A SENSE OF BALANCE.(Statistical Data Included)

Publication: Oil and Gas Investor

Publication Date: 01-APR-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Access Intelligence, LLC.

Westport Resources recently joined the ranks of the public E&P companies, bringing to the party a robust project inventory and an enviable balance sheet.

One of the freshest faces among public small-cap E&P companies is Denver independent Westport Resources Corp.

Westport is hardly the new kid on the block, however. Since its inception in 1991, the company has spent a decade growing steadily through acquisitions and subsequent drilling on those acquired assets. Its first big buy was the 1995 purchase of Conoco Inc.'s Rocky Mountain properties, mainly North Dakota and Wyoming assets that carried reserves of 55 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent (Bcfe). In early 1997, Westport acquired the Axem companies, adding 82 Bcfe of reserves in the Rockies, West Texas and Mid-continent regions.

It followed that deal by acquiring, with partner Energen Resources Corp., Total Minatome Corp. in 1998, adding 64 Bcfe of reserves in the Rockies, Gulf Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

Westport is a house built on acquisitions, and the test of the worth of an acquisition is what a company does with it after purchase. In Westport's case, judicious management and a keen eye toward aggressive exploitation enabled it to add reserves at the same time it was ramping up production from the acquired properties. It has consistently improved on its purchases.

Spring 2000 saw its choicest transaction, when it combined the assets of Westport Oil & Gas with those of Equitable Production (Gulf) Co. The merger added 134 Bcfe of proved and 106 Bcfe of unrisked probable and possible reserves...

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