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.