators in Denver, Colorado. Hobbs presented a speech titled “High Oil & Gas Prices – Why So? What Can We Do About It?” to the annual conference of state legislators and regulators concerned with energy policy.  Skip’s speech covered North American and World energy supply and demand issues, and includes a broad range of policy recommendations for increasing domestic oil and gas production and for energy conservation. In addition to Hobbs, as spokesman for the AAPG, the attendees heard from BP Americas, ExxonMobil, the National Petroleum Council, the US Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and various energy consulting and advocacy groups. Skip’s PowerPoint presentation is posted on the Ammonite Website on the “Presentations” web page, and can be accessed directly by clicking here: VIEW

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June 1, 2004

JEFF LUND JOINS AMMONITE IN HOUSTON

    Ammonite Resources is honored to announce the Jeff Lund has joined the firm as Senior Exploration Advisor in Houston, Texas. Jeff's tremendous professional wisdom and managerial skills, and domestic and international petroleum industry contacts are a huge resource for the clients of Ammonite Resources.

     Jeff Lund has been involved in exploration management and geoscience for over 30 years. His most recent roles were in various Vice President positions at Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas, and Ashland Exploration. He served as VP of Worldwide Exploration at both companies and was involved in Kerr-McGee’s successful Gulf of Mexico deep water program including the discovery and appraisal of Boomvang, Nansen and Gunnison Fields, as well as an active shelf and onshore programs. While at Kerr-McGee he guided the introduction of portfolio management and the use of risk and uncertainty techniques in decision and planning efforts. His most recent assignment was in the Kerr-McGee North Sea office in Aberdeen, Scotland where the company produced nearly 80,000 BOE/day and was one of the most active drillers. At Ashland, he managed the transition from passive investor to active operator in a successful Gulf of Mexico program, as well as helping manage a large Appalachian exploitation effort and the successful appraisal and redevelopment of significant oil reserves in Nigeria.

    Jeff has been active throughout his career in professional societies, holding leadership positions as President of the Houston Geological Society and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. He has received numerous awards and honors from these societies. He is the the Gulf Coast Representative to the Advisory Council of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and was General Chairman of that organization’s 2002 Annual Convention in Houston, Texas. He chairs the Advisory Committee of APPEX, the "Prospect and Property Expo" held annually in Houston and London by AAPG and the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists. He is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

    He is frequently invited to speak and moderate panel discussions at industry meetings and has published on technical topics and the business applications of portfolio management in E&P projects. Mr. Lund graduated with a BS in Geology with honors from Case Western Reserve University and also holds an MS in Geophysics and an MBA in Finance, both from the University of Houston. Mr. Lund is an invited member of the Dean of Arts and Sciences Visiting Committee at Case Western Reserve University.

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May 15, 2004

     G. Warfield "Skip" Hobbs, Managing Partner of Ammonite Resources, has been elected to a three year term on the Executive Committee of the American Geological Institute ("AGI"). Skip will serve as Member at Large on the AGI Executive Committee in Washington, D.C. He is presently finishing a three-year term on the AGI Advisory Board, and will join the Executive Committee in November.

    The American Geological Institute was founded in 1948 and is the national not-for-profit "umbrella" organization that represents 44 geoscience professional societies with approximately 130,000 members. Its member organizations include such diverse geological societies as the American Association of Petroleum Geologists; the American Geophysical Union; the National Earth Science Teachers Association; the Society of Exploration Geophysicists; Society of Vertebrate Paleontology; Clay Minerals Society; the American Institute of Hydrology; Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration; National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists; and the Soil Science Society of America. AGI is a major publisher of geoscience books and pamphlets; publishes a monthly earth sciences magazine; manages an important geological sciences online published reference database; and plays a major role in developing national K-12 and university earth science curricula. AGI’s outreach efforts promote public awareness of the role the earth sciences play in our standard of living; educate the public about natural geologic hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, and floods; and publicize the environmental challenges that result from society’s insatiable demand for mineral and water resources. The Government Affairs office of the AGI tracks legislative issues concerning the geosciences – i.e. the Yuca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada, or declining water resources in the Southwest, and provides, through its member societies, expert scientific witnesses for congressional hearings on geoscience matters. Hobbs’s personal focus as an AGI Board Member has been in the areas of national geoscience education and national energy policy.

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April 26, 2004

E&P CORPORATE ECONOMIC MODEL
LAUNCHED BY AMMONITE CAPITAL PARTNERS, LP

    Ammonite Capital Partners, LP is pleased to announce the development of a robust proprietary desktop economic modeling software program that  models a multi-year exploration and development program on a fully risk-adjusted basis, and is able to output pro-forma annual corporate income statements and balance sheets. The model is able to show projected capital requirements and revenues by month, quarter and year, and key economic performance indicators.  Developed by Senior Consultant John Powell, the program is based on Microsoft EXCEL, and is an excellent tool for corporate strategic planning and capital formation.

    The economic model starts with a client company’s corporate income and balance sheet data; then inputs a multi-year forward-looking business plan and budget, inclusive of corporate overhead expense, G&G, leasing, and exploratory and developmental drilling costs; inputs expected drilling results on a fully risked basis; and then generates pro-forma financial projections.  Input data is on a prospect-by-prospect and well-by-well basis, and includes expected operational timing, chance of leases being acquired on a specific prospect, drilling and operating costs, chance of geological success – and hence chance that a prospect will be developed, reserves on a probabilistic basis and production profile, lease burdens and any promote, tax assumptions, and forecast pricing. Groups of wells are consolidated into business units, and those business units are merged into a corporate overview. The advantage of the Ammonite program is that it calculates the risked results of a broad portfolio of prospects, each with a different risk profile and cost structure. Sensitivity analyses are easy to run.

    The model generates a balance sheet and cash flows, and indicates future reserves, and evaluation metrics such as finding costs, an NPV, and IRR data for each risked case (P10-P50-Pmean-P90). A hypothetical exit strategy (sale of assets-merger-IPO) is arbitrarily set at a future date (i.e.- year 5) to "stop the clock" for purposes of determining a present worth on a discounted basis (NPV).

    Company management will find the model extremely useful in terms of indicating on a risked basis what corporate cash flow will look like over a multi-year time frame, and what capital will be required to execute the company’s business plan. Financing through the issuance of new equity or debt, or an acquisition, can be incorporated into the model.

    Glenn Gradeen, President and COO of Rosetta Exploration Inc., Calgary, Alberta said "I found the model to be extremely well suited to our application.  The model can readily deal with a range of forecasts, sensitivities, and integrates well with the particular needs of an oil and gas company (i.e. well declines, operating costs, et cetera). The real power of the tool is its ability to output pro-forma financial statements - which are meaningful to the financial community."

    Ammonite Capital Partners, LP will make the software available to its clients, but does not plan to sell the software. It is a competitive advantage that comes with the engagement of ACP as a financial advisor.

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February 9, 2004

AMMONITE CAPITAL PARTNERS
HOSTS DINNER AT CORONADO CLUB
IN HOUSTON DURING NAPE CONFERENCE

    Houston's exclusive Coronado Club was the venue on February 4th for an intimate Ammonite Capital Partners, LP reception and dinner for 28 friends and clients following the Icebreaker for the North American Prospect Expo ("NAPE"). Ammonite Capital Partners continued a tradition established two years ago by Ammonite Resources of organizing a fun social event with good wine, excellent food and cheer, at which the firm also presents an interesting and timely technical talk. The PowerPoint presentations are informative for both professional explorationist and industry financiers alike. The technical theme for the February dinner was "Utilizing Leading Edge Seismic Technologies to Reduce Risk in Petroleum Exploration and Development". There were three mini-talks between the courses of the gourmet dinner..

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September 15, 2003

SKIP HOBBS RECEIVES AAPG JOHN T. GALEY MEMORIAL AWARD

     Ammonite's Managing Partner, G. Warfield "Skip" Hobbs was awarded the prestigious John T. Galey Memorial Award at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Eastern Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists on September 7th in Pittsburgh. The Galey Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Eastern Section of the AAPG. The citation read "Imaginative international frontier petroleum geologist and financial consultant, in recognition of his visionary and vigorous leadership, distinguished service and manifold contributions to the advancement of the AAPG, its Eastern Section, and the geological profession."  Larry D. Woodfork, recently retired Director of the West Virginia Geological Survey,  was Hobbs's citationist. Skip gave the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the annual convention. His speech was titled "The Geologist as Entrepreneur".  John Galey, one of the founders of the AAPG Eastern Section, was a prominent petroleum geologist, businessman and civic leader in the Pittsburgh Region. His forbears were among the earliest drillers in the Appalachian Basin. Mr. Galey's grandfather developed the anticlinal theory of oil and gas accumulations, and the family were among the first to drill for oil in Texas. Hobbs is a past-president of the Eastern Section of the AAPG, a past-Secretary of the AAPG, and a past-president of the AAPG Division of Professional Affairs. He is the the eleventh recipient of the Galey Award.

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August 2003

TEAM AMMONITE GROWS

    Ammonite Resources is pleased to announce that three new senior consultants have joined Ammonite Resources, significantly strengthening our expertise in the Appalachian, West Texas, and Rocky Mountain regions. We welcome Mary Van Der Loop of Houston, Texas, Dan Billman of Mars, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Russell Stands-Over-Bull of Billings, Montana.

Mary Van Der Loop
(Houston, Texas)

    Mary Van Der Loop is an AAPG Certified Petroleum Geologist with 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She is owner of Sanctuary Oaks Consultants, Inc., a geological consulting firm located in Houston, Texas. Mary holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Master’s Degree in Geology from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has a track record of finding oil and gas through both development and exploratory projects, and has been involved in exploratory prospect and play development for most of her career.

     Mary’s former employers include Texaco, Monsanto (District Geologist 1981-1986), BHP, Energy Exploration Management Group, ARCO (Frontiers Exploration Team), Vastar and BP Amoco. She has worked in a variety of producing areas including the Permian Basin, Oklahoma, Central and South Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico Shelf. Her areas of specialization include carbonate reservoirs, deepwater detrital carbonates, tight gas reservoirs, deep water sand reservoirs, fluvial-deltaic sands, chert detrital reservoirs, and paleostructural analysis and basement structural involvement in oil and gas fields. Other areas of expertise are horizontal drilling, old electric log analysis, acquisition/divestiture evaluations, drilling program planning and management, expert witness, and extensive regional studies through utilization and integration of large well databases. Mary’s publications include topics in deepwater carbonates, tight gas sands, and analysis of the potential of the United States’ frontier exploration provinces.

     Mary is a Past President of the West Texas Geological Society and recipient of its Dedicated Service Award; and is Past President and Honorary Life member of the Permian Basin Section SEPM. She is a Member of American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Houston Geological Society, Oklahoma City Geological Society, and Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists.

Dan A. Billman
(Mars, Pennsylvania)

     Dan Billman has 14 years of experience in the Appalachian Basin with the last ten as a consulting geologist and President of Billman Geologic Consultants, Inc. Prior to independent consulting, Dan worked as an exploration and development geologist for Mark Resources Corporation and Eastern States Exploration Company. Mr. Billman is a registered professional geologist in the state of Pennsylvania. He has extensive experience both in development and exploration plays in the Appalachian Basin as well as experience in the Illinois, Black Warrior, Anadarko, Delaware/Permian, East Texas and Fort Worth Basins. Mr. Billman received his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Toledo and his Master of Science degree in Geology from West Virginia University. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and is currently the AAPG Delegate representing the Pittsburgh Geological Society. Dan is a member and former President (2 terms) and Treasurer (2 terms) of the Pittsburgh Association of Petroleum Geologists. He is also a member of IOGA of Pennsylvania and New York, the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association, the Ohio Geological Society, Appalachian Geological Society and the Ontario Petroleum Institute. Mr. Billman has written and co-authored numerous published papers and technical presentations on the geology of the Appalachian Basin.

Russell E. Stands-Over-Bull, Ph.D.
(Billings, Montana)

     Dr. Russell E. Stands-Over-Bull has over 12 years of experience as a sedimentologist and specialist in sequence stratigraphy and reservoir characterization. He has worked most of his professional career in the basins of the Rocky Mountain Region, where in addition to conventional reservoirs, Dr. Stands-Over-Bull also has extensive experience with low permeability reservoirs, coal, and coalbed methane resources. Russell is President of Arrow Creek Resources, Billings, Montana, a company he founded in 2001 to assist Native American Indian tribes in the assessment and development of tribally-owned mineral resources. Prior to forming Arrow Creek Resources, Dr. Stands-Over-Bull was briefly employed as a Senior Geologist by Barrett Resources prior to its acquisition by the Williams Company. He was employed from 1991 to 2001 by Amoco Production Company, and then BP Amoco in Denver, Aberdeen, Scotland, and Houston. At BP Amoco Russell worked as a senior geologist and sedimentologist, providing expertise in evaluating clastic depositional systems and reservoir architecture in basins of the Rocky Mountains, North Sea, Canada, and Bolivia. Russell Statnds-Over-Bull received his B.S. degree in Geology at Montana State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology at the Colorado School of Mines. Russell is a recipient of the National Outstanding Minority Graduate Student Award, and has received numerous scholarships, fellowships and grants in recognition of his outstanding academic achievement. He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, American Indian Science and Engineering Society-Sequoyah Fellow, Colorado School of Mines Minority Steering Committee, Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, and of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists.

Russell Stands-Over-Bull in his Billings, Montana office.

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