Causeway Discovery Aug 6 2006 Calgary Herald Article

NORTHSEA

OILANDGAS

Hotwell makes, fuitrim

Occidental hurtbv assetloss inEcuador

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Dsn Bicknell,Ca[ary Herald -' !ri _ ifay lhilia I thouglrt is,briiliant',th is is J Uritti#i ldfi,i;'' Antrim EnergyInc. presidentandGEostephenGreeriays.

'Carsewaycould be on productiol by [xe 2oo7followed by

trate on greenerpastures. "That's absolutely true," he trytl 7,$q barrqlspcrds". full fieid dwelopinentin zoo8. said. "It's essentiallymeaninginitial thryh{S_L.011l^.- The East Causewaysuccess less to a super-major,but very Ulthni nt i'iffiItla,= follwer;bee{ry holes drilled meani4nd for smaller compaand CEO.*"ea4[iertUis yer, inchdhd one nieslihusf " ,. : withn&nEnergylnc. Like Western Canada the After closing \lbdnesday at Greer said Ant-rim deliber_ North Seais seeingrising cost the calgary$aed c@- ately took smaler working in- pressuresas drillers scramble $3.22,. 'pary's ry+ gahed *qu! 1o terests in the higher-risk .ieus for rigs andother services. p"r and held on to aiigger pi"ce oi According to the United .*rt in^48 hours,i'briefo n firyFhryg$+85 , what it thought w:rs a more Kingdom Offshore Operators Antrim owrts 65 $e1 ceqrtof promising leaI. Associatiorl opuating costs '"gvep6v.a our the East causewaywell, urhich hand well,,' ros,eabout 15per cent in 2oo5 is locatednear the ShetlandIs- headded. lnd are up 20per cent on a perSince r9s4,, the compary/s barrel basissince 2oo4. !^*_. "U"g 5;o kilometres northeastofscotland. stratery tub-been to foc'uson The U,.K.pumped about 3.2 ..trigh-Iirp".t'; . TF. go-million well was lLyr with the million bpd last year,making it drilled horizontally througb bigeest iotential to move its the uth-largest oil produceiin seleralpros_pectiveSservoirs. stockpri".. theworld. Greer said tpst psplts from-a Greer said rigs and associ_ Part-of ttrat tactic is to hedge second ?,pinei[ the/same well bets by spreadingcashand ri- atedcostscantop $5oo,oooper wouldbereleasednextweek sourcesiirto a viriety of t;day.Although it seernscounterBased on the first test,_the jects aroundthe globe. infiuitive, he's actudly hoping coynp_aryis- confident of an In |une, Antr{m completed tf oil prices to fall so Antrim equallyposi$vgrestilt the saleof non-coreproperties can pick up additional proper' "The well logs look real in Australia, Tanzania"tra trt" ties at lowerprices, ggod,"saidBiu Ne$man"an an- czech Republicto focus otr At"If _ oil prices were to drop, who covers the company gentina aia tne U.K elyrl that would position us very for.Research capital corp. in Greer agreedthe Eastcause- well to take advantageof opuagary. w:ly discovery could be the porrunities for the futtre,'he '?otentially, if the play rrvas "company mai<er"Antrim has said. everdeveloped,it cpuldadda lot beenwaiiing for. Antrim stock rose 34 centsin of ralue to the company. . . the He compired the North sea Toronto on Friday, closing at ontlook is very positive right to wester-n canada as a rela- $+64 on a relatively hearry volno\f,r." tively mature producing re_ ume of four million sbares. Foilowing $di$onal driuirg gion-that has sein the,bi! mato delineatethe discovery East jbrs sell off assetsto concen- [email protected] * '=:

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il and gasproducer Ocn Petrrolerm t lcidental Gorp. said Friday its \-, secondquarter hcome declined dueinpart to the seianre ofassetsbyEcuador. Occidentalrecordedan aftertax loss of g'47 million US, whichincludesthe endofits invesffient in Ecuador,That lqss offset gains the company sau' from higherproduction andgas andoil pricesin the quarter. The companyreportednet incgmeof S8j7million, oi Etyl per sharc,for the quarterendedlune 30, compard wift *rS t billion, ot f3l7 pr share,ayearago. Coreearnings,which exclude one-timeclnrges,gainsand tax benefits,gew to $277per sttare frorn $196. On averagg.analysts surveyed by Thomson forecast a profit of gz.Z9per share.Revenue jumped to S46 billion from $gg billion, topping the averageconserurusestirnateof \ $4.48billion Daity production of oil and \I gas ircreased to 6o9,ooo barl\ i\ rels of oil equivalent,an r8 per cent incrqtse over the same quarterlast year. Higher prices also sent earnings from oil and gas salesup 56per cent to $r.9j3billion The companysaidit remains hopeful about the legal outcome of its fryht rgainst fhe Ecuadoriangovernment. 'We should be able to recover what was taken away from us," Ray lrani chairnlair and chief executive,told analysts on a conference c{ll. "From a legalpoint of view, we feel very goodaboutit." :t

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