Heartland Energy Development

Heartland Energy Finds Petroleum Traps

2009-11-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

In the early days of oil exploration, wildcatters ( whose who drill wildcat wells, which are wells drilled where no oil or gas is known to exist) often drilled in an area because of a hunch. They had no idea how oil and gas occurred and probably didn't care. Anybody with enough money to back up a belief that oil lay under the ground at some location or the other drilled a well several years ago. Of they were lucky, they had a strike! If not, it was time to move onto the next area.

After awhile companies like Heartland Energy Colorado had geologists applying earth science for each drilling location they chose. For example, they looked for features on the surface that indicated subsurface traps. On site of an oil company such as Heartland Energy Colorado, an underlying salt dome created a hill or a knoll. The knoll seemed out of place on the surrounding coastal prairie and led people like Patillo Higgens and Anthony Lucas to drill for oil.
Most petroleum deposits lie so deeply buried, however, that no surface features hint at their presence. In man places, West Texas is one example, nothing but flat mostly featureless land stretches for many miles of kilometres. Yes, the subsurface holds large quantities of oil an gas. Considering that most of the world's oil and gas probably lies offshore, covered by hundreds or thousands of feet or metres of water and more thousands of feet or metres of rock, companies like Heartland Energy Colorado have a tough time accessing a surplus of oil. Fortunately, scientists have developed effective indirect methods to view the subsurface. They use seismology the most.

Seismology is the study of sound waves that bounce off buried rock layers. Oil explorationists at Heartland Energy Colorado, or geophysicists, create a low-frequency sound on the ground or in the water. The sound can be an explosion or vibration. If the oil hunters use explosions, the explosions create sound waves that enter the rock. If they use vibrations, a special truck forces a heavy weight against the surface and vibrations the weight. The vibrating weight, such as an explosion, also creates sound waves that enter thelayers of rock. Searchers often use several such trucks. With the dangers of explosions in water, which can kill humans and marine life, offshore explorations by Heartland energy Colorado uses special sound generators.

Regardless of how oil seekers make the low-frequency sound, it penetrates the many layers of rock. Where one layer meets another, a boundary exists. Each boundary reflects some of the sound back of the surface. The rest continues downward. On the surface, special devies, termed "geophones" pick up the reflected soudns. The sounds carry information about the many layers. Cables from the gephones or hydrophones transmit the information to sphoniscated recording devices in a truck or on a boat.

Oil Rig Satefy At Heartland Energy Colorado

2009-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Drilling pioneers such as Drake, Uncle Billy, the Hamils, Lucas and many others would undoubtedly be impressed by the progress made in drilling tools and techniques. What’s more, they would also be impressed by the significant advances drilling contractors and operators of major energy companies have made in safeguarding personnel. Although rig safety at Heartland Energy Colorado may not be as glamorous as technical improvements, it is vitally important. The operators and contractors of Heartland Energy Colorado have taken great strides in personnel safety is borne out by the fact the accident rate on rigs is decreasing. Indeed, accidents have trended downward over the last several years. A look at IADC accidents statistics for a recent years show that rig crews all over the world worked almost 200 million hours. Yet, there were just 1,001 lost time accidents. It may be easier to fathom just how low this rate is if you consider that for every 200,000 hours put in by rig personnel only one suffered an injury serious enough to prevent him or her form working the next day.

Part of the downward trend relates to training. Contractors and operators now consider training an essential part of preparing new workers for the rig at Heartland Energy Colorado. The training is ongoing now only are new personnel trained, but also experienced personnel at all levels of Heartland Energy Colorado receive advanced and refresher training on a regular basis. In addition to intensive training of rig personnel, contractors and operators have taken great steps in designing drilling rigs to be as safe a place to work as possible. An example of this; no contractor of Heartland Energy Colorado would ever consider erecting a rig without adequate protective shrouds, or guard on rig machinery. Steel covers over and around moving parts to protect the Heartland Energy Colorado crew members. In addition, when handling particularly hazardous materials, such a caustic soda, additional protective gear is required. Climbing aids and fall protection equipment are also standard on today’s rigs. Hand rails, guard rails, and nonskid surfaces on all walkways and passageways keep falls and slips to a minimum. At Heartland Energy Colorado, signs, place cards and safety information alert personnel to potential rig hazards and provide information on avoiding illness or injury.

The Cementing Process of an Energy Company

2009-09-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Cement bonds the casing to the hole and prevents fluids in one formation from migrating to another. Cement also prevents corrosive formation fluids from damaging the casing. The operator usually hires an oilwell cementing company to perform the job. Cementing companies stock many kinds of cement and have special equipment to transport it into the well. At the well, Heartland Energy Colorado mixes the dry cement with water to form a slurry -- a thin, watery mixture that is easy to pump. Many kinds of mixers are available to blend the water and cement into a uniform mixture as the cement pumps move it down the casing.

Heartland Energy Colorado then uses a special high-pressure pumps move the slurry through very strong pipes, or lines to a cementing head, or plug container. Previous to this, the cementing crew mounted the cementing head on the topmost joins of casing hanging in the mast or derrick. Just before the slurry arrives at the head, a crew member of Heartland Energy Colorado releases a rubber plug, a bottom plug, from he cementing head. The bottom plug separates the cement slurry from any drulling fluid inside the casing and prevents the mud from contaminating the cement. The slurry moves the bottom plug down the casing. The plug stops, or seats in the float collar. Continued pumping breaks a membrane on the bottom plug and opens a pasage. Slurry then goes through the bottom plug and continues down the last few joints on casing. It flows through an opening in the guide shoe and up the annular space betweent he casing and the hole. Pumping continues until the slurry fills the annualr space.

As the last of cement slurry enters the cassing a crew member of Heartland Energy Colorado releases a top plug from the cementing head. A top plus is like a bottom plus except that it has no membrane or passage. The top plug searates the last of cement to go into the casing the displacement fluid. Displacement fluid, which is usally salt water or a specially formulated drilling mud, moves or displaces the cement from the casing as the cmeent pump applies pressure to move the cement and fluid downt he casing.

Continued pumping by Heartland Energy Colorado will move the the cement, the top plug and displacement fluid down the casing. Most of the cement slyrry flows out of th ecasing and into the annular space. Soon, the top plug seats on or bumps, the bottom plug in the float collar... When it bumbs, the pump operator shuts down the pumps. Cement is only the casing below the float collar and the annular space. Most of the casing is full the displacement fluid.

Heartland Energy Solutions

2009-07-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Article Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

Heartland Energy Solutions is an Iowa-based company whose goal is to provide the world’s most cost-effective 100 kW wind turbine and blades for the generation of electrical power in the moderate-wind-speed market. Their expertise has lead to the development of a unique, world-class turbine designed for use in the US and other locations where wind speeds are low but the demand for energy is high.

The “Freedom™” wind turbine represents a significant advance in renewable energy technology as a more economical and efficient alternative as they are able to create electricity at wind speeds as low as 6 miles per hour. Their smaller size also makes them more user friendly - easier to ship, install and repair, and causing fewer environmental concerns.

Every part of the Freedom™ wind turbines is either manufactured in the US by a division of Heartland Energy Solutions or is purchased through a US vendor. The design of the Freedom™ turbine accommodates the moderate availability and force of wind typically found within the US.

About Heartland Energy Solutions

In 2007, Heartland Energy Solutions was established by a team of engineers, experienced managers and alternative energy experts to address the future of the renewable energy industry through creative solutions in wind and other technologies. Their first area of concentration was wind technology. Recognizing the common wind speeds and patterns in the US, they began discussions with proven wind power energy leaders with the aim of designing the next generation wind turbine.

Design of a 100 kW turbine, Freedom™, has been completed and production is scheduled to begin in mid 2009.

Heartland Energy Solutions’ turbine and blade manufacturing facility is located in Mount Ayr, Iowa. All the manufacturers of the components were selected based on their capabilities and location. First considered were Mid-West and US manufacturers, then the global supply chain of established companies – to find the best combination of core competency and the ability to produce the quality needed.

Heartland Oil & Gas Corp

2009-07-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) is an oil and gas exploration and production company and a subsidiary of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTC BB: UPDA). On September 27, 2004 Heartland completed the acquisition of the Forest City Basin and Bourbon Arch assets from Evergreen Resources, Inc. for a purchase price of $22 million. The Forest City Basin assets consisted of all of Evergreen Resources, Inc.’s interest in all its oil and gas leases covering an aggregate of approximately 766,000 acres located in the State of Kansas, together with 60 well bores and all surface equipment, gathering and surface facilities and all geological, engineering, land and accounting data and records pertaining to these leases and assets.

Prior to its acquisition of the assets from Evergreen Resources, Heartland Energy had interests in leases covering approximately 252,000 acres in central Kansas (the “Soldier Creek project”). Heartland owns 100% of the working interest in all of these leases with a net revenue interest of approximately 85%.

After the acquisition of the Evergreen assets, Heartland Energy held in excess of 1 million acres of prospective CBM leases at various stages of development, 88 wells, including 43 CBM wells in eight pilots that were dewatering and/or venting gas, 37 CBM wells awaiting stimulation, and 8 saltwater disposal wells.

On April 20, 2007, UPDA acquired approximately 52% of the common stock of Heartland Energy and nearly $5,000,000 of its debt in a cash and stock transaction. Since that time, Heartland has undertaken an aggressive drilling program in its Cherokee Basin Coalbed Methane Field in Southeastern Kansas and acquired about 75 producing wells in Northern Texas. As a result of the conversion of that debt into Heartland preferred stock, UPDA now controls over 70% of the voting stock of Heartland.

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Heartland Energy Colorado

2009-07-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Heartland Energy Development Corporation out of Englewood, Colorado is a privately held oil and gas producer with an experienced team of management and industry expertise who specialize in developing domestic gas and oil fields. With properties all over the Unites States, Heartland Energy Colorado is a leading producer of natural gas and hydrocarbon based fuels.

For more than 15 years, the Heartland Energy Development Corp. has innovated technologies and led the oil and gas production and development industry in many ways. Thanks to the Company’s unique management style, long-term approach to resource development, and investments in both great technology and smart personnel, it has grown from a spitfire natural gas and propane seller into a a national powerhouse.

For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, check out: Heartland Energy Colorado

Natural Gas: a 'Vital Part’ of Colorado's New Energy Economy

2009-07-19T21:19:00.001-07:00

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

>Gov. Bill Ritter offered Colorado’s natural gas industry his support Thursday in a speech on the last day of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s annual three-day conference.

“Natural gas is a vital part of the New Colorado Energy Economy,” Ritter told the crowd of about 2,000 people. “It is a permanent part of the New Energy Economy. It’s not a bridge fuel, not a transition fuel, but a mission-critical fuel.”

Ritter outlined his support for the industry on several fronts, listing the state’s expansion of tax credits for vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, and credits for converting vehicles to run on natural gas.

The Governor’s Colorado Energy Office is applying for a $10 million federal grant to expand the use of natural gas for transportation uses, he said.

Ritter also mentioned he’d urged the federal government to approve a new pipeline, called the Ruby pipeline, to carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to markets in California and the West Coast.

And he said he talked with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, about her proposal, introduced in Congress in June, to regulate the industry’s hydraulic fracturing process that frees natural gas from the ground. U.S. Rep. Jarid Polis from Boulder has signed on as a cosponsor.

Industry executives have said the process, sometimes called fraccing, is adequately regulated at the state level.

“I don’t for a moment discount the concerns of those who worry about the protection of drinking water supplies but I also believe that we have to understand the problems and risks before we act,” Ritter said at the COGA meeting.

“That’s why I encouraged Congresswoman DeGette to consider authorizing a comprehensive study of this issue instead of going directly to a new and potentially intrusive regulatory program. She agreed, at that time, to go instead to something that would be more in the way of a study instead of an amendment that would prescribe every state having to put in place these rules,” Ritter said, adding, “I thank the congresswoman for having done that.”

But DeGette’s spokesman, Kristofer Eisenla, asked about Ritter’s comment, said later Thursday that “all options are on the table” regarding the fraccing bill.

“She had a good conversation with the governor regarding this,” Eisenla said. “She understands his concerns, but she’s looking at all options to move the issue forward — including holding a hearing in her committee and doing a study. She welcomes the industry’s input on developing the study.”

Ritter’s comments drew applause and praise from industry executives, who have tussled with Ritter’s administration over the state’s new rules governing industry operations. The rules took effect April 1.

“I thought the governor’s comment that natural gas is a vital part of the New Energy Economy and a permanent fuel — not a bridge fuel — and a critical fuel for Energy Colorado and the nation is right on point,” said Peter Dea, president and CEO of private Cirque Resources LP in Denver.

Said Meg Collins, president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, “I’m pleased he came, and I’m pleased at the message that natural gas is mission-critical, and an integral part of the state’s and nation’s energy portfolio for the long term. The governor’s statements are going to put pressure on the Oil & Gas Commission to process [drilling] permits so we can continue to produce natural gas for the state and nation.”

One of the leading producers of natural gas in the state is Heartland Energy Colorado. The Governor's comments are good news for natural gas companies, and could mean the government support that the industry so needs. Especially with government incentives, companies like Heartland Energy will continue to produce natural gas and thrive.

Source: Cathy Proctor, Denver Business Journal

The Battle Over Lighting (Part 3)

2009-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Submitted by Heartland Energy Colorado

Cities Service was a model for a much larger public utility empire created by Samuel Insull, who started out as the English representative of a U.S. bank representing Thomas Edison’s interests in London. He ended up working directly for Edison as his private secretary by day and learned the electricity-generating business at the Pearl Street plant by night. He eventually rose to third place in the newly formed General Electric, a merger involving Edison Electric, then to Chief Executive of Chicago Edison, and finally to chairman of Peoples Gas in Chicago, where he managed a corporate turnaround. This string of success led to the 1912 founding of Middle West Utilities and later to Insull Utility Investments, both holding companies for electric and gas utilities. By 1926 Insull’s utility empire encompassed 6,000 communities across thirty-two states, and by 1930 it has grown to four million customers and 12 percent of the nation’s electricity-generating and gas-distribution capacity.

The War Industries Board encouraged the formation of nationwide industrial organizations to carry out its mandate to coordinate the nation’s industrial activities during World War I. Natural gas suppliers responded by combining several predecessor organizations into the American Gas Association (AGA) in 1918 to centralize the exchange of information, set industry-wide standards, and encourage cooperation and coordination among its members. The AGA also represented the industry viewpoint to the public, at Congressional hearings, and before natural gas regulatory bodies. The complete conversion of natural gas from lighting to cooking and heating took place at this time, symbolized by natural gas being sold in units of energy (British Thermal Units – BTU) rather than units of illumination (Candlepower).

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

The Battle Over Lighting (Part 2)

2009-07-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

As the availability of electricity spread throughout the nation, it did not take long for managers of consolidated gas companies to see the virtue of expanding their merger activities to include electricity-generating firms. The coke by-product from coal gas production could be burned to make electricity and mergers would result in major savings in corporate overhead. The first merger occurred in Boston in 1887, setting the example for the creation of innumerable gas and electric or electric and gas utility companies across the nation. Consolidating gas companies and merging with electricity-generating companies into independent gas and electric utilities further evolved into the public holding company, which owned controlling interests in independent electric and gas companies.

Henry L. Doherty, who started out as an office boy and rose to chief engineer of a natural gas company, formed the first public holding company. Noticing that poorly designed gas stoves were a drag on natural gas sales, Doherty increased gas sales by working with stove manufacturers to improve their product. He switched to marketing, where he was an instant success because of his ability to motivate and lead salespeople, initiating all sorts of promotional activities, and setting high standards of customer service. Doherty then established his own company to provide advice on the reorganization, management, and financing of public utility companies. He began to attract investor interest and in 1910 formed Cities Service Company, the first public holding company. As the name suggested, the company was to serve cities across the nation with gas and electricity and, by 1913, Cities Service controlled fifty utilities in fourteen states.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Colorado PUC Hears Debate on Whether it Should Regulate Tri-State

2009-07-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

Officials of Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association Inc., Colorado's second-largest electricity generator, and environmentalists debated whether the Colorado Public Utilities Commission should oversee Tri-State at a three-hour hearing Thursday.

And while nothing was settled, both sides clearly staked out their positions before a packed PUC hearing room.

The commissioners are expected to return to the issue in September.

The issue is whether the PUC should expand its power and begin reviewing Westminster-based Tri-State’s long-range forecasts for power demands from its Colorado customers.

Along with that, the commissioners are looking at whether the PUC should have the power to decide what combination of new power plants, energy farms and energy conservation programs the association should pursue to meet that demand – as the regulators do for the Xcel Energy Inc., the state’s largest utility.

Tri-State is the wholesale power supplier to 44 rural cooperatives in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska. Its board of directors is made up of representatives of the customer-owned cooperatives.

State regulators took up the issue in 2008, when it appeared that Tri-State wasn’t moving swiftly to add energy and energy conservation programs to its power portfolio. State law requires that Tri-State, as a group of rural cooperatives, get 10 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2020.

Ron Lehr, a former PUC chairman and a consultant for Conifer-based Colorado energy group Interwest Energy Alliance, said Thursday that efforts to cut Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions requires a state-wide planning effort that could be overseen by the PUC.

"Colorado consumers and utilities face a challenge in transitioning to less fossil fuel, to me it subsumes the jurisdictional dispute that's being laid out," Lehr said. "If they [Tri-State] are as good as they say, they have nothing to fear from PUC review."

But Ken Reif, Tri-State’s senior vice president and general counsel, said the association’s Colorado customers do care about the state as a whole, and are capable of making decisions on their own.

He also noted that in recent months Tri-State has begun taking the steps its critics have wanted, from energy conservation programs to contracting for a 51-megawatt wind farm on the eastern plains and a 30 megawatt solar power plant in New Mexico.

"All the things that I hear Tri-State should be doing is being done at Tri-State right now, without any bump from this commission, with all due respect," Reif told commissioners.

"There’s no reason to believe the commission is any more well-equipped to make these decisions than Tri-State’s board and its board members," he said.

PUC Chairman Ron Binz asked for opinions on how far the PUC’s current authority over Tri-State went. Reif answered that laws protecting Tri-State board’s authority sharply limited the PUC’s power – although he later said there might be room for middle ground.

(Source: cproctor@bizjournals.com)

Heartland Energy Colorado Video

2009-07-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video provided by the Heartland Energy Colorado company.

Heartland Energy Launches Ethanol Brand HE85

2009-07-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Coloado

ALEXANDRIA, LA - November 21, 2006: Heartland Energy Group Inc. (Pink Sheets:HEGP) announced Monday that they have officially launched their new ethanol brand name, HE85, and have entered into an agreement with Casella & Casella, LLP to file trademark applications for that name.

Heartland Energy Group has developed the following ethanol Brand Name Identity to use as a recognizable marketing tool for their Ethanol E85 Brand – HE85. Heartland Energy Colorado Group is developing a national marketing campaign that they plan to launch when the trademark is approved. Heartland intends on putting alternative fuel sections in independent gas stations across the country. The trademark will create asset protection for their future marketing of the Heartland Alternative Fuel line-up. The trademarks are set to co-inside with the Branding Package currently in development.

Roy Thornhill President of Heartland Energy Group, Inc. stated that: He is receiving positive feedback about the marketing plan being developed to create brand recognition for this ethanol product.

About Ethanol:

The growing interest in ethanol, a clean, corn-based renewable resource, has paralleled the escalating price of gas and the urgent need to break the country's dependence on crude oil. Recently, the Big Three automobile manufacturers, GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler, appealed to Congress for incentives to increase the number of gas stations that offer blends of ethanol. Last year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates pumped $84 million into Pacific Ethanol . Sir Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group and worth an estimated $3 Billion, has plans to invest $300 to $400 million to produce and market this alternative fuel. Vinod Khosla, “guru” of Silicon Valley, co-founder of Sun Microsystems , and one of ethanol’s most vocal advocates, has personally invested millions in private companies involved in the development of ethanol.

About Heartland Energy Group, Inc.

Heartland Energy Colorado Group, Inc. is a North American-based alternative fuel resource and Service Company, dedicated to developing the infrastructure for the delivery of ethanol (e85). Heartland seeks to eliminate North America's dependency on foreign energy sources by focusing on innovative engineering that will enable the mass distribution of ethanol. Heartland Energy will also create an alternative fuel section for independent gas stations throughout the United States. Heartland Energy Group will transcend the future of renewable energy resources, with the ultimate goal of creating a cleaner brighter energy solution for North America. For more information, visit www.HeartlandEnergyGroup.com.

Colorado Energy News Launches “Energy Leadership Series

2009-07-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Published by: Heartland Energy Colorado

The leading news and information hub for Colorado’s energy industry is providing overdue recognition to the organizations out in front on energy innovation and development in the state.

Basalt, CO (PRWEB) September 9, 2008 — Colorado is ground zero for energy development in the 21st century, and now the companies and organizations that are helping propel it forward will be recognized in a new Energy Leadership Series sponsored by Colorado Energy News.

ColoradoEnergyNews.com delivers the most comprehensive coverage of the business, politics and technology of the state’s rapidly growing energy industry, including the latest developments in oil and gas, renewables and power generation. The website includes streaming video channels with energy-specific content, including Going Green, Pain at the Pump and Bloomberg Energy News.

“From traditional oil and gas developers on the Western Slope to new solar and wind power projects along the Front Range, Colorado-based companies are creating thousands of jobs and contributing to the state’s emerging position as a leader in both traditional and new energy markets,” says Executive Editor, David Hill.

Natural gas development has become a major energy driver in the Rocky Mountains and Colorado in particular. Piceance Basin in the western part of the state is one of the largest gas fields in the country, fits in perfectly with T. Boone Pickens’ ambitious plan to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. With the state’s boom in gas production has come public policy and environmental issues, which visitors to ColoradoEnergyNews.com can read about daily. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is addressing many of these issues by developing new rules for oil and gas operations in the state, scheduled to become law this fall.

Another important story reported in Colorado Energy News is the Ritter Administration’s drive to attract renewable energy investment, which is paying off with companies, such as Swedish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, constructing new facilities along the Front Range and adding hundreds of jobs. “Colorado should be a model for the world and the U.S. of what can be done in a state when everyone teams up to push for clean energy,” says Roby Roberts, senior vice president of external relations for Vestas America.

State law requiring large utilities to generate 20 percent of their electricity from solar, wind or biomass sources by 2020 is another key factor propelling Colorado’s new energy economy. Xcel Energy, the state’s largest utility company supplying more than 70 percent of the electricity, appears on track to meet the target with several years to spare.

Adding to a highly favorable environment for energy development is Colorado’s rich academic tradition. The state is home to several prominent energy-related education and research institutions, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden; the Colorado School of Mines; Colorado State University, which has a major alternative energy curriculum; and Colorado University in Boulder.

“With our Energy Leadership Series, Colorado Energy News is shining the spotlight on those organizations making a difference in our economy and quality of life,” explains Hill.

“As Colorado goes, so goes the nation. It is an exciting time to be involved with energy and we look forward to sharing with our readers the cutting edge companies that are helping Colorado lead the way in energy solutions.”

The Search for Energy: Evaluating a Formation’s Oil Potential

2009-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

Determining whether a formation contains oil and gas falls under the realm of formation evaluation. Formation evaluation includes the activities the operator does to test a formation for hydrocarbons. The operator must not only know whether hydrocarbons exist, but also whether they exist in ample amounts. A hole may penetrate a formation that contains hydrocarbons; however, if the formation does not contain enough hydrocarbons for the operating company to get its monetary investment back, the company may declare the hole to be dry. Methods of formation evaluation include examining cuttings and drilling mud, well logging, drill stem testing, and coring.

Several techniques are available to help the operator decide whether to complete the well. One of the simplest is looking at the cuttings the drilling mud carries from the bottom of the hole. A geologist can test the cuttings to determine whether they contain hydrocarbons. The mud logger, using various kinds of detection equipment, can also spot hydrocarbons in the drilling mud. An operator probably would not decide to complete or abandon a well using only information from cuttings and mud returns. Careful examination of them, however, can indicate whether the well is likely to produce.

Well logging is a widely used evaluation technique. Many kinds of logging tools are available. Some measure and record natural and induced nuclear, or radioactive, attributes of a rock. Others measure and record the way in which formations respond to electric current. Another log measures and records the speed with which sound travels through a formation. These are only a few on many logs available to operators. By interpreting the recordings, or logs, the operator can usually tell if the well will be a producer.

The operator calls the logging company to the well while the drilling crew trips out the drill string. From a portable laboratory, truck-mounted for land rigs or in a small cabin on offshore rigs, the well loggers lower logging tools into the well on wire line. They lower tools to bottom and then slowly reel them back up. When activated, the tools measure formation properties. The tools transmit the data they gather to the truck or logging shack. There, special recorders and computers store the information. For on-site evaluation, computers in the portable laboratory print the data. These logs give the operator a first look at what a formation may yield. For thorough evaluation, the portable lab can transmit the log’s data to powerful computers located at the central testing facilities. By carefully examining well logs, the operator can determine whether to complete the well. Well logs not only indicate the presence of oil and gas, they also indicate how much may be there.

During the drilling, the operator can run ‘logging while drilling’ (LWD) tools in the drill stem. These instruments incorporate sophisticated electronic devices that sense, transmit, and record formation characteristics as the bit drills ahead. The LWD tool transmits formation information on a pulse the tool creates in the drilling mud. Much as radio waves transmit sound information through air, mud pulses transmit formation information to computers on the surface. The computers analyze and display the information in readouts that experts on the site can interpret and evaluate.

Colorado Energy companies are constantly seeking out oil and testing wells before they drill. This ensures both economic return, and longevity. Heartland Energy Development Corporation evaluates domestic rock formations for oil. Heartland Energy is among the leaders in domestic oil evaluation and production.

Oil Rig Safety and Environmental Concerns

2009-07-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

The pioneers of drilling, and many others in the industry would most certainly be impressed by the progress made in drilling tools and techniques. What’s more, they would also be impressed by the significant advances made by drilling contractors and operators in regards to ‘safe-guarding’ their personnel. Although rig safety may not be as glamorous as technical improvements, it is vitally important. The fact that operators and contractors have taken great strides in personnel safety is shown by the fact the accident rate on rigs is decreasing. Indeed, accidents have trended downward over the last several years. A look at accident statistics for a recent year show that rig crews all over the world worked almost 200 million hours. Yet, there was just 1,001 ‘lost time accidents’ (an accident serious enough to prevent the injured person from working the next scheduled workday.) To fathom just how low this rate is, consider that for every 200,000 hours rig personnel worked, only one suffered an injury serious enough to prevent them form working the next day.

Part of that downward trend relates to training. Contractors and operators now consider training an essential part of preparing new workers for the rig. Training is ongoing: not only are new personnel trained, but also experienced personnel at all levels receive advanced and refresher courses on a regular basis. In addition to intensive training of rig personnel, contractors and operators have taken great steps towards designing drilling rigs to be as safe a place to work as possible. For example, no contractor today would ever consider erecting a rig without adequate protective shrouds, or guards, on rig machinery. Steel covers over and around moving parts protect the crew members from inadvertently contacting them. Personal protective gear that prevents or minimizes injury to the eyes, head, ears, and feet is standard apparel for everyone on the rig site. In addition, when handling particularly hazardous materials, such as caustic soda, additional protective gear is required. Climbing aids and fall protection are also standard on today’s rigs. Handrails, guardrails, and nonskid surfaces on all walkways and passageways, keeps falls and slips to a minimum. Furthermore, signs, placards, and safety information alert personnel to potential rig hazards and provide information on avoiding illness or injury.

Protecting the environment from harm is another area in which contractors and operators have made great advances. For example, contractors sometimes place nets over reserve pots to keep migratory waterfowl from landing in them. Such action is only one of the many steps contractors and operators take to protect the environment. Additional examples include installing plastic lining on reserve pits to prevent water or other materials from leaching into the soil, cleaning of oil-laden cuttings before they are disposed of, and, in especially sensitive areas, prohibiting any discharge onto the ground or into the water.

In many different ways, today’s rotary rigs are not that different from the rotary rigs of yesterday, such as the on the Hamils used to drill Spinletop. At the same time, however, modern rigs are considerably advanced. The industry has come a long way since the days of “wooden derricks and iron men.” Granted, the basic name of the game is still putting a bit on bottom and turning it while circulating drilling fluid, but today’s tools and techniques have evolved to make rotary rigs more efficient than ever. Steel has replaced that which used to be wood and modern steel alloys have replaces steel that used to break or wear out prematurely. Moreover, rig personnel are trained to work safer than ever before. Eventually, other forms of Heartland Energy will supplant oil and gas, but at least for now, the sight of a rotary drilling rig with its bit on bottom and turning to the right is not likely to disappear.

For more information on Environmentally safe and efficient extraction of oil, check out Heartland Energy Colorado

A Tale of Two Speeches at This Week’s COGA Meeting

2009-07-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

Reported by Art Mass (Heartland Energy)

In the face of an industry slump that could continue for another three or four years according to some experts, Governor Ritter labels natural gas “a mission-critical fuel.”

Speaking at this week’s Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s annual conference in Denver, the Governor told the crowd of industry officials that natural gas production is crucial as the country seeks more energy independence and wrestles with climate change.

COGA has been a major critic of the Ritter administration’s push for stricter oil and gas regs — now law in Colorado — as well as feeling as though their multibillion dollar industry was getting shortchanged by the Governor in his quest to promote the new energy economy.

In his talk on Thursday, the Governor stressed the importance of Colorado natural gas as a key component of the new energy economy. After his pep talk to what had to be a skeptical audience, COGA spokesman Nate Strauch said the industry was encouraged by Ritter’s speech.

ON THE OTHER HAND … WIRTH CHASTIZES ENERGY INDUSTRY

Delivering the keynote address at a crowded luncheon meeting during the same industry gathering a day earlier, former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth dressed down the natural gas industry.

Wirth enthusiastically exhorted the natural-gas industry to get better organized and get to Washington and lobby for its interests. The former Colorado senator now serves as president of the nonprofit United Nations Foundation, a charity created by Ted Turner in 1998.

Wirth told the gathering that, in his opinion, global warming was undeniable and it was pervasive. He said the world is headed for disaster, and it’s in everyone’s interest to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Natural gas should be the bridge to the future, said Wirth, but the industry was completely missing from the recent debate in the House of Representatives on the Waxman-Markey energy bill. Other groups, including coal producers, utilities, automotive manufacturers and solar and wind-energy Colorado providers, wangled special provisions or shaped terms of various programs contained in the proposed legislation.

“Every major industry was deeply engaged except for the natural-gas industry,” he said. “The natural-gas industry needs to get organized. It can lead the country toward a better economic and environmental future.”

The Battle Over Lighting (Part 1)

2009-07-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Manufactured gas commanded the market for lighting in urban areas while kerosene continued to be used in rural areas and towns not hooked up to manufactured gas. Though vulnerable to penetration by natural gas, coal gas was given a new lease on life by the discovery of a technique for making “water gas” by injecting steam into anthracite coal or coke heated to incandescence. This produced a flammable mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that was sprayed with atomized oil (a new market for oil) to increase its heat content to match that of coal gas. Less costly to make than coal gas, water gas had 75 percent of the manufactured gas market by 1900.

While water gas could temporarily hold natural gas a bay, a new competitive threat entered the lighting business, affecting both manufactured and natural gas: electricity. In 1880, Edison rigged Broadway for illumination by electricity and lost no time attacking gas lighting for its odors, leaks, fires, explosions, and transport in “sewer pipes,” ignoring, of course, the risk of electric shock, electrocution, and fires from exposed wires.

In 1882, the Pearl Street generating station provided electricity to 1,284 lamps within one mile of the plant. Edison used existing gas statutes for permission to install electric wiring under streets and set up a system to supply electricity that mirrored gas as closely as possible to make it easier for customers to switch. The gas distribution companies knew that electricity would replace gas for lighting and responded with a two-pronged program to meet the new competitive threat. The first was to shift the emphasis of gas from lighting to cooking and heating and the second was to pursue corporate consolidation to strengthen their position.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Feds Roll Out New Lighting Rules and $346M for Energy Efficient Buildings

2009-07-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

Reported by: Heartland Energy Colorado

The momentum for 2009 being called the year of ”energy efficiency” was punctuated further this week when President Obama detailed stricter new lighting standards and promised the swift release of $346 million in Recovery Act funds to boost energy efficiency in new and existing commercial buildings and homes.

“I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and businesses,” Obama said of the new rules that set higher thresholds for energy efficiency in lamps and lighting equipment.

Issued last Friday, the standards call for products made in the U.S. or imported for use here to meet the new parameters starting in 2012. According to the Department of Energy, the changes in lamps and lighting equipment would:

• Prevent the emission of as much as 594 million tons of carbon dioxide from 2012 through 2042, which is estimated as being roughly equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year.

• Save consumers $1 billion to $4 billion annually from 2012 through 2042.

• Save enough electricity from 2012 through 2042 to power every home in the U.S. for as many as 10 months.

• Eliminate the need for up to 7.3 gigawatts of new generating capacity by 2042, which the DOE says is equivalent to as many as 14 500MW coal-fired power plants.

The DOE’s release of $346 million in stimulus funds will go toward development and deployment of more energy smart buildings — and the technology and equipment to support them.

In the U.S., commercial buildings and homes account for about 40 percent of the energy consumption — more than any other economic sector — and for a similar percentage of CO2 emissions in the country. Existing structures present a ripe target for energy efficiency efforts and retrofits, the DOE noted, with three-quarters of the 81 million buildings in stock having been constructed before 1979.

The Recovery Act money for energy efficient structures will be allotted in five major areas:

• Advanced Building Systems Research, $100 million: Funding focuses on the development and design of integrated systems to control and manage the technology and equipment that enable structures to be more energy efficient. The goal is to accelerate progress toward zero-net energy buildings.

• Commercial Buildings Initiative, $53.5 million: Funds are to be used for expanding and speeding formation of partnerships among major companies and organizations with large building portfolios to make that property deliver “exemplary energy performance.” The DOE wants to increase the number of partnerships, now at 23, to about 75. Competitive applications for the partnerships will open in September.

• Buildings and Appliance Market Transformation, $72.5 million: Funding will be aimed at spurring the development of more energy efficient products through an expansion of Energy Star; preparing and educating various industries on how to implement commercial building codes that call for a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency and take effect in 2010; and adapting the DOE Appliance Standards program to better address innovative technology.

• Solid State Lighting Research and Development, $50 million: The DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy department calls solid-state lighting “a pivotal emerging technology that promises to fundamentally alter lighting in the future.” The R&D funds in this area will be channeled toward work that will bring high-performance lighting technology and products to market more quickly.

• Residential Buildings Development and Deployment, $70 million: The money is to be devoted to projects that will provide technical training and assistance to residential builders and the workforce handling improvement and retrofitting of existing homes for energy efficiency, as well as the construction of new, energy-saving homes. Eligible projects include those run by municipalities, states and utilities.

More Energy News: Crude Oil Prices | Obama's Negative Stimulus Plan | Home

Origin & Accumulation of Oil & Gas

2009-07-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

To understand how hydrobarbons get into buried rocks, visualize an ancient sea teeming with vast numbers of living organisms. Some are fishes and others are large swimming beasts while others are so small that you cannot see them with out a microscope. Although they are very small, they are very abundant. Millions and millions of these small organisms live and die daily. It is these tiny and plentiful organisms that scientists believe gave rise to oil and gas.

When these tiny organisms died millions of years ago, their remains settled to the bottom. Even though they were very small, thousands of years went by and enormous quantities accumulated in thick deposits on the seafloor. The organic material mixed with the mud and sand on the bottom. Ultimately, many layers of sediments built up until they became hundreds of thousands of feet thick. The tremendous weight of overlying sediments created great pressure and heat on the deep layers. The heat and pressure changed the deep layers into rock. At the same time of this happening, the heat and pressure changed the dead organic material in the layers into hydrocarbons: crude oil & natural gas.

Meanwhile, geological action created cracks, or faults in the earth's crust. Earth movement folded layers of rock upward and downward. Molten rock thrusted upward, altering the shape of the surrounding beds. Disturbances in the earth shoved great blocks of land upward, dropped them downwards and them moved them sideways. Wind and water then eroded formations, earthquaked buried them, and new sediments fell onto them. Land blocked a bay's access to open water, and the resulting inland sea evaporated. Great rivers carried tons of sediment; then dried up and became buried by other rocks. In short, geological forces slowly but constantly altered the very shape of the earth. These alterations in the layers of rock are important because under the right circumstances, they can trap and store hydrocarbons.

Even while the earth changed, the withe of overlying rocks continued to push downward, forcing hydrocarbons out of their source rocks. Seeping through the subsurface cracks and fissures, oozing through small connections between rock grains the hydrocarbons moved upward. They moved until a subsurface barrier stopped them or until they reached the earth's surface as they did at Oil Creek. Most of the hydrocarbons, however did not reach the surface. Instead, they became trapped and stored in a layer of subsurface rock. Today, the oil industry seeks petroleum that was formed and trapped millions of years ago.

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of these companies in the oil industry benefiting from the transformation. Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon based energy providers in the country taking advantage of this prehistoric transformation. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

Sustainable Energy Defined

2009-07-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

A sustainable source of energy is renewable and environmentally benign. While sustainable energy sources such as hydro, geothermal, wind, solar, oceanic (wave, tidal, current and temperature differential) are seemingly inexhaustible, this is not true for biomass. Biomass is a sustainable source of energy as long as a crop is grown, burned for its energy content, and replaced by another. Under these conditions, there is no net addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere because the carbon dioxide released from burning is absorbed in growing the replacement crop. Deforestation adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as more biomass is burned than is replenished and is not sustainable; at some point the forest is gone. Inexhaustible means that the source of energy is always present and never diminished, but that does not infer an infinite supply. Inexhaustibility must be tempered with capacity limits. Biomass is limited by the availability of arable land for non-food crops; solar power by whether the sun is shining and the number of solar arrays; wind power by whether the wind is blowing and the number of wind turbines; and hydropower by rainfall and the number of dams.

A major difference between conventional and sustainable sources of energy is reliability. Electricity can be generated at the dispatcher’s whim up to a plant’s rated capacity for a generator fueled by fossil and biomass fuels, nuclear power and geothermal energy. This is not true for other sources. Hydropower depends on rainfall. Wind and solar and wave power depend on the weather. Tidal energy is predictable, but there is no guarantee that peaks in electricity generation from changing tides coincide with peaks in electricity demand. Wind, solar, tidal and wave sources can certainly be tied into an electricity distribution grid and contribute to the electricity pool “weather permitting,” but they can only displace, not replace, conventional sources of energy. Wind and solar energy, in particular, are being researched, developed and implemented heavily in states such as Colorado.

Source: (“Energy for the 21st Century,” Nersesian)

Ritter Tops List as Nation’s “Greenest” Governor

2009-07-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Greenopia, an online directory of eco-friendly retailers, services, and organizations, has released a “green” ranking of 50 United States governors. Topping the list is Col0rado’s own Bill Ritter followed closely by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. The entire ranking results are listed below.

The designation as the greenest Governor in the nation wraps up a notable month of June for Ritter, Colorado's Gov. Earlier he received the Father of the Year Award from the American Diabetes Association, and was profiled on the www.coloradodads.com website during the month.

“We looked at all 50 governors in the US and compared their policies, transparency, and interest group ratings and ranked them. It was a monumental task,” said Doug Mazeffa, Greenopia’s director of research. “People want to know which Governors are the eco-leaders or laggards, and especially identify those making repeated eco-gaffes.”

Data for this study was collected from each governor’s own web pages and cross-checked against credible sites such as VoteSmart and OnTheIssues. Energy and emission data was collected from the Department of Energy and the environmental platform data for each political party was collected from either the DNC or RNC’s main site.

Greenopia says that as part of its mission to keep consumers (and voters) informed on issues of eco-friendly importance, the Greenest Governors project reveals which state governments are most dedicated to preserving the environment. The U.S. Constitution preserves the notion that America is a federation of sovereign states and legal powers not specifically granted to the federal government are retained by the states. This means that Governors and state legislatures hold significant sway over state-based green initiatives and policies.

“Over the past few years we have begun to see certain states emerging as environmental leaders,” remarked Gay Browne, Greenopia founder and CEO. “Those states enacting environmental laws stricter than federal guidelines have gone to greater lengths to protect the environment and to create more sustainable development, including green jobs.”

The Top Ten Greenest Governors

1. Bill Ritter of Colorado

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California

3. Ted Kulongowski of Oregon

4. Christine Gregoire of Washington state

5. John Baldacci of Maine

6. Martin O’Malley of Maryland

7. Bill Richardson of New Mexico

8. James Douglas of Vermont

9. Jon Corzine of New Jersey

10. Jodi Rell of Connecticut

(Source: www.coloradoenergynews.com)

The History of Natural Gas (Part 2)

2009-06-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

Pipes made of two to eight foot segments of hollowed-out Canadian white pine logs reflected the primitive state of pipeline technology. The problems associated with a rotting and leaking wooden pipeline eventually led to the demise of the Rochester Natural Gas Light Company. In the same year a 5 1/2 mile, 2 inch wide wrought-iron pipeline was successfully constructed to carry waste gas from oil wells near Titusville to 250 townspeople.

But cast and wrought-iron pipelines were plagued by breaks and leaking connections held together by screws. Before the day of compressors, transmission distance was limited by gas well pressure. In 1870, Pittsburgh became the first city to start consuming natural gas as a substitute for coal to clean up its smoke-laden atmosphere. The Natural Gas Act, passed in 1885 by the Pennsylvania legislature, permitted natural gas to compete with manufactured gas.

This proved to be the driving wedge that enabled natural gas to penetrate the manufactured coal gas business and resulted in the formation of Peoples Natural Gas, which by 1887 was serving 35,000 households in Pittsburgh. Another Pittsburgh natural gas distributor, Chartiers Valley Gas, was the first company to telescope pipe from an initial eight to ten and finally twelve inches in diameter to reduce gas pressure before it entered a home, business or industrial plant.

By this time screws had given way to threaded pipe to hold pipe segments together. Dresser and Company, formed in 1880, specialized in pipe couplings, and in 1887 received a patent for a leak-proof coupling that incorporated a rubber ring in the pipe joints; an invention that would dominate the market until the 1920s.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

The History of Natural Gas (Part 1)

2009-06-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sacred fires in Persia and elsewhere were natural gas seeps that may have been ignited by lightning. The temple of Delphi was built around a "burning spring." Around 400 BCE the Chinese discovered natural gas bubbling through brine, which they separated and burned to distill salt. Around 200 CE the Chinese learned to tap natural gas deposits and route the gas through bamboo pipes to distill salt from seawater and cook food. The earliest reference to natural gas in the United States was in the 1600s when explorers noted certain Indian tribes burning gaseous emissions from the earth.

In 1821, a more organized approach to capturing escaping or seep gas started in Fredonia, New York, when a gunsmith piped seep gas to nearby buildings for lighting. In 1827, another source of naturally occurring seep gas was harnessed to supply a lighthouse on Lake Erie. In 1840, the first industrial use of natural gas occurred in Pennsylvania, where gas was burned to heat brine to distill salt, the same thing the Chinese had done two millennia earlier.

While natural gas provided the lift for Drake's well, for the most part, natural gas found along with oil was vented to the atmosphere. Drilling for oil and discovering natural gas was equivalent to a dry hole. Natural gas was normally out of reach of municipalities and was unable to compete with manufactured gas protected by municipal franchises. In 1872 the Rochester Natural Gas Light Company was formed to provide natural gas to Rochester, New York, from a field 25 miles away.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Form 10-Q for HEARTLAND OIL & GAS CORP

2009-06-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:30 PM
Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations This discussion reports material changes from December 31, 2007 through March 31, 2008, as well as other information. We encourage the reader to also read Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the period ended December 31, 2007. Factors that could cause or contribute to such difference include, but are not limited to; those discussed below and elsewhere in this quarterly report, particularly in the section entitled "Risks Related To Our Business". Forward Looking Statements This quarterly report contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks enumerated in the section entitled "Risk Factors", that may cause our actual results or the actual results in our industry, of our levels of activity, performance or achievement to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results. Overview and Outlook Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. is engaged in the exploration, development, production and sales of coal bed methane from its approximately 645,000 acre eastern Kansas leasehold position. The acreage is located in two areas in northeast Kansas, primarily in Linn and Miami Counties, located on the northern edge of the Cherokee basin, and the Forest City basin. Capital Expenditures Subject to obtaining financing, we plan to spend approximately $15 million in capital expenditures in the next twelve months. See Liquidity and Capital Resources, below. These expenditures will be directed toward developing existing proved and probable reserves on the Cherokee basin, constructing additional pipelines, and evaluating new project areas. Approximately 90% of the capital budget is focused on attempting to convert probable and possible reserves into proved reserves. We project that our capital program for the this year will allow us to create value by drilling 100 wells and installing 14.5 miles of transportation lines and associated facilities necessary to support the drilling program and to hook up currently stranded gas, compared to the 2007 program in which we drilled 21 wells. We have currently secured the necessary pipeline rights of way to achieve this program. Successes may also encourage the initiation of additional discretionary projects.

We are trying to obtain adequate financing so we can develop our Cherokee basin project into a nucleus for future growth. We cannot assure that we will be able to obtain such financing. Without it, we will have to cease operations. Appraisal, Evaluation and Exploitation Activity Since 2003, we have been active in assembling significant acreage positions which we believe are prospective for finding and developing commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. Heartland Energy Development Activity Cherokee basin Lancaster battery The Lancaster battery includes 25 producing wells, one shut in well awaiting connection, one disposal well, and associated production and water disposal facilities. The wells are drilled on 40 and 80 acre spacing. With the completion of the 5.5 mile gas gathering and processing plant in late 2006, we established production, proved reserves, and cash flow from our Lancaster battery. Lancaster is currently producing 500 Mcfgpd. Currently sales is approximately 380 Mcfgpd net of fuel gas, shrinkage, and carbon dioxide extraction. Beagle, Jake and Osawatomie batteries We are currently venting approximately 17 gross Mcfgpd from three other multi-well production batteries on the Cherokee basin. Including Lancaster, each battery is separated by approximately three miles, and thus defines a potential project covering at least 12 miles along the Cherokee basin. In August 2005 we drilled and completed two wells at Beagle and one well at Jake. In the second half of 2007 we have drilled 11 more wells in the Jake battery. We intend to put these fourteen wells, along with five wells originally drilled and completed by Evergreen Resources (one at Beagle and four at Osawatomie) into production if we are able to access financing necessary to do so. We plan to invest approximately $15 million on the Cherokee basin. Of the $15 million, we expect $13 million will be directed toward a 100 well, 160 acre development drilling program targeting shallow (600 to 800 foot drill depth) Pennsylvanian reservoirs of the Cherokee and Marmaton Groups and $2 million will be invested in pipelines and infrastructure necessary to support development drilling and to hook up stranded gas from Jake, Beagle, and Osawatomie batteries. Results of Operations for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2008 and 2007.

Revenue and operating expense During the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007, we sold $521,982 and $110,520 of natural gas, earned $25,292 and $5,824 in compression and transportation revenue, respectively. The increase in revenues was the result of the acquisition of Jack and Palo Pinto leases and increased production from our leases. The total volume for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was 53,670 and 17,161 Mcf at an average price of $9.24 and $6.44, respectively. Lease operating expenses and production tax were $319,669 and $74,522, respectively. Exploration expense, expired leases for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $429,806 and $23,159, respectively, an increase of $406,647.

Depreciation, depletion and accretion expense for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $167,110 and $97,923, respectively, an increase of $69,187. The increase in depreciation, depletion and accretion was a result of the acquisition of Jack and Palo Pinto leases and increased production from our leases. Share based compensation was none and $8,437 for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007, respectively. The decrease of $8,437 occurred because no shares were issued for compensation in 2008. Salaries and related benefits was $173,343 and $134,379 for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007, respectively.

Other general and administrative expense for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $237,391 and $61,797, respectively, an increase of $175,594 . This change was due in part to an increase in our legal and accounting fees. Legal and accounting fees were $96,598 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. Interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $92,577 and $6,296,446, respectively, a decrease of $6,203,869. This change was due to the effect of the conversion of $6,300,000 of Preferred stock to convertible debt in the first quarter of 2007. Interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $4,986 and $3, respectively. The increase of $4,983 was due to interest on notes receivable outstanding in 2008 that were not outstanding in 2007. Gain on sale of leases for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $27,200 and none, respectively. The increase was due to the sale of interest in leases to Noble Petroleum, Inc in 2008. Loss on abandonment of fixed assets for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $6,816 and none, respectively. Net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and 2007 was $847,252 and $6,580,316, respectively. The decrease of $5,733,064 was mainly due to the interest expense that resulted from the effect of the conversion of $6,300,000 of Preferred stock to convertible debt in the first quarter of 2007. Operation Plan Assuming additional financing and the repayment or restructuring of our debt, for the next 12 months, we plan to sell gas from Lancaster, and seek financing necessary to initiate drilling operations and hook up currently venting wells at Jake, Beagle, and Osawatomie. Based on geological mapping, pipelines, and leasehold position, we have defined a 100 well drilling program on our acreage and have obtained substantially all of the pipeline right of ways required to build the gathering system to tie in both the 100 well programs and the currently venting gas to existing sales lines and processing facilities. We have no drilling obligations or commitments, and, except for regulatory requirements, all activity is discretionary. Liquidity and Capital Resources Cash Requirements The Company has incurred recurring operating losses since its inception, and as of March 31, 2008 had an accumulated deficit of approximately $61,140,095 and had insufficient capital to fund all of its obligations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effect of the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Three months ended March 31, 2008 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2007. Operating Activities As shown in the consolidated financial statements, at March 31, 2008, the Company had cash on hand of $1,315, compared to $59,291 at March 31, 2007. Net cash provided by operating activities was $212,515 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. We had a net loss of $847,252. We had non-cash charges that included $10,971 due to accretion of the asset retirement obligation, $6,816 loss on abandonment of fixed assets, $429,806 of exploration expense for expired leases, $156,139 of depreciation, depletion or amortization, $4,986 of interest income related to the note receivable from Catlin, and $92,363 of interest expense resulting from various notes and loans payable. In addition, changes in operating assets and liabilities totaled $395,858 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. Net cash used in operating activities was $60,927 for the three months ended March 31, 2007. We had a net loss of $6,580,316. We had non-cash charges that included $6,416,446 of interest expense resulting from discount on notes arising from the exchange of preferred stock for convertible debt, $92,949 of depreciation, depletion and amortization, $8,437 related to share based compensation, $23,159 of exploration expense for expired leases and $4,974 of accretion of asset retirement obligation. In addition, changes in operating assets and liabilities totaled $26,576 for the three months ended March 31, 2007. Investing Activities Cash flows used in investing activities was $283,801 during the three months ended March 31, 2008. It primarily consisted of $92,217 for purchase of pipeline and facilities, $177,179 of acquisition and exploration of oil and gas property, and $27,200 from proceeds from sale of oil and gas leases; less $41,605 advances made to parent entity and its UPDA-O subsidiary. Cash flows used in investing activities was $35,506 during the three months ended March 31, 2007. It primarily consisted of $30,018 of cash proceeds from the acquisition and exploration of oil and gas property and $5,488 for purchase of pipeline and facilities. Financing Activities The cash flows provided by financing activities of $71,282 during the three months ended March 31, 2008, consisted of $37,218 decrease in cash overdraft, $108,500 from proceeds of loans from parent entity/company officer/shareholder. The cash flows provided by financing activities of $80,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2007, consisted of an $80,000 advance received from buyer on the sale of the majority interest in the Company. We had losses of $847,252 for the three months ended March 31, 2008. While we expect to raise the additional financing in the future, there can be no guarantee that we will be successful. We have no significant off-balance sheet arrangements.

More: Heartland Energy Colorado Video | Heartland Energy Colorado Press Release

Heartland Energy Press Releases

2009-06-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Continental Fuels, Heartland Oil and Gas, Universal Property Development Combine Operations, Reduce Costs
Monday, December 29, 2008 6:28 AM
HOUSTON As they prepare for the new year and a new era of business development, Continental Fuels (CNFU.PK), Heartland Energy Oil and Gas (HTOG.PK) and Universal Property Development (UPDV.PK) have combined their operations in order to reduce costs. As a result, Continental Fuels CEO Tim Brink has assumed control of the combined operation. “We have analyzed the operation from top to bottom and eliminated duplication of effort particularly in upper management and accounting,” reports Brink, now the CEO of the entire group of companies. “We continue to maintain sufficient personnel to operate all of the Heartland Energy wells as well as at the Port of Brownsville and Geer Tank Trucks. In the current economy, particularly in light of the falling price of oil and gas, we have moved aggressively to protect and pursue our business model.” With the cooperation and assistance of its main lender, Sheridan Asset Management, the restructuring will allow Heartland Energy to continue to grow as UPDA’s exploration and production arm and Continental Fuels, Inc. (www.continentalfuels.com) as its trading and marketing subsidiary. As a result, the new management expects to significantly expand shareholder value for the entire UPDA conglomerate. For more information about Heartland Oil and Gas Corp., please visit www.heartlandoilandgas.net

Heartland Completes $4 Million Expansion Program – Makes Final Connections on over 12 Miles of New Pipelines and 9 Additional Wells
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 5:36 AM
MIAMI COUNTY, Kan. Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) has made the final connections to its $4 million expansion program including 22,000 feet of new 4 inch flow lines, 22,000 feet of new water disposal lines and 18,000 feet of new 8 inch natural gas sales lines in its coalbed methane field in Southeastern Kansas. In addition, Heartland Energy has connected 9 new wells to this infrastructure and commenced the dewatering process in order to bring the wells to full production. “The Jake Field has made about 350-400 barrels of water since we turned on the new wells and the pressure we are seeing is very encouraging” reports Susie Glaze, Operations Manager of Heartland’s prime contractor, Aztec Well Services, Inc., another UPDA subsidiary. Since its acquisition by Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation, Heartland has drilled and completed over 20 new wells and trenched, laid and backfilled pipelines designed to support the development of thousands of acres contained within its area of interest in Miami and Linn Counties, Kansas. The recently connected wells have been fractured at depths ranging from 370 feet to 456 feet in the Lexington, Mulke and Summit coal seams. They have been connected to the salt water disposal system and should reach full production within the next several days.

Heartland Revenues Continue to Grow – Production in Jack County, Texas Exceeds 400 mcfg/day
Tuesday, September 02, 2008 5:00 AM
JACKSBORO, Texas While Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) continues work on its new wells and gathering system in Kansas, production from existing wells has further expanded resulting in additional revenue growth. At its Catlin Oil and Gas Field in Jack County, Texas, Heartland has completed additional well improvements and increased production to over 400 mcfg/day. Heartland has also expanded the production from its existing coalbed methane wells in Miami County, Kansas through enhanced maintenance procedures and accelerated replacement of downhole equipment. Total revenue from all natural gas operations, including 26 of 38 wells in Kansas in addition to the producing wells in Palo Pinto and Jack County, Texas, exceeded $330,000 during the month of July.

Heartland Fractures 8 New Wells – Continues Installation of 8 Miles of Flow Lines to Wells Expected to Double Coalbed Methane Production
Monday, August 11, 2008 5:05 AM
MIAMI COUNTY, Kan. Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB: HTOG) (FWB: HOCA) has successfully fractured the coal seams in 8 of its newly drilled wells in Miami County, Kansas and preliminary testing of the Prothe 42-3 indicates that the wells will deliver methane production in significant excess of the amount originally anticipated. Heartland Energy also has continued installation of about 44,000 feet of 4 inch flow lines with over 26,000 feet trenched, laid and backfilled in preparation for full production of the wells. “Our preliminary testing indicates that the Prothe 42-3 is making 50-60 mcf gas per day,” reports Susie Glaze, Operations Manager of Heartland’s prime contractor, Aztec Well Services, Inc., another UPDA subsidiary. “This is about double our target production amounts.” Within the past week, Heartland Energy has fractured the coal seams in the Reichert 14-2, the Reichert 13-2, the Reichert 43-3 and the Vohs 32-3. Heartland Energy has also completed the salt water disposal well necessary and testing indicates that this well has appreciably more disposal capacity than will be necessary for the maximum number of wells that it will be required to service. The wells have been fractured at depths ranging from 370 feet to 456 feet in the Lexington, Mulke and Summit coal seams. They will now be connected to the salt water disposal well for de-watering and will be prepared for production as the flow lines reach them.

Heartland Farmout Project Yields Well Producing 65 Barrels per Day in Northern Kansas – Further Drilling on Remaining 500,000 Acres Planned
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:05 PM
NEMAHA COUNTY, Kan. Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) was recently informed by its drilling partner that the first well drilled on Heartland’s farmout acreage in Northern Kansas yielded a well producing 65 barrels per day of crude oil. As a result of this success, Heartland Energy has undertaken planning to expand this farmout program and to begin drilling additional wells on the 500,000 acres it has under lease in this area. “This is obviously a very exciting prospect,” remarked Heartland Energy spokesman Jack Baker. “The discovery of a 65 barrel per day well in the heart of our vast acreage in Northern Kansas establishes great value in that acreage that we intend to aggressively exploit and since many of our leases up there have terms of 5 or 6 years or more, we will have drilling opportunities for many years into the future. Coupled with the successes of our coalbed methane fields in the southern portion of the state, our accomplishments in Kansas seem boundless.”

Heartland Completes and Successfully Pressure Tests 4 Mile Pipeline – Installation of Flow Lines to Commence for Connection of 12 Wells Expected to Double Coalbed Methane Production
Wednesday, July 02, 2008 8:27 AM
MIAMI COUNTY, Kan. Heartland Energy Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB: HTOG) has successfully conducted pressure testing on its new 4 mile pipeline in Kansas, signaling the completion of that pipeline. Work was then immediately commenced to install the flow lines to each of the 12 new wells to be connected in order to begin the sale of the coalbed methane being generated by those wells. With this successful testing and anticipated connection of 12 wells, Heartland Energy expects to double the coalbed methane production from this field in Southeast Kansas. In addition, vast additional acreage will be open for further development and drilling along the 4 miles to be accessed by the pipeline. “We put the necessary pressure into the pipeline and found no leaks along its entire length,” reports Augie Soto, COO of Aztec Well Services, Heartland’s prime contractor on the work. “The four road crossings and 2 creek crossings were our greatest concern and they held without any problems. The 8 inch main is tied into the 12 inch main and the pipeline is secure all the way to the sales meter. We will begin installation of the 4 inch flow lines without delay and have scheduled the contractor to fracture the wells so they are ready for production as soon as we can connect them.”

Heartland Posts Further Revenue Gains – Texas Natural Gas Production Exceeds $220,000 in May
Monday, June 30, 2008 11:51 AM
JACKSBORO, Texas Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB: HTOG) has achieved another milestone as it continues to expand the production from its oil and gas properties, posting revenues in excess of $220,000 from its natural gas fields in Texas. Combined with its expanding coalbed methane production in Kansas, Heartland posted total natural gas sales of more than $330,000 in May. With the completion of its nearly 4 mile pipeline expansion project and the subsequent connection of 12 additional wells in Kansas, Heartland Energy expects to double its coalbed methane production. This accomplishment will also allow Heartland to accelerate its efforts to further expand its natural gas production in Texas in the next phase of its well improvement plans directed at the 5 Barnett Shale wells Heartland Energy has completed in Palo Pinto County. As previously reported, those improvements will include the installation of a salt water disposal well and connection to a low pressure natural gas sales line. “With natural gas prices projected to continue their escalation, these additional production increases should result in exponential revenue growth,” remarked Heartland Energy Spokesman Jack Baker. “In light of the many obstacles we have encountered as we have pursued our business plan, including the tightening credit markets, soaring oil field service and supply prices and inclement weather, the undeniable success we are now achieving is most satisfying. These successes should translate into expanding shareholder value, the ultimate goal of every public company.”

Heartland Coalbed Methane Revenues Continue to Advance - 18,000 Foot Pipeline to be Completed by End of June and 12 Wells Connected - New Wells Expected to Double CBM Production
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 7:48 AM
MIAMI COUNTY, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With revenues from its Coalbed Methane Field in Miami County, Kansas continuing to advance, Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) (FWB: HOCA) is expecting to soon double its production from this field with the completion of Heartland’s 18,000 foot pipeline expansion project and the subsequent connection of 12 additional wells. As demonstrated by the chart, since its acquisition by Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTC BB: UPDV), Heartland’s gross revenue on production in Kansas has steadily increased and more than doubled to $110,729 in just 12 months. In addition to this increasing revenue, Heartland’s pipeline expansion will connect to 12 CBM wells Heartland Energy previously drilled and which production testing indicates will double the current output from this field. The pipeline will also open many more acres to additional drilling activity. “We expect to have the 8 inch main completed by the end of the week,” reports Susie Glaze, Operations Manager of Heartland’s prime contractor, Aztec Well Services, Inc., another UPDA subsidiary. “The pipe will be in the ground, buried, four road crossings made, 2 creek crossings and the 8 inch pipe will be hooked into the 12 inch main. The pipeline will be stubbed out at the salt water disposal well location and we intend to go directly back to the SWD well and take it down another 100-200 ft. with a smaller drill bit. We currently have the SWD well down to 1000 feet and it has been cased with 5 1/2" production pipe and cemented in. We expect to have the SWD well done by the end of the next week and then start moving tanks so we can turn on the production wells.” “The production increases we have been able to achieve from the existing wells are quite remarkable,” commented Heartland Spokesman Jack Baker. “And the numbers we have seen so far from the new wells are very encouraging. With the completion of the pipeline and connection of these 12 wells, we expect to double our production again and we can continue to drill new wells on the vast acreage accessible along the three miles of new pipeline. We are very optimistic that our revenue growth will accelerate at an even higher rate as we go forward with our plans.”

Heartland Oil & Gas Corp. Receives Updated ‘Speculative Buy’ from Beacon Equity Research
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:39 AM
DALLAS Heartland Oil & Gas Corp. (OTCBB: HTOG) receives reiterated ‘Speculative Buy’ from Beacon Equity Research Analyst Victor Sula, Ph.D. The full report is available at http://www.BeaconEquity.com/m. Anyone interested in receiving alerts regarding Heartland Oil & Gas Corp. research should e-mail members@beaconequity.com with “HTOG” in the subject line. In the report, the analyst writes, “With the completion of drilling operations over a two-year period, HTOG could boost production and gas sales to $36 million annually. Assuming a 30 percent EBIT margin, and a 10-year time horizon, this project could generate a Net Present Value in a $15 million range … we continue to think HTOG has attractive energy assets and significant growth potential. Accordingly, we are reiterating our Speculative Buy rating for Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. …” Other companies in the oil and natural gas industry include Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (AMEX: ABP), Petrosearch Energy Corp. (OTCBB: PTSG), Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (Nasdaq: CRZO) and Brigham Exploration Co. (Nasdaq: BEXP). Beacon Equity Research Disclosure The analysts contributing to this report do not hold any shares of HTOG. Additionally the analysts contributing to this report certify that the views expressed herein accurately reflect the analysts' personal views as to the subject securities and issuers. The analyst(s) writing this report recognize and aspire to all of the CFA Institute Guidelines for Independent Research. Beacon Equity Research (“Beacon”) certifies that no part of the analysts' compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendation or views expressed by the analysts in the report. Beacon and its affiliates have been compensated a total of ten thousand two hundred and fifty dollars from OTCStockZone for enrollment of HTOG in its research program and other services.

Heartland Pursues Institutional/Private Equity Financing to Proceed with 300 Well Drilling Program
Monday, June 02, 2008 3:20 AM
New York, NY (June 2, 2008) The management of Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) (FWB: HOCA) recently initiated contact with institutional investors/private equity funds that specialize in oil and gas exploration and production and pipeline construction. These discussions have focused on the development of at least 300 wells over the next 12 to 24 months. In preparation for these discussions, Heartland Energy previously developed gas-in-place-maps and identified 300 drilling locations in its Southeast Kansas area of operation. Heartland also obtained reports from its consulting petroleum engineers establishing reserve projections for the 10 year production life of each of these wells at 0.1BCF (100,000 MCF). At current natural gas prices of $12/MCF, this means that every well should produce $1.2 million over the life of the well. Based on Heartland’s experience and knowledge obtained as a result of drilling and completing 21 wells, an injection well and building a 4 ½ mile pipeline, 99% of all wells drilled and completed in the Cherokee Basin produce gas in commercial quantities and the cost of each well on a turnkey basis including pipelines, flow lines and an injection well for every thirty producing wells is $130,000. Heartland Energy currently operates 38 wells in Miami County, Kansas, recently drilled and producing under this valuation formula. With the drilling of 300 additional wells at a total cost of $39 million, Heartland’s revenues should continue to grow at this rate or more in the ten years following completion of this expansion program. “These numbers represent only the organic growth projected for our Kansas operations,” reports Heartland Spokesman Jack Baker. “Heartland also has significant properties in Texas that currently generate even more revenue. Based on these numbers and on the limited number of shares issued and outstanding on a fully diluted basis, we are very optimistic about the prospects for expanding shareholder value.”

Record Revenues Posted by Heartland Oil and Gas in April – Pipeline Extension Nears Completion
Friday, May 30, 2008 1:35 AM
San Antonio, Texas Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) posted revenues from the sale of natural gas in excess of $266,000 during the month of April, including sales of more than $100,000 for the first time ever from its coal bed methane fields in Kansas. “The production from Kansas has been consistently increasing since UPDA first acquired Heartland Energy about one year ago and with the steady escalation of prices, revenues have increased at an even steeper rate,” remarked Heartland Spokesman Jack Baker. “With the 12 additional wells to be connected soon to the pipeline extension, revenue growth should become even more dramatic, perhaps as much as double.” “We have also greatly expanded production from our Catlin Oil and Gas Field in Jack County, Texas, generating over 300 mcfg/day as well as enlarging quantities of crude oil,” continued Baker. “These increases, coupled with the significant G & A and payroll cost reductions we implemented last year, should considerably strengthen our bottom line in the coming quarters.” Heartland continues its efforts to further enhance production with the nearing completion of construction of the 4 ½ mile pipeline extension to connect the 12 new wells in its Jake Coal Bed Methane Field and substantially expand its area of operations in Miami County, Kansas. In Palo Pinto County, Texas, Heartland will soon drill another salt water disposal well and is negotiating terms for connection to a highly efficient low pressure sales line which will allow for expanded production from Heartland’s 5 wells drilled and completed in the Barnett Shale. “Even in this difficult investment climate and despite steadily increasing costs for oil field equipment and services, we have maintained our commitment to the growth of our field operations,” concluded Heartland’s Baker. “Progress has been slower than anticipated but steady. We will continue to apply all available resources to the development of our vast acreage in Kansas and to exploit the considerable potential of our well-positioned assets in Texas. While the results we have already achieved are significant, we are even more confident in the promise of the future.”

Universal Property Development Management Update
Monday, May 19, 2008 4:29 AM
The Board and Management of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTC BB: UPDV) (www.universalpropertydevelopment.com) are pleased to report to the shareholders on the continuing operations of UPDA and its subsidiaries. Over the past year, UPDA has focused its efforts on building a group of companies that allowed it to become an integrated oil and gas company. We have acquired Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) (www.heartlandoilandgas.com), with its vast acreage in Kansas. We then transferred UPDA’s oil and gas production in North Texas, establishing Heartland Energy as our exploration and production arm. Continental Fuels was launched to become UPDA’s oil and gas marketing company, acquiring UPDA’s facilities at the Port of Brownsville and then purchasing Geer Tank Trucks, Inc., a long established crude oil and water hauling company in North Texas. Aztec Wells Services, Inc. was conceived to provide oilfield services and UPDA invested in the necessary equipment and machinery and recruited experienced management and personnel to properly maintain and expand its oil and gas assets. Our companies are growing and executing on their business plans. Since its acquisition by UPDA, Heartland has drilled 21 new wells, increasing its total number of wells to 38 in Kansas and 62 in Texas. Heartland’s current production exceeds one million cubic feet of natural gas per day, and its gross income exceeds $250,000.00 per month. This is in comparison to $35,000 in gross revenues generated by Heartland at the time it was acquired by UPDA in April 2007. Heartland Energy is now in the process of building a 4.5 mile pipeline that will enable it to connect 12 additional existing wells in Kansas, increasing production by a minimum of 400,000 cubic feet of gas per day and establishing a critical hub for further expansion. During the past year, UPDA and related parties provided Heartland Energy with over $4,000,000 that was invested in its Kansas operation. With this strategic investment, particularly in the pipeline and the gathering system, Heartland energy has solidified its dominance in the region as the exclusive source of gas transportation and treatment services, providing a competitive advantage as it seeks to obtain additional oil and gas leases. Heartland will continue to grow and execute its plans to extend its pipeline another 12-15 miles and drill additional wells along its expanding hub of operations in Southeastern Kansas. Aztec Wells Services, UPDA’s oilfield services and well drilling subsidiary, has been instrumental in contributing to the achievements of Heartland Oil and Gas in Kansas and Texas. In addition to drilling Heartland’s wells in Kansas, Aztec is now building its pipelines and maintaining and expanding Heartland’s production in Northern Texas. Continental Fuels has resumed shipping product from the Brownsville facility and successfully expanded the business being generated by Geer. UPDA has financed most of its expansion and acquisitions with debt which is being serviced by operational revenues. The restrictive covenants of those debt obligations have recently limited our ability to grow and pursue our ambitious expansion plans. It has also hindered our capacity to create maximum value. The challenges of a year ago to attract institutional money, private equity and private investors to our companies has changed and now that we have amassed quality assets within our subsidiaries and are generating revenues that are attracting the sought-after attention, we must now refocus our strategy to achieve expanding shareholder value. With some of our subsidiaries reaching levels where they can stand on their own and develop their business plans outside the scope of UPDA’s day to day control, our plan is to allow those subsidiaries to become more autonomous. Going forward, we will continue to work with our public subsidiaries, providing assistance for further acquisitions, growth and alignment with capital. Heartland Energy and Continental have matured to the level where capital is very crucial for their expansion and the retirement of the existing restrictive debt is a necessity. With the recapitalization of these companies, they are well positioned to achieve greater successes on their own. With this expanding autonomy, we at UPDA intend to distribute more of these companies to our shareholders once the capital is secured and the debt is retired. With respect to Aztec, it has been determined that additional acquisitions are needed to diversify its client base and expand its geographic reach. With access to proper financing, as well as additional preparations to insure an adequate capital structure, its capacity for autonomy will also be established. It has been a challenging and rewarding year for UPDA as it has matured from start up to an established company with solid assets and expanding revenues. With its well focused goals and refined strategy, management is confident of the future success to be enjoyed by our loyal shareholders.

Heartland Oil and Gas Post Record Revenues from Gas Sales in January – Production Enhancement Projects Continue
Wednesday, March 05, 2008 3:20 AM
SPRING HILL, Kan During January 2008, Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) generated revenues from the sale of natural gas in excess of $137,000 from its properties in Texas and more than $81,000 from its coal bed methane fields in Kansas. Even without the sale of any oil during the month, these revenues far exceed any amount previously reported by Heartland. In addition to this expanding revenue, Heartland Energy Colorado continues its four pronged production enhancement efforts by accelerating the construction of a 4 ½ mile pipeline to connect 12 wells in its Jake Coal Bed Methane Field and commencing the application of its two-stage well recompletion program to 16 of its existing wells in Kansas as well as pursuing negotiations to acquire a connection to a low pressure pipeline in order to bring more wells online in its Palo Pinto Field and undertaking a well recompletion program in its Catlin Field in Northern Texas. While the revenues from Texas result from the transfer of producing wells from Heartland’s parent, Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTC BB: UPDA), the production generated in Kansas results from the drilling of new wells and the enhancement of wells from Heartland’s vast acreage in Eastern Kansas. “Our efforts continue to show impressive success,” remarked Heartland CEO Kamal Abdallah. “The revenues in January did not even include any oil sales yet we have posted numbers in Kansas alone that are more than double any previous results. With the new pipelines and connections we are working on and the well improvements that are bringing more production from each well completed, we expect continuing improvement in our numbers.

Heartland Oil and Gas Rated 'Speculative Buy' Target Price $.22 by Beacon Equity Research
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 10:05 PM
Heartland Oil and Gas (OTCBB: HTOG - News) has been rated Speculative Buy with a price target of $.22 by Beacon Equity Research Analyst, Lisa Springer, CFA. The full report is available at http://www.BeaconEquity.com Anyone interested in receiving alerts regarding Heartland Oil and Gas research should email members@beaconequity.com with “HTOG” in the subject line. In the report, the analyst writes, “Heartland Energy Oil and Gas Corp. (HTOG), an exploration and production company, is developing oil, natural gas and coal bed methane gas resources in eastern Kansas and Texas. The Company’s exploration activities focus on the Cherokee and Forest City Basins, which are believed to be two of the largest US coal bed methane (CBM) basins. HTOG has assembled a strong team of consultants consisting of seasoned geologists, petroleum engineers and technicians to implement an aggressive drilling and pipeline expansion program in eastern Kansas. The Company plans to drill 30 new wells per quarter in 2008.” Other companies in the energy sector include Abraxas Petroleum (AMEX: ABP - News), PetroSearch Energy (OTCBB: PTSG - News), Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO - News), and Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFX - News). Beacon Equity Research Disclosure The analysts contributing to this report do not hold any shares of Heartland Oil and Gas (HTOG) Additionally the analysts contributing to this report certify that the views expressed herein accurately reflect the analysts' personal views as to the subject securities and issuers. The analyst(s) writing this report recognize and aspire to all of the CFA Institute Guidelines for Independent Research. Beacon Equity Research (“Beacon”) certifies that no part of the analysts' compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendation or views expressed by the analysts in the report. Beacon Equity Research and its affiliates have been directly compensated a total of seven thousand five hundred dollars from a non-controlling third party for enrollment of HTOG in its research program. This report is based on data obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but is not guaranteed as to accuracy and does not purport to be complete. As such, the report should not be construed as advice designed to meet the particular investment needs of any investor. Any opinions expressed herein are subject to change.

Heartland Oil and Gas Accelerates Pipeline Expansion in Kansas
Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:06 PM
Spring Hill, Kansas Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) has directed its primary contractor, Aztec Well Services, to accelerate the pace of construction of its new pipeline in Eastern Kansas. As a result, at the end of last week, Aztec had fused over 3750 feet of 8 inch pipe and has cleared the right of way in preparation for tie-in to Heartland’s main 12 inch pipeline. This pipeline is being completed in order to connect 12 additional wells in Heartland’s Jake pilot location. Aztec will also perforate and fracture the wells and drill an injection well to dewater the producing wells. The new 8 inch pipeline will total 4.5 miles and will connect Jake to Heartland’s Lancaster gas processing plant. This will add another 12 wells to the 26 wells that are already connected. Once the pipeline extension is completed, Aztec will continue drilling wells adjacent to the right of way. “The Aztec field personnel in Kansas have enthusiastically accepted responsibility to complete this expansion program,” reports Kamal Abdallah, Chairman and CEO of Heartland as well as UPDA, the parent corporation of both Aztec and Heartland Energy. “We have purchased the additional equipment necessary to accelerate the program, completed the required permits for road crossings and directed our land staff in Kansas to pursue further leases along the right of way. We fully expect to bring the existing wells online without further delay and to proceed with the drilling program contemplated when we first acquired Heartland.”

Heartland Accepts Resignation of Interim President – Prepares to Execute Oil and Gas Field Development Plans
Monday, February 04, 2008 4:29 AM
In an effort to reduce costs and increase operational communication and efficiencies Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB: HTOG) has accepted the resignation of Interim President Steven Fall and terminated the administrative staff of its Houston office. With development plans for the expansion and improvement of its oil and gas fields in Texas and its coalbed methane properties in Kansas substantially complete, Mr. Fall and the Heartland Board negotiated terms for his departure. “Since the focus of Heartland’s efforts from this point forward will be in the fields, it was decided that the executive staff of the home office was no longer necessary,” explained Heartland Chairman Kamal Abdallah. Mr. Abdallah is also Chairman and CEO of Heartland’s majority shareholder, Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTCBB: UPDA) and will now assume the role of CEO of Heartland Energy without compensation. “We will now direct the execution of the development plans through UPDA’s Aztec Well Service subsidiary. This will result in a significant reduction of costs and the elimination of bureaucratic delays,” continued Chairman Abdallah. We have great confidence that Aztec’s field personnel can accomplish our objectives with great efficiency.”

Heartland Oil and Gas Continues Production Enhancement and Well and Pipeline Expansion Projects in Texas and Kansas
Monday, January 14, 2008 9:11 AM
HOUSTON Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB:HTOG) continues its aggressive drilling and pipeline expansion projects in Eastern Kansas and has completed the planning and testing necessary to undertake production enhancement projects on several of its wells in Northern Texas. In Southeast Kansas, Heartland is presently working to connect 12 additional wells in its Jake pilot location. The work entails perforating and fracturing the wells, drilling an injection well to dewater the producing wells and build 4.5 miles of 8 inch pipeline that will connect Jake to Heartland’s Lancaster gas processing plant. This will add another 12 wells to the 26 wells that are already connected. The Second project in Southeast Kansas is a result of the successful development of a new two stage fracturing technique that has produced impressive results when applied to several of Heartland’s recently drilled wells. The new fracturing technique will now be applied to the original 16 new wells. This is a very inexpensive way to substantially increase production from those wells. In North Texas, Heartland has undertaken recompletion work on 10 wells in Jack County in zones that have not been previously produced but which new testing logs prepared by Schlumberger and analyzed by Heartland engineers showed substantial gas in place behind pipe. The tubing in some of the wells has been pulled and fracturing procedures have been designed. Upon completion of these procedures, which are scheduled to be commenced in the coming few days, a very positive impact on Heartland’s oil and gas production is expected. In Palo Pinto County, Texas, Heartland Energy will be working to bring the Barron #2, the Barron #3, the Barron #6, the Barron #9 and the Keck #1, in addition to the already producing Barron #5, into production from the Barnett Shale zones into which they were drilled and many were previously fractured. Producing these zones will require Heartland to drill a salt water injection well or acquire a non-producing well to convert to an injection well in order to dispose of the additional water expected to be generated from the Barnett Shale zones.

Heartland’s goal is to accomplish all of these projects by the end of the 1st Quarter of 2008. Going forward, Heartland’s focus will be to drill 30 new wells in Kansas every quarter based on the gas in place maps prepared by its engineers and geologists. In a continuing effort to build shareholder value, the management of Heartland is working diligently to increase the production and reserves of the company and is developing a comprehensive plan for all Heartland assets in North Texas and Southeast Kansas as well as the 700,000 acres under lease in North Kansas.

UPDA Board reports to Shareholders
Wednesday, January 02, 2008 3:20 AM
SAN ANTONIO The Board and Management of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (OTC BB: UPDA) (www.universalpropertydevelopment.com) is proud to report that 2007 was the year the UPDA mainstreamed its business operations into three distinct subsidiaries, resulting in greater efficiencies and expanding opportunities. In the first half of the year, we acquired control of two public companies and purchased additional valuable assets. As the year progressed, we established Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) (www.heartlandoilandgas.com) as our exploration and production subsidiary, incubated Continental Fuels, Inc. (OTC BB: CFUL) (www.continentalfuels.com) to serve as our subsidiary responsible for marketing, trading and terminal operations and created Aztec Well Services, Inc. to provide oil field and well services.
Heartland Oil and Gas Corp.
In April 2007, we completed the acquisition of Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. with its existing production and close to a million acres under lease in Kansas. Since that time, Heartland Energy has drilled 21 additional wells. By the end of the year, 10 of those wells had been completed and connected, nearly tripling Heartland’s production in Kansas. Later in the year, UPDA continued the establishment of Heartland as its E & P subsidiary by transferring 13 producing wells in Palo Pinto County, Texas, and UPDA’s 65 wells and approx 3000 acres in Jack County, to Heartland. As UPDA expanded its interest in Heartland to over 80%, Heartland’s revenues have increased from $35,000 month to close to $300,000 and production continues to expand. Furthermore, Heartland has built a very capable team of Geologists, Petroleum Engineers and Technicians to plan the next phase of expansion and drilling programs and advance the company to a higher level. Continental Fuels, Inc. Also in April 2007, UPDA acquired over 80% ownership of Continental Fuels, Inc. and transferred to Continental its facilities at the International Port of Brownsville, Texas and the light crude trading business operating out of those facilities. In May 2007, the Management of Continental increased the condensate business from 15,000 BBL per month to over 60,000 BBL per month in June 2007, and monthly sales averaged close to $4 million per month in the 3rd quarter of this year. In December 2007, Continental completed the acquisition of Geer Tank Trucks (www.geertanktrucks.com), an oil purchasing and transport company established in North Texas in 1945 currently generating $50 million in annual revenue.

Continental’s management has assembled a very talented team and grown the company’s assets and revenues very successfully in the 8 months since its acquisition by UPDA. Based upon historical numbers, as Continental enters the New Year, it is generating approximately $4 million per month from the Brownsville Terminal and another $4 million per month from Geer. Aztec Well Services, Inc. In June 2007 Aztec Wells Services, Inc., a wholly owned, privately held subsidiary of UPDA, completed the acquisition of certain assets and equipment which included drilling rigs, pipeline trenching equipment and other machinery and equipment vital for our operations. In addition to this equipment and machinery, Aztec has assembled a capable management team and field personnel with extensive experience in all aspects of field operations and well drilling and management in UPDA’s geographical areas of interest. In 2007, Aztec drilled and completed 21 wells for Heartland of which 10 wells are connected and 11 will be connected after the pipeline is in place. In addition, Aztec has been assisting in the improvement of the fields in Texas, resulting in significant cost controls and production expansion. In 2008, Aztec intends to increase the pace of drilling operations for Heartland Energy Colorado and expand its third party contracts in both Kansas and Texas. As we look forward, we are very optimistic about the future, the energy sector is still robust and our opportunities for expansion are very promising. In 2007, the growth of our business and the development of our subsidiaries transformed UPDA into an Energy Holding and Incubation company. UPDA now focuses more on M & A activities to assist our subsidiaries to expand assets and revenue. In addition, UPDA provides oversight, financial, legal and technical management in order to build value and to prepare the subsidiaries to move to bigger exchanges. As demonstrated by our growth and acquisition strategies, the UPDA Board and Management are committed to building shareholders’ value. Although the value that we have created in our subsidiaries is yet to be realized in the value of UPDA, we remain confident of success as we enter 2008.

Heartland Oil and Gas Corp Receives Strong Upgrade by Respected Research Firm
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 8:44 AM
HOUSTON Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTCBB:HTOG) is pleased to announce a well-respected firm, Bridge IR Group, has upgraded their equity rating on HTOG. This strong upgrade comes at a time when HTOG reported they have installed new equipment to enhance production from its Barnett Shall wells in Palo Pinto County, Texas. This upgrade is also due to the company initiating production from the 5 coalbed methane wells it completed in Southeastern Kansas last week. Bridge IR is noted for their work with account executives, analysts, portfolio managers, institutions, venture capital investors, individual investors and the media. To view the entire independent research report, please click on the attached URL: http://bridgeir.com. Heartland CEO Steven A. Fall stated, “We are honored to have a well respected independent research firm review our overall operations, progress and to provide a strong upgrade in our stock. This offers further confirmation to our shareholders that our company is headed in the right direction." Mr. Fall further stated, "We have drilled 20 new wells in Kansas and now 10 of them will have been turned to production. We have doubled our overall production with the connection of the first 5 wells. When we first assumed control at Heartland, the production was about 200 mcfg/d and now we are at about 500 mcfg/d."

Heartland to Connect Newly Completed Wells in Kansas – Additional Production to be Delivered to Sales Line
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 8:24 AM
Houston, Texas Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. (OTC BB: HTOG) will this week install surface equipment and initiate production from the 5 coalbed methane wells it completed in Southeastern Kansas last week. The five wells completed in Kansas last week, including the Warring 31-8, Peckman 23-8, Peckman 22-8, Prothe 43-1 and Clausen 23-6, are located in Heartland’s Lancaster pilot in Miami County, Kansas. These wells were perforated and frac’d in multiple coal zones and the Warring 31-8 was also completed in a very promising sand zone. They are expected to substantially increase the overall production from this pilot. They will be equipped with pumping units and connected to Heartland’s expanding gathering system and turned to production as soon as the flow lines are installed. “We have drilled 20 new wells in Kansas and now 10 of them will have been turned to production,” reports Heartland CEO, Steven A. Fall. “We nearly doubled our overall production with the connection of the first 5 wells. When we first assumed control at Heartland Energy, the production was about 200 mcfg/d and now we are at about 500 mcfg/d and we are continually improving our techniques and processes and retaining local professionals and experienced consultants in order to achieve even better results as we proceed. The expansion of our gathering system is also opening many more of our leases for further development.”

International Association of Drilling Contractors

2009-06-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Heartland Energy Colorado
by seodenver

Source: Heartland Energy Colorado

Crude Oil Trades Near $71, Snapping Four Weeks of Increases

2009-06-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil snapped four weeks of gains, trading little changed near $71 a barrel in New York, as fuel demand remained weak even as data showed that the global economy may be recovering from the recession.

Oil traded in a $3 range this week after rising 28 percent in the previous four. The index of U.S. leading economic indicators rose in May, the U.S. Commerce Department said yesterday. Petroleum products demand in the U.S., the world’s largest energy user, fell 6 percent over the past four weeks to June 12 from a year ago, the Energy Department said June 17.

“The available data do show that the world is no longer dropping off a cliff,” said Victor Shum, a senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. “The concern is that if you look at oil demand, it hasn’t really turned a corner.”

Crude oil for July delivery was at $71.55 a barrel, up 18 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:43 p.m. Singapore time. Prices have risen 60 percent this year and reached a seven-month high of $73.23 on June 11. Oil prices are poised to fall 0.7 percent this week.

The July contract expires June 22. The more-active August contract was at $72.09 a barrel, up 18 cents, at 2:44 p.m. Singapore time.

Inflation Hedge

Investors have pushed oil higher by buying contracts as an inflation hedge to offset a decline in the dollar.

“We’ve moved quite high at a time the international economy is in a recession,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. “Oil prices at $70 are at a solid level.”

Oil has gained 56 percent since April 20 as the dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s value against six other currencies, has had a 6.9 percent drop. The euro has fallen 0.7 percent against the U.S. currency this week.

Crude futures may fall next week on speculation U.S. fuel stockpiles will increase as the recession and rising prices sap consumption, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Fourteen of 32 analysts surveyed, or 44 percent, said futures will decline through June 26. Thirteen respondents, or 41 percent, forecast that the market will be little changed and five said prices will climb. Last week, 49 percent of analysts said oil would increase.

OPEC Output

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said yesterday that while some short-term “liquidation risk” is evident in oil markets, they expect “an improvement in fundamentals to begin to take hold in the next several months,” pushing prices to $85 a barrel before the end of the year.

Oil prices at $70 a barrel are satisfactory for producers and consumers, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries President Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos told reporters in Luanda, Angola. Vasconcelos, who’s also the country’s oil minister, said the gain in oil prices is a positive sign for the world economy.

The 12-member group will trim shipments 0.2 percent in the four weeks ended July 2, according to consultant Oil Movements. OPEC will reduce exports in the period to 22.78 million barrels a day, from 22.82 million in the month ended June 6, the Halifax, England-based tanker-tracker said today.

Brent crude for August settlement was at $71.24 a barrel, up 18 cents, on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange at 2:43 p.m. Singapore time.

(Source: Christian Schmollinger)

Origin and Natural Accumulation of Oil and Gas

2009-06-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Oil and gas deposits are basically hydrocarbons which get into buried rocks and minerals. To better understand and visualize these deposits, one must picture an ancient sea teeming with an immense variety of living organisms. The ancient body of water which these organisms resided would have covered most of the American West, including Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Some of the creatures in this sea were large fish and other swimming beasts, but the majority of living things consisted of vast amounts of microscopic organisms. Scientists believe that it is these tiny plankton-like creatures that gave rise to today’s oil and gas.

These miniature life-forms died millions of years ago, and their remains settle to the bottom of the sea. Over time, these very small remains build up to enormous quantities of organic sediment. Built up in thick deposits on the seafloor, the organic material mixes up with sand and mud from the bottom. Eventually, the many layers of sediments built up until they became hundreds or even thousands of feet thick. The weight of the overlying layers created great pressure and heat in these bottom layers. The pressure and the heat changed the layers of sediment into rock. Meanwhile, heat, pressure, other natural forces turned the dead organic material within the layers into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are the basis for gas and oil.

At the same period of time that dead organisms are being changed into hydrocarbons, geological forces are influencing the Earth’s crust. Cracks, otherwise known as faults, are created and crust movement created folds in the sediment layers previously discussed. Molten rock is thrust upwards, altering the formation of surrounding beds. Wind and water erode formations and disturbances in the earth moved large amounts of rock. All of these alterations in the layers of our curst are very important because they can trap and store hydrocarbon deposits under the right circumstances.

Over centuries, the weight of the overlying rocks continued to push downward, forcing hydrocarbons out of their source rocks. They seep through the cracks and fissures, oozing upwards until they become trapped by some kind of geological surface. When they are trapped and stored in a subsurface rock, they become our modern day oil and gas deposits. Today, the oil and gas industry is seeking out these petroleum deposits formed and stored millions of years ago.

In order to better seek out and find these oil deposits, geologists started to apply the earth sciences to narrow down the search. Since most petroleum deposits are buried deep underground, there are usually no surface hints as to their locations. Also, most of the world’s gas and oil probably lies under ocean floors. However, scientists have developed effective seismological methods to view the subsurface. Seismology uses sound waves which bounce off of buried rock layers. These sound waves paint a clear picture of the underlying rock surfaces and petroleum deposits. This scientific method ensures that companies will find oil before they spend the money to drill.

The history of our geology and all of the new science available at our disposal leads us to understand that there are very large oil and gas deposits right here in North America. With deposits in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado being substantial, companies like Heartland Energy in Colorado are taking advantage of domestic oil deposits. Especially in Colorado, there are large shale oil reserves which scientists are researching in order to effectively extract the oil. Heartland Energy is among the leading developers of oil and gas in Colorado trying to capitalize on these deposits left by the ancient sea that once covered the Colorado plateau. Heartland Energy is developing new strategies and is on the cutting edge of Colorado Energy.

(source: A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, 6^th ed. By Ron Baker)

Oil Drilling Contractors

2009-06-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

One thing to keep in mind is drilling is a unique undertaking that requires plenty of experienced personnel and tons of special equipment. Most operating companies therefore find it more cost effective to hire the experienced oil company's personnel and equipment than to keep the personnel and equipment under their own roof. So, almost everywhere in the world, drilling contractors do the drilling!

A drilling contractor is an individual or a company that owns from one to dozens of drilling rigs. The contractor himself hires out a rig and the personnel needed to run the operations for any operator who wishes to pay to have a well drilled. Some contractors are land contractors - they operate only land rigs while others are offshore contractors who specialize in offshore rigs. Now there are some operating rigs that have the capabilities to drill both on land and offshore which contractors operate. The drilling company may be small or large; it may own rigs that drill mainly in a local area or it may have rigs working al over the world.

Regardless of its size, a drilling company's job is to drill holes in the earth. It must drill holes to the depth of specifications set by the operating company who is also the well owner. An operating company usually invites serveral contractors to bid on a job. Oftten times the operator awards the contractor to the lowes bidder but not always. Sometimes a proven work record may also override a low bid.

The process usually goes like this: An operator usually sends a proposal to several drilling contractors. The proposal describes the drilling project and requests a bid. The contractor then fills out a proposal and sends it back to the requesting operator. If the operating company accepts the bid, it becomes a contract between the two entities. The signed agreement obviously states the services and peramitors required for the drilling project.

The International Assciation of Drillng Contractors (IADC) is an organization whose membership is made up of drilling contractors, oil companies, and service and supply companies with an interest in drilling. Its headquarters are in Houston, Texas and has offices worldwide . They provide services not only to the United States but throughout the world as well. Their mission is to "promote a commitement to safety, to preservation of the environment, and to advances in drilling technology."

Most contractors are paid for the work their rig and crews do. The payments can take place various ways as well. Operator can pay contractors based on the daily costs of operating the rig, the depth to which they drill in feet or meters or on a turnkey basis as well. If the contractor is paid according to the daily costs of operating the rig, it's a daywork contract. If the contract calls for the contractor to be paid by the number of feet or metres drilled, it's a footage or meterage contract. Obviously, if it's a turnkey contract, the drilling contractor is responsible for the entire drilling operation. Daywork contracts are the most common!

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Operating Companies

2009-06-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

An operating company, or an operator, is usually known as an oil company or a company whose primary business is working with oil and gas, or petroleum. Some of the big players in the United States are Exxon, Shell, and Heartland Energy Colorado. An operating company may be an independent or a major.

An independent company may be one or two individuals or it may have hundreds or employees.
Major companies, such as the Exxon, Shell or BP's have thousands of employees.

Besides the size of the company, a major difference between an independent and a major is that an independent only produces and sells crude oil and natural gas. A major company on the other hand, produces crude oil and natural gas, transports them from the field to a refinery or a plant, refines or processes the oil and gas and then sells the products to consumers across.

Whether independent or major, an operator must acquire the right to drill for and produce petroleum at a particular site. An operating company does not usually own the land or even the minerals (oil and gas materials) lying under the land. The company has to buy or lease the rights to drill for and produce oil and gas from the landowner and the mineral holder. Individuals, partnerships, corporations or a federal, store or local government can own land and mineral rights. The operator not only pays the landowner a fee for leasing, it also has to pay the mineral holder a royalty, which is a share of the money made form the sale of the oil or gas produced.

Other similar Articles: Drilling Rights | Oil Exploration | Heartland Energy Colorado

Oil Slick

2009-06-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Written by: Jesse Bogan, 06.10.09, 06:00 AM EDT (forbes.com)

Authorities are still dealing with the scams last summer's spike in prices abetted.

HOUSTON -- "There's a new oil prospect in Texas that you don't want to miss out on. In fact, this well is going to be a gusher. You'll make a 40% return, maybe more. Our exploration and production firm was booked up to the gills, but you know what, somebody backed out at the last minute. There are just a few shares left.
"Do you want a piece of it?"

For decades, peddlers of oil and gas investment schemes have fished for marks with such cold telephone calls. They continue to resonate with buyers across the country, mesmerized by the prospect of quick riches. When oil prices peaked last summer at $147 a barrel, fakes were there to offer something they couldn't deliver. Some are paying dearly with stiff sentences.
Today, as oil slowly rebuilds its steam, trading at $70 Tuesday, state securities boards are sifting through the fallout from last year, while they look for others that continue to operate.

"Although energy prices are currently low, we are seeing fraud cases emerge from the period when prices spiked," Texas Securities Commissioner Denise Voigt Crawford said in May, following the announcement of a 99-year sentence issued in a Texas state court against William L. Seelye for stealing $417,000 from dozens of investors in oil and gas exploration projects. "High prices attracted fraudulent energy promoters, and the decline of the stock market helped make investors more susceptible to the types of fraud for which Mr. Seelye has been convicted."
Officials say evidence at the trial showed that Seelye, who has appealed his conviction, lived off investor funds and sold interests in oil and gas projects that he didn't own.

Related Stories
Nationwide, there were 260 oil-and-gas-related alleged ruses logged by the North American Securities Administrators Association between 2005 and 2007. State securities boards, mainly in Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania, issued cease and desist orders in 122 of those cases to operators who were mainly accused of selling unregistered securities for wells that usually either didn't exist or were dry.

Aspen Exploration Inc., of Plano, Texas, is one of the latest to be prosecuted. Indicted in federal court in May, the chief financial officer of Aspen, William Anthony "Tony" Rand, and his three sons face charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and forfeiture. They and one other defendant allegedly tried to bilk $56.4 million from investors in the U.S. and beyond for two South Texas wells "by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises and omissions of material fact," according to the indictment. They are accused of using the collected funds for their own use and for drilling unrelated wells.

Tony Rand's attorney, Ted Steinke Jr., said all five of the defendants have pleaded not guilty. "The next step is trial, where they will all defend themselves vigorously," he said, declining to elaborate on the case.

In March, attorney Mark Alexander of Dallas also secured a $1.1 million civil judgment against a fourth Rand brother, Wayne, and the companies Black Lake Energy and Rock Wall Oil Co. Neither Wayne Rand nor representatives of the companies could be reached for comment Tuesday. Half of Alexander's practice is devoted to oil and gas securities fraud cases. "There are some great oil and gas companies out there but then there are some that scam," he says. "It really bothers me because [my clients] have worked hard all their lives and they lose their life savings."

John Hays, 67, who holds interests in natural gas leases, somehow made it on the "sucker list" of telephone numbers that salespeople use. However, Hays, who is publisher of the Morning Paper, a small weekly in Ruston, La., hit back by recording the calls. He says he has testified in three cases that made it to trial, and written about the ruses in his paper. "I've even been pitched for wells that have already been plugged and abandoned," he says. "It was supposed to be a real gusher. They will tell you anything to get your money."

Petro America Corporation, with offices in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., allegedly marketed unregistered investments with grandiose returns, including through various churches, offering an opportunity to "share the blessing," according to a Missouri Secretary of State cease and desist order. The order states that the company's president, Owen Hawkins, said during a conference call that "my personal goal is I would like to create as many billionaires in this as I, as I possibly can."

A hearing is pending.
To the charge that the company was marketing an unregistered investment, Hawkins said Tuesday he had thought it was covered under a filing with the SEC. He said the company did not promote investments through churches, but rather a shareholder did. The company continues to advertise online, saying it's "the people's company" and has "world success unrivaled."
Hawkins said his 2-year-old company was valued at about $100 million.

"We are working on securing an oil block," Hawkins says. "We are in negotiations on that, and we also have storage facilities where we can store barrels of crude oil."

However, at the moment, he says the company doesn't have any oil in storage, and holds just 240 net acres in oil and gas leases in Missouri with no active drilling.

More Oil & Gas News: Heartland Energy Colorado Heartland Energy Development Corporation

Completing a Well

2009-06-15T12:29:00.001-07:00

After the decision has been made to complete a well, the process starts with preparing a well for casing. Casing stabilizes a well, preventing the sides from caving in and protecting freshwater aquifers near the surface that might be polluted with oil, gas and saltwater. If the casing is to be installed in a single operation after the well is completed, drill pipe is lowered with a used bit to circulate mud and remove any remaining cuttings from the bottom of the well.

Wall scratchers remove mud from the sides of the well. Casing is thin-walled steel pipe; usually in thirty-foot lengths sized to fit inside the well bore. After the well is prepared for casing, casing pipe is screwed together and lowered into the well. A guide shoe guides the casing down the well and centralizers position the casing string in the center of the well. A float collar near the bottom of the casing string acts as a check valve to prevent mud in the well from flowing up the casing pipe. After the casing is in place, Portland cement is mixed with additives to control its density and the timing required for cement to set.

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Evaluating a Well

2009-06-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Completing a production well, whether onshore or offshore, is more costly than drilling an exploration or appraisal well. A careful evaluation of various logs obtained during the course of drilling an exploratory or appraisal well has to be completed prior to making a decision on whether to drill a production well. The lithographic, or sample, log records the nature of the coarser samples of rock chips separated from the drilling mud as to the type of rock, texture, grain size, porosity, microfossil content and oil stains.

Oil stains are examined in ultraviolet light to assess their nature and quality. The drilling-time log records the rate of penetration through subsurface rocks; a change in the rate of penetration indicates a change in the type of rock. The mud-log records the chemical analysis drilling mud for traces of subsurface gas and oil at various depths.

The wire-line well log is obtained by removing the drill string and inserting a sonde, which is a torpedo-shaped device laden with instruments. The first instrument is an electrical log to measure the resistance of the rocks to electricity. Changes in resistance indicate the degree of saturation of water, oil and gas. A more recent addition includes a natural gamma ray log to read the background radioactivity of rocks in the well. Since shale is the only sedimentary rock that emits radiation from radioactive potassium, the gamma ray log identifies the presence of shale rock or the degree of shale in mixed rock.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Maintaining Reservoir Pressure

2009-06-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

The recovery factor, the portion of the oil and gas removed from a reservoir, depends on the driving force. The recovery factor is lowest for oil reservoirs driven by natural gas in solution with the oil or by gravity, higher if driven by a natural gas cap, and higher yet if driven by water. The overall average recovery factor for oil fields is only about one-third (natural gas fields have higher recovery factors). Thus, when a well that relies on the natural drive of the reservoir goes “dry,” about two-thirds of the oil is still in the ground.

Secondary methods to maintain reservoir pressure and promote oil recovery normally involve injecting water or natural gas. Injection wells, either specifically drilled or converted from abandoned producing wells, are placed to enhance the flow of oil in the direction of the producing wells. Water injection is the most common method for maintaining the pressure of an oil reservoir and is an environmentally acceptable way of getting rid of any brine produced by the well to avoid contaminating the freshwater table. If brine cannot be pumped into subsurface rock below the freshwater table, it must be disposed of in an acceptable manner. Brine may be placed in open tanks to let evaporation get rid of most of the water before disposal.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Trintek Energy Consulting -- “Helping You Make the Right Choices”

2009-06-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Trintek Energy Consulting makes sure that you get the right information, at the right time, so that you can make the right choices. Trintek Energy Consulting will show you how to accelerate project development, reduce costs, improve project performance, increase value, lower risks, and achieve your organizational objectives.

Your energy project is given the special attention it requires. Trintek Energy Consulting is committed to understanding and meeting your needs with a standard of excellence, integrity, and trust. Client satisfaction is paramount. Trintek Energy Consulting is respected for its detailed and thoughtful due diligence, project development insight, and successful contract negotiations.

Trintek Energy Consulting has extensive experience in wind energy and fossil fuel fired energy project development, and offers similar services for utility scale solar projects. Prior to founding Trintek Energy Consulting, Inc., our principal consultant had accumulated over 26 years of energy industry experience as an employee with energy companies such as BP-Amoco Corporation, and The AES Corporation. We have the expertise to advise you on the project development process, and we offer a full suite of project development services for wind energy, utility scale solar, and natural gas fired electric power projects. This includes: land acquisition and leasing, evaluation and negotiation of power purchase agreements, transmission and pipeline interconnection agreements, project financing, wind turbine and gas turbine purchase agreements, long term parts and services agreements, due diligence on project sites and contracts, and other specialized services. We encourage you to fully review this site for additional background and details about Trintek Energy Consulting.

By selecting Trintek Energy Consulting as your energy consulting resource, you can expect that we will focus on your needs, goals and deadlines, and perform the project development process and the due diligence required to successfully finance, construct, and operate your project. Your success is our success. When you choose Trintek Energy Consulting, we believe in helping you to create a competitive advantage through intelligent project development during the energy consultation process.

Sweet new source of renewable energy in India

2009-06-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com)
NEW DELHI: Sugar mills in India produce 2,000 megawatt of biomass-based energy every year, as much as windmills produce, and at half the cost, a

new study has found.

The sugar mills, which produce both electricity and heat through cogeneration, are already selling power to the grid and can produce up to 5,100 MW - 69 percent of the country's total cogeneration capacity - according to the study carried out by the New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The study said "such alternatives to fossil fuel energy development are critical for India's energy and climate security. But lack of policy and pricing issues threaten the sustainability of this green power

Sugar mills generate biomass-based 'green' energy from bagasse, a waste product that comes from sugarcane cultivation. Mills in the five major sugarcane growing states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are now generating enough to meet the energy needs of a business centre the size of Gurgaon.

However, says the study, India has no policy framework in place to strengthen this green energy source. Sunita Narain, director, CSE, points out: "This energy source is an important win-win solution, as it brings value-addition and additional funds to agricultural resources, which in turn will give better payments to farmers and improve productivity. The question is what can be done to increase this energy source for the future."

Today, out of the 650-odd sugar mills in India, 107 have cogeneration plants. This revenue stream has managed to bail out sugar mills reeling from the falling prices of sugar, says the report. The Dhampur Sugar Mills in Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest cogeneration capacity in the country, made Rs.420 million from its cogeneration unit in 2007-08, compared to Rs.110 million from its sugar units. It sold about 177 million units of power to the state. The third largest sugar maker in India, Triveni, based in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, is selling 16-17 MW of power to the grid.

The International Energy Agency says that the sugar sector has a potential to produce 5,100 MW of power through cogeneration, which is 69 percent of total cogeneration capacity. If the resources and technology are improved, cogeneration can produce almost 10,000 MW or 40 percent of the country's 2008 power deficit.

The report points out that bagasse generates nearly the same amount of power as the wind energy sector. Wind produces almost 2,000 MW, most of which remains unutilised most of the time.

Bagasse-based cogeneration plants also earn carbon credits as the carbon dioxide absorbed by sugarcane plants while growing up is more than the carbon dioxide produced in burning bagasse. The cogeneration plant of Triveni earned about 186,000 certified emission reductions worth over Rs.30 million between March 2004 and December 2007.

India launched its biomass power (bagasse-based cogeneration) policy in 1990. As the shortage of power grew in many sugarcane states, the policy was revised in 2006 to provide capital subsidy (Rs1.5 million per MW) and tax rebates (including 80 percent depreciation in the first year for selected equipment). The 2003 Amendment to the Electricity Act also provided the necessary framework for promoting renewable energy sources - asking states to fix a minimum limit for energy utilities to buy green energy.

However, the country still has a long way to go, the report says. In the absence of a strong policy framework, feed-in tariffs (the premium cost of green power) differ from state to state and are based on scarcity (not policy). While in some states like Tamil Nadu, the tariff is as high as Rs.7 per unit, others like Uttar Pradesh pay only Rs.3 per unit. Low feed-in tariffs have begun to hurt cogeneration, says the study.

Narain says: "The policy must incentivise the generation of power, not capital investment." The capital cost of biomass energy is roughly Rs.40-50 million per MW, which is half the cost of installing wind energy. But unlike wind, the raw material - bagasse or other agricultural residues - has competing uses and value. Narain says this price must be paid, as it helps local farmers to improve their returns and encourages production of biomass.

Narain also recommends making the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) mandatory, so that it becomes a tool to push for preferential markets for green energy. "To do this," she points out, "the policy must allow for inter-state sale so that green power-deficit states can purchase from others. In addition, we should consider how biomass-based energy can be used to feed local grids for local and decentralized distribution. Local energy supply should be given preferential tariffs so that villages that do not have power get it."

Fore more Energy news: Heartland Energy Colorado | Heartland Energy Development Corporation

Heartland Energy is on Twitter!

2009-06-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Are you following Heartland Energy Colorado on Twitter? If not check out their accounts:
Heartland Energy Colorado
Heartland Energy Development Corporation
Heartland Energy Development

Twitter is a great way for us to get to know each other! We try to provide useful information with the latest oil and gas news in the United States. Make sure to check out Heartland Energy Colorado on Twitter today!

New Energy Future Reports

2009-06-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Executive Summary

Our reliance on dirty energy is fueling global warming, harming our health, threatening our security and stalling our economy. Burning coal, oil and gas for energy and transportation is responsible for 80 percent of U.S. global warming pollution and most of our smog and soot pollution.

We can protect our environment and strengthen our economy by investing in clean energy and green infrastructure. A green economic recovery plan would mean less global warming pollution, fewer asthma attacks from air pollution, more clean lakes and rivers for drinking water, swimming and fishing, more secure energy in the long term, and more jobs than investing in the dirty energy technologies of the past.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to make clean energy and green infrastructure a cornerstone of America's economic recovery. In his first radio address of 2009, the president-elect said "to put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient."

This report provides specific recommendations in support of the president-elect's efforts to ensure a green economic recovery and estimates the environmental benefits of those recommendations.

These proposals, when fully implemented over the next decade, would reduce annual global warming pollution by nearly 10 percent below current levels and reduce oil consumption equivalent to taking one million cars off the road each year. These proposals would begin to transition America to a clean energy economy and put more than three million people to work quickly in ready-to-go projects. This is nearly as many jobs as Obama has called for creating with the entire stimulus package.

The following measures represent initiatives that will have the most significant impact in promoting cleaner energy and creating quality jobs:

RENEWABLE ENERGY

• Ensure effective incentives for clean, renewable energy

• Expand the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds

• Fund the Green Jobs Act

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• Fund energy efficiency and conservation block grants

• Expand the home weatherization program

• Create a home and commercial building retrofit program

CLEANER TRANSPORTATION

• Fully fund New Starts transit capital projects

• Support transit modernization and rehabilitation

• Increase authorized transit operations and energy development assistance grants

These and other recommended clean energy and green infrastructure initiatives totaling

$142 billion dollars in federal investment would have significant environmental and economic impacts:

• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 670 million tons per year when fully implemented over the next decade, which represents a reduction of nearly 10 percent of America's current annual global warming pollution. This represents a significant step towards reducing the nation's global warming pollution to what scientists say is necessary to avert the worst impacts of global warming.

• Replace the power equivalent of 170 coal-fired power plants with renewable energy and energy development efficiency. Our proposals to extend the renewable energy Production Tax Credit and invest in renewable energy on federal property, among others, would reduce significant global warming pollution and create hundreds of thousands of new, clean energy jobs.

• Reduce oil consumption by more than 25 million barrels annually by meeting growing demand for mass transit and cleaner alternatives to driving. This would be equivalent to taking nearly one million cars off the road each year. These benefits would increase substantially over time as our transportation system becomes more and more efficient, rather than more polluting and congested.

In crafting a green economic recovery package, our leaders have an unprecedented opportunity on three fronts:

• Putting the nation on a path to avert a global warming crisis;

• Providing a massive stimulus to the economy and putting millions of workers to work in quality jobs;

• Invigorating America as we lead the world to a clean energy future.

An economic recovery package with smart clean energy development and green infrastructure investments can put America on course to save our environment by rebuilding our economy through creating quality jobs and developing new industries and technologies.

This report provides a comprehensive set of recommendations on how to best accomplish a green recovery based on research and analysis from throughout the environmental community, to include public, private and non-profit entities. Environmental, employment and fiscal impacts are assessed within each proposal based on previously conducted studies, in addition to primary and secondary research.

Renewable Energy

Investment and long-term commitment to renewable energy such as wind and solar will play a crucial role in repowering America with clean, homegrown energy. We recommend at least

$62.3 billion in investments in growing renewable energy sources, installing renewable energy systems in schools and other government buildings, green job training, and innovative technologies. These investments will help us face the greatest environmental challenges of our time, and in addition create or sustain more than 833,000 jobs.

Electricity generation contributes more than one third of U.S. global warming pollution.4 We have the potential to power the entire country many times over with clean sources such as wind and solar.

By making smart investments now, expanding incentives for renewable energy, shifting our own government toward renewable energy, and funding advanced research and development of new renewable energy technologies, we can set a course to repower America with 100 percent clean electricity.

Our recommended investments would reduce global warming emissions in the electricity sector by at least 424.5 million tons a year by 2020,5 equivalent to the global warming pollution of 158 typical coal-fired power plants.6

We propose the following economic recovery investments:

• Amend renewable energy production and investment tax credits

• Develop renewable energy on government property

• Increase capacity of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds

• Extend the renewable energy production tax credit

• Fund the Green Jobs Act

• Expand federal Power Purchase Agreements

• Create Energy SmartPARKS

• Adopt a Solar Schools initiative

• Research and development of advanced batteries

• Expand Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Additional investments and policies, such as a renewable electricity standard, a renewable energy colorado manufacturing tax credit, and solar rebate could add nearly a million new jobs and help America repower with clean, homegrown energy.

Funding the Green Jobs Act, for instance, would expand and improve existing worker training programs as well as replicate them all across the country. For example, Cincinnati State

Technical and Community College has created a Renewable Energy major. As part of the program, students earn $10-$14 an hour working for renewable energy companies. The major prepares students for jobs such as electronic technicians, product test specialists and electro-mechanics, which pay a starting salary of $30,000-$42,000.7 Demand for these jobs is high right now and is expected to grow. Cincinnati State would like to expand enrollment in the major and invest in on-site training facilities, and the program can easily be reproduced at community colleges and technical schools all across the country.

These investments and policies and their associated environmental and economic benefits are addressed in more detail in the following narrative and in the appendix attached to this report.

Green & Golden in Colorado

2009-06-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Written by: Brian Wingfield

DENVER - Other governors must be drooling.

Tuesday afternoon, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter threw a lunch at the governor's mansion for executives from companies like Apple, Oracle, T-Mobile, Intel and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers--a powerhouse audience from some of the most important technology brands in the world. The ones that are, you know, booming.

They were there with TechNet, the political group for technology executives, to discuss "clean tech"--what's fast becoming the hottest topic at the Democratic National Convention, and for good reason. Finding new ways to power civilization offers up a box of goodies irresistible to everyone from Silicon Valley investors and engineers hoping for '90s-style payouts, to office-seeking senators looking for visionary solutions, to governors like Ritter, whose political lives depend on hauling home bacon by the ton.

So naturally, the executives got to hear a bit about Colorado. “The people of this state have a special relationship to the land,” Ritter told the group. He says that a focus on the environment is going to be a key element to building a 21st century economy. “It really is about job opportunities.” It sure is.

And Ritter's already ahead in this new derby, trying to position the state as a hotbed for green technology development. Denver Colorado's Airport was festooned this summer with ads branding Colorado State University a green technology epicenter. Earlier this month, Denmark-based wind energy company Vestas committed to putting $700 million in Colorado’s economy by building the world’s largest wind tower manufacturing plant there. The governor says it will create as many as 2,500 new jobs and help usher the new industry into the state.

Ritter's got business-friendly patter on the issue. He says the next U.S. Congress will “absolutely have to deal with” a market-based cap-and-trade system to curb carbon emissions, and he wants to “destroy the silos” between energy and climate policies.

Many of the firms in attendance Tuesday favor some of the ideas he espouses, like a permanent extension of the federal research and development credit, which Congress allowed to lapse in December. State and national mandates for renewable energy production are also popular items of discussion among the clean tech crowd.

An increasing number of businesses--particularly those that aren’t thought of as traditional energy companies--are getting in on the game. An executive from Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ), for example, says his company is now the world’s largest purchaser of renewable energy credits.

And of course there’s Google.org, a branch of the ubiquitous tech company that puts money into solving big problems like climate change, poverty and epidemics. Earlier this month, it put $10 million into companies that are looking for ways to tap the world’s geothermal energy. (See " Looking For Power, Google Goes To Hell.")

Dan Reicher, Google.org’s director of climate and energy, says cleaner electricity production will have an impact on the transportation sector, as plug-in electric vehicles become more popular. “As the grid gets greener, the cars get cleaner,” he says.

In the same vein, electric sports car manufacturer Tesla Motors is reaching out to new markets. The company is now developing a four-door sedan that’s in the $60,000 range--still out of reach for most Americans, but quite a drop from the company’s popular Tesla Roadster, which goes for about $109,000. (We can attest to its coolness after taking a spin.)

“The hardest thing is to say no to a company that changes things by a factor of two or a factor of four,” says John Gage, a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, the influential Silicon Valley venture capital firm. “We’re looking for companies that change things by a factor of 10 or a factor of 100.” Drool, drool, drool.

With smart money betting there's a gold mine in solving energy and climate solutions, smart politicians are betting a gold rush will naturally follow. Ritter's already staked his claim.

What is Energy Development

2009-06-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms to fulfill civilization's needs. It involves both installation of established technologies and research and development to create new energy-related technologies. Major considerations in energy planning include resource depletion, supply production peaks, security of supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, and whether or not the source is renewable.

Technologically advanced societies have become increasingly dependent on external energy sources for transportation, the production of many manufactured goods, and the delivery of energy services. This energy allows people who can afford the cost to live under otherwise unfavorable climatic conditions through the use of heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning. Level of use of external energy sources differs across societies, as do the climate, convenience, levels of traffic congestion, pollution, production, and greenhouse gas emissions of each society.

Increased levels of humans generally induce increased dependence on external energy sources, although the application of energy efficiency and conservation approaches allows a certain degree of mitigation of the dependence. Wise energy use therefore embodies the idea of balancing human comfort with reasonable energy consumption levels by researching and implementing effective and sustainable energy harvesting and utilization measures.

(source: wikipedia.org) Energy Development Corporation Video

Wind Power: Can It Make a Profit?

2009-06-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Written by: Jonathan Fahey, Forbes

Renewable energy looks especially good when someone else is paying for it.

Windmill fans: Printers Kevin and Brian Driscoll.

Brian Driscoll, 57, is constantly thinking about saving the planet. He wears a bracelet that reminds him to do one thing every day to save energy or reduce waste. He has long wanted to install a wind turbine near the $6 million (revenues) commercial printing operation in New Haven, Conn. he has run with his brother Kevin, 65, for 28 years.

A windmill doesn't make economic sense, even though this poor entrepreneur is gouged 19 cents per kilowatt-hour from his utility. A 121-foot, 100-kilowatt turbine from Northern Power runs $500,000, installed. The air at Driscoll's site on Long Island Sound is so still that the average output would come to only 18% of peak output, meaning that the juice would be worth $30,000 a year. It's hard to cover the interest on a $500,000 loan with a $30,000 annual payback. "If I had to borrow that kind of money for my business, it would be for printing equipment," says Driscoll.

So taxpayers are going to buy the turbine for him. Or 83% of it, anyway. Driscoll's firm, Phoenix Press, is getting a $263,000 grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, plus another $150,000 from President Obama's renewable energy honeypot. That brings Driscoll's outlay down to $87,000. He'll sell excess electricity produced by the wind turbine back to his utility, United Illuminating, on nights and weekends, when Phoenix Press is closed, and he's entitled to the same larcenous rate that United charges him during the day. He expects to recoup his outlay in less than three years.

Driscoll is getting an unusually great deal, but others come close. Combined federal, state and municipal subsidies can pick up 60% or more of the cost of an on-site renewable power project, says Justin Barnes, a policy analyst at the North Carolina Solar Center, which keeps a database of state incentive programs across the country. This is reducing payback time to six years or less. If a wind turbine or solar panel lasts 25 years, that's 19 years of free power.

"People are starting to realize that the stars are aligning," says Nils Behn, director of the wind division of Alteris Renewables, a wind and solar installer in Wilton, Conn. that will erect Phoenix Press' turbine. Alteris started to see a sharp increase in business this spring that hasn't abated and is hiring staff to keep up with demand.

Congress passed a law this year that will soon allow big, utility-scale wind and solar projects to opt for a grant of 30% of the installation cost of a project from the federal government. (Or they can opt for the older incentive, a tax credit sometimes keyed to production.) That same law lifted a $4,000 cap on rebates for smaller projects, like the 100-kilowatt wind turbine Phoenix Press is installing. These smaller projects qualify for state incentives, too, while the large farms generally don't.

Suddenly it's not so much how sunny or windy a site is, but rather how much money is available. States generally have guidelines to prevent people from installing a solar panel in a forest: Solar projects require a specific exposure to the south, and wind needs a certain expected average speed. But weather conditions vary wildly, and states often don't require businesses to perform tests to verify estimates. The danger: Government money will be poured into renewable projects that won't produce much energy development.

More articles: Heartland Energy Development Heartland Energy Colorado Heartland Energy Development Corporation

Heartland Energy Colorado Video

2009-06-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Video Source: Heartland Energy Development Corporation

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Could The Credit Crunch Kill Green Energy?

2009-06-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

Written by: William Pentland, Forbes

Investment threatens to dry up just as the industry gets ready to take off.

The looming threat of climate change and soaring energy prices has attracted vast amounts of capital into clean energy companies in the past few years.

In 2007, the sector attracted $2.2 billion in venture-backed investments, up 45% from 2006. Biofuels production jumped from 4.9 billion gallons in 2006 to roughly 6.5 billion gallons last year. Meanwhile, in 2007 the U.S. added 314 megawatts of new solar energy systems to the grid, up by 125% from the previous year.

In the past two years, solar energy has become an especially hot spot in the clean energy sector. In 2007, solar energy start-ups raised the lion's share of new investments in the sector, or roughly $600 million in capital raised in 39 deals.

And then came the credit crisis. Already companies have pulled IPOs, and worry is growing that the nascent industry could be choked off just as it is starting to take off. The question now: How bad will the hangover be? Or, more important, how long will it last?

The energy game is ill-suited to the stereotypical garage inventors who sparked the Internet revolution. The key difference is that technological innovation is a very small part of the picture. Future generations of solar energy technologies will produce cheaper and more powerful equipment, but a number of solar energy technologies are ready for prime time today even without those improvements, especially in states like California where government policies have given them an added boost.

The relentless pursuit of technical improvements has brought solar and wind power prices down enough to compete with conventional energy-generation technologies in many markets. Success in both wind and solar energy depends on scale, or the ability to lower costs by producing large amounts.

The trouble is that a number of solar energy companies have major projects in the pipeline that seek to scale up their operations to commercial size. In other words, they need to find a sizable chunk of change in the tightest credit conditions seen in decades. The bottom line: Energy projects depend on scale, and scale depends on capital.

"Unless you can scale it, it doesn't matter," said Vinod Khosla, a well-known Silicon Valley investor, while speaking at MIT last week.

Several green energy companies already pulled the plug on planned IPOs. In January, Imperium Renewables, a venture-backed bio-diesel producer that operates the largest bio-diesel plant in the U.S., shelved IPO plans to raise as much as $345 million, citing "current market conditions." Last week, Germany's solar energy start-up Schott Solar, which originally planned to announce its offering price range on Sunday, decided to delay its IPO until credit conditions improved.

To make matters worse, the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ) has become a liability for many solar energy companies. In recent years, Lehman had become a principal underwriter for solar energy companies raising money or financing debt to build factories and solar farms.

Evergreen Solar (nasdaq: ESLR - news - people ), a solar panel maker in Marlboro, Mass., appears particularly vulnerable to Lehman's collapse. Evergreen loaned Lehman 30.9 million shares of its common stock in a recent deal to help the company raise more than $375 million through an offering of senior convertible notes. At least one industry analyst, Jeff Osborne of Thomas Weisel Partners, has cut his stock valuation by 26% because he fears Evergreen will not be able to recover the shares from Lehman.

If these devaluations accelerate, the sector could see a wave of consolidation or significant investment from much larger companies like industrial giant General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ), no stranger itself to the credit crisis.

"One model is for these clean-tech companies to make strategic alliances with the Fortune 100 companies," John Steuart of Claremont Creek Ventures told Greentech Media, a trade publication. "For example, they can trade sales and marketing rights for a capital investment. Or they can sell the licensing rights for a product in exchange for an investment."

This process has already begun to some extent. In 2007, Chevron-Texaco's venture capital arm bought significant stakes in two solar energy companies: BrightSource Energy, a developer of utility-scale solar plants, and Konarka Technologies, a developer of photovoltaic materials.

But while the credit freeze may kill off some firms, the good news is that those that can stick out the downturn will likely do as well if not better than originally expected if they can survive a few years. In a poll of nearly 300 venture capitalists, corporate buyers, bankers and entrepreneurs, 79% of the respondents expect "a strong stream" of IPO activity to begin in 2010 or later, according to a recent survey by auditor KPMG.

If the Senate's last minute inclusion of renewable energy tax credits in the bailout package survives the legislative process, the turnaround could come much sooner than that.

More Energy New: Heartland Energy Colorado | Energy Development Corporation

Green Gas

2009-06-04T16:19:00.001-07:00

(Source: DailyOrange.com)

Two researchers from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry are going to start producing biodiesel fuel from dining hall waste on a large scale.

Michael Kelleher and Neal Abrams were awarded the Enititaive grant that funds the operation earlier this month. The Green Energy Cooperative is a project that will include a team of students from SUNY-ESF and The Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

"The project brings students together to find an innovative solution," said Stacey Keefe, executive director of the Enititative. "After graduation, these students will find innovative, responsible solutions to today's issues."

The grant is part of a larger award given to Syracuse University by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, based in Kansas City, Mo. Totaling $3 million, it is a five-year initiative aimed at encouraging community improvement, according to the foundation's Web site.

Sponsoring 53 different projects in the Syracuse community, the Enitiative grant will give $20,000 to begin the Green Energy Cooperative, said Kelleher, director of renewable energy systems at ESF.

The program will utilize a set process to produce the biodiesel fuel, Kelleher said. Students will gather used vegetable oil from dining halls on campus, which will then be brought to the biodiesel reactor on the ESF campus. Finally, through a laboratory process, the oil will be turned into clean, biodiesel fuel. It is this fuel that will power SU diesel vehicles.

The business portion of the project deals with the sale of the freshly made fuel. Whitman students will negotiate and sell the fuel to SU and ESF, and any profits from the sale of the fuel will be reinvested in other sustainability projects.

The exact costs of the process have not yet been determined, Kelleher said.

Kelleher and Abrams have experimented with the waste-to-fuel process in the past but only produced small amounts of the fuel, Kelleher said. Now the additional funding will allow for a much larger operation, he said.

"These are investments in our future." Kelleher said. "We have to live more compatibly with our environment."

MORE new from DailyOrange.com: Heartland Energy Development

Obama's Negative Stimulus Plan

2009-05-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Author: Jeff Pierce
By Martin Hutchinson
Contributing Editor Money Morning

Could the massive Obama stimulus plan end up hurting the U.S. economy?

It’s long been a worry, and now it’s beginning to seem possible.
The latest housing reports suggest that the recent rapid run-up in 10-year Treasury bond yields may be having an unhealthy effect on the U.S. housing market. That tells me that - although home prices are back to their long-term average in terms of earnings - we may not yet be close to the price bottom.

If that’s true, it’s very bad news. A further substantial decline in housing prices would destabilize the U.S. banking system again, because of all the mortgage debt in it, which would cause a very nasty “second leg” economic downturn. That would have one very ironic further implication: U.S. President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package - intended to help the U.S. economy push back the recession - would instead have succeeded in pushing it deeper into the mire.

A month ago, it appeared that the housing market might be in the process of bottoming out. The ratio of house prices to average incomes - which peaked at about 4.5 to 1 in 2006 - had fallen 33% from that apex, which brought the ratio close to its long-term average of 3.2 to 1, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller Index report. While interest rates remained low and government-backed home financing was readily available, it appeared the forces pushing up house prices (low interest rates and accessible financing) might soon come into balance and then dominate the forces that push home prices down (an inventory overage).

The jump in interest rates - from 2.07% on the 10-year Treasury bond in December to around 3.65% today - has weakened the case for a stabilization of housing prices. Mortgage rates, which were far below their levels of the last 30 years, have moved back above 5% — even for “conforming” mortgages. Thus the Mortgage Bankers Association index of new mortgage applications was down 15% in the latest week. Meanwhile, new home sales have merely stabilized at very low levels of an annual rate around 350,000 - compared to more than 2.0 million at the peak of the market, while the latest price statistics suggest that price declines continued to be quite rapid in March, and possibly even accelerated slightly.

This interest-rate increase does not currently seem to be caused by expectations of inflation, which has remained around 2% annually, although oil, gold and other commodity prices have ticked up. Instead, it seems to have been caused by the exceptionally high demands being made on the government bond market by the U.S. federal deficit, which is expected to total about 13% of gross domestic product (GDP), or more than $1.8 trillion, this year.

It’s not surprising that such a blip should have occurred this month; federal tax receipts are at their peak in April, as companies and individuals pay their taxes due, so the beginning of May saw a resumption of mammoth U.S. Treasury funding needs after a month’s pause.

If interest rates continue to increase, the effect on the already-weak housing market could be severe, as housing “affordability” would be reduced in a period in which prices were declining and unemployment was rising. That, in turn, could have a self-reinforcing downward effect on prices, as home inventories bloat further, and buyers hold back.

Currently, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index, prices are down 32% from their peak, but remain 40% above 2000 levels, while consumer prices are only 24% above those of 2000. However, 2000 was not a “bear-market” year; prices had already enjoyed several years of rapid recovery from their early-1990s low. Should rising interest rates cause prices to continue falling to 2000’s level (another 28% decline), then on average every 80% mortgage undertaken since May 2002 (when the index first went above 125% of 2000’s level) would be underwater, having an owed principal amount that exceeds the actual current market value of the house. That would cause a surge in mortgage defaults more severe than any yet seen, extending far into the prime mortgage category - and probably causing the U.S. banking system to implode once again.

The stimulus-package funds, which began flowing in April, may actually induce some GDP growth this quarter. At the very least, the Obama administration infusion should hold the economy to a very minimal decline in GDP.

However, if interest rates keep rising, the effect of further housing-sector weakness and the wobbling banking system would overwhelm any stimulus benefits, and would cause a second “dip” in this recession - one that’s far worse than the first. The stimulus would, in that event, have proved counterproductive, killing the very economic recovery it was supposed to have stimulated.

Rising interest rates will have adverse effects on all countries with large budget deficits, the most notable of which are Britain and Japan. The effects would be harsh enough to actually prevent those countries from recovering from their own recessions.

For investors, the remedy is clear: Look to invest in countries that have produced only modest stimulus packages, and whose budget deficits are currently the smallest. In the invaluable statistical section of The Economist, a number of countries are projected to have budget deficits of less than 3% of GDP in 2009, in spite of their recessions.

At that level, deficits are easy to finance, and do not force up interest rates, so economic recovery should be relatively rapid.

Let’s take a look at some of those countries in question:
Canada: Budget deficit forecast of 2.5% of GDP. Americans are fond of sneering at Canada for its high public spending and sluggish growth. Well, Canada’s public spending as a percentage of GDP peaked in the early 1990s and since 2000 the country has run budget surpluses. In 2009, Canada is forecast to have public spending lower than the United States, when provinces and states are taken into account, and to continue lower than its arch rival (the United States) for the foreseeable future. I wrote a few weeks ago about investment opportunities in the Canadian energy sector; those opportunities are even more compelling with the continued rise in the oil price to current prices of more than $62 a barrel.

Denmark Finland and Switzerland: Wealthy European countries with healthy budget positions - deficits of 2.5%, 2.6% and 2.0% of GDP, respectively - will recover more quickly than their neighbors, because they have kept their economies in balance.

Brazil: Probably the best of the lot, with a projected budget deficit of only 2% of GDP, inflation of 4.4% and bond yields of 11.8% — meaning it can indulge in a little monetary expansion if it needs to. Brazil will also benefit if inflation returns (as I expect it to), because that will push up the prices of its commodities exports.

So there you have it. Maybe the U.S. bond market and housing market will stabilize, and the American economic recovery will proceed smoothly - nothing is certain. But investments in Canada and Brazil, in particular, will protect you against the possibility that the U.S. situation doesn’t improve.

[Editor's Note:When the journalistic sleuths at Slate magazine recently set out to identify the stock-market guru who correctly predicted how far U.S. stocks would fall because of the global financial crisis, the respected "e-zine" concluded it was Martin Hutchinson who "called" the market bottom.

That discovery was no surprise to the readers of Money Morning - after all, Hutchinson has made a bevy of such savvy predictions since this publication was launched. Hutchinson warned investors about the evils of credit default swaps six months before the complex derivatives KO'd insurer American International Group Inc. He predicted the record run that gold made last year - back in 2007. Then, last fall - as Slate discovered - Hutchinson "called" the market bottom.

Now investors face an unpredictable stock market that's back-dropped by an uncertain economy. No matter. Hutchinson has developed a strategy that's tailor-made for such a directionless market, and that shows investors how to invest their way to ""Permanent Wealth" " using high-yielding dividend stocks, as well as gold.

(Source: Heartland Energy Colorado)

Philippines Plans To Double Renewable Energy Capacity

2009-05-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

(Source: www.renewableenergydev.com)

A recent announcement by the Philippines government has opened the way for the country’s renewable energy capacity to double over the next 10 years. The critical factor is that the government approved rules covering the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act.

It is intended that 9,000 MW of power will be produced in the Philippines which is twice the current levels.

The country is estimated to produce some 4,531 mWs from geothermal energy; 13,097 MW from hydropower, 5.1 kilowatt hours per square meter a day from solar, 76,600 MW from wind, and 170,000 MW from oceanic waves.

It is estimated that the cost of a renewable energy development project will run to about $1 to $2 million per megawatt.

There have been letters of interest lodged from 15 local and foreign-linked companies to develop projects, most of them involving wind, hydro and biomass.

Electricity generated from renewable sources such as hydro and geothermal power comprise 33 percent of the Philippines’ current power mix, and the government has said it hopes to increase that to 40 percent in a decade.

Companies such as First Gen Corp, Aboitiz Power Corp, Energy Development Corporation, Oriental Energy, Green Power Philippines and Deep Ocean Philippines, said Marasigan, adding that state-run PNOC-Renewables Corp would take the lead in tapping renewable energy sources.

Wind Power | Luverne Wind Farm

2009-05-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

(Source: www.renewableenergydev.com)

A new wind farm is to be built by NextEra Energy Resources near Lake Ashtabula in North Dakota. It is expected that the facility will have a maximum power capacity of 169.5 MW of electricity.

NextEra Energy Resources will serve as construction manager and initial operator of the wind farm.

As part of the overall facility a smaller 49.5 MW wind farm has been proposed by Otter Tail Power Company, a division of Otter Tail Corporation, with plans to begin construction in late May and an operational date slated to be towards the end of 2009. The 49.5 MW project has been dubbed the North Farm and it will comprise 33 wind turbines. The other half of the wind farm will be a 72 turbine farm known as the South Farm located in southwestern Steele County, stretching a short distance into Griggs County. Each windmill will be powered by General Electric 1.5-kilowatt turbines.

Otter Tail Power Company will also construct a 13-mile 230-kilovolt generation outlet needed to transmit the electricity to the Pillsbury Substation.

The expected total outlay for the project by Otter Tail Power Company is going to $110 million and that will include the cost of the turbines, equipment, the site, and required transmission facilities. The company will apply for a 30 percent treasury grant available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Heartland Energy Development Corporation Video

2009-05-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Great video introducing Heartland Energy Development Corporation and what their company is all about:

Heartland Energy Colorado - Alternative Fuel Station Tanks Pass Test

2009-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Heartland Energy Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: HEGP), announced today that they have successfully completed testing of the E85 storage tanks at their flag ship station located in Oklahoma.

Binger Oil has pressure tested the storage tanks at the Oklahoma facility and gave them their approval. This is the first step towards certification in preparation for the first delivery of E85.

For full release go to Heartland Energy Corporation

Heartland Energy is working diligently to prepare the Oklahoma Fuel Station for its opening. The station is located in Southeastern, OK on a well-traveled thoroughfare carrying traffic from Tulsa, OK to Texarkana, TX.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV the CEO of General Motors stated that the U.S. has about 1,400 ethanol stations now, but needs 15,000 to 20,000 more to serve the countries growing fleet of flex fuel vehicles.

For more information on GM CEO Statement visit: Heartland Energy Colorado

Other active stocks are Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), First Solar Inc (NASDAQ: FSLR), Mitsui and Company Ltd (NASDAQ: MITSY)

(Source: Heartland Energy Colorado) More: Heartland Energy Development News

Heartland Energy Colorado on Twitter

2009-05-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Join us on twitter: Heartland Energy Colorado & Heartland Energy Development Corporation to get daily updates on energy and oil news about heartland energy and other US oil and gas companies...

We are also on LinkedIn.com, lets get connected: Heartland Energy Colorado

Oil ends slightly up, reducing most gains on demand worries

2009-05-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

(Source: www.marketwatch.com)

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil futures ended slightly higher Thursday, giving back early gains as markets grew more nervous about recent assumptions about an economic recovery ahead of the key April jobs report due Friday.

Upbeat reports on U.S. weekly jobless claims and retailers' April sales initially helped boost stocks and commodities in morning trade, with oil up as much as 4% to $58.57 a barrel.

But some comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed wouldn't continue stimulating the economy forever pressured both stocks and crude. In addition, investors have priced in a lot of good news already, lifting the odds that Friday's jobs report might disappoint.

Crude for June delivery ended up 37 cents, or 0.7%, at $56.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Despite the loss, crude still has risen more than 6% this week.

Crude oil has recently benefited from hopes that a global economic recovery will boost demand. But some analysts said the rally is overdone, as inventories still remained at a high level.

"It looks as though the market is ready to ignore high inventories," said James Williams, an economist at energy research firm WTRG Economics. However, fundamentally, the oil market remained "bearish."

Crude inventories in the U.S., the biggest oil consumer, stood at the highest level in nearly 19 years, according to Wednesday's data released by the Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, total petroleum demand over the past four weeks was 7.9% lower than levels a year ago, the EIA report showed.

Helping oil rallied early in the session Thursday, the Labor Department said Thursday initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 34,000 to 601,000, their lowest level since January. See Economic Report on jobless claims.

Earlier, the government also reported that productivity rose in the first quarter as U.S. firms slashed their workforces, outpacing the drop in output.

Also helping lift sentiment, retailers reported better-than-expected April same-store sales on Thursday. See full story on retailers' sales.

And also easing concerns about the financial system, big banks undergoing so-called "stress tests" will have 30 days to develop plans for how they will raise any new required capital, the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators said late Wednesday. See full story on banks' stress tests.

The official results of the tests are expected to be released Thursday.

Natural gas inventories rise

Also in energy trading, June reformulated gasoline rose 3.75 cents, or 2.3%, to $1.6655 a gallon and June heating oil added 1.39 cents, or 0.9%, to $1.4852 a gallon.

Natural gas for June delivery rose 19.3 cents, or 4.1%, to $4.08 per million British thermal units.

U.S. natural-gas inventories rose 95 billion cubic feet in the week ended May 1, the Energy Information Administration reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a buildup of 89 billion cubic feet to 94 billion cubic feet.

Stockpiles were 491 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 362 billion cubic feet above the five-year average.

Nick Godt is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.

No natural gas price hike on May 1st

2009-05-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

(Source: Heartland Energy Development Corporation)

Bucharest – The natural gas tariffs for household consumers will not be modified starting on April 1, since the representatives of the National Energy Regulation Authority (ANRE) have yet to finalize the discussions on a possible price hike that the gas suppliers had asked for, sources from within ANRE have stated yesterday for Rompres. According to them, the discussions will continue in the following days, with a possible modification to the natural gas tariffs set to be operated next month.

Gergely Olosz, the ANRE President, had stated last Thursday that the natural gas suppliers had asked the Authority to hike the natural gas price for household consumers by 8 to 10 per cent starting on April 1. They justified their demand with the unexpected import bills’ hike. Olosz added that ANRE has asked the suppliers to present supplementary documents in that regard, with a decision set to be taken afterwards.

In early March the ANRE representatives stated for Rompres that the price of imported natural gas will rise in Q2 of 2008, and that some calculations show that the price of imports could grow by up to 13.5 per cent to a level of USD 420 per one thousand cubic meters. According to the quoted sources, the price of domestic natural gas could remain unchanged for the rest of 2008.

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Key Factors to Oil and Gas Investing

2009-05-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

(Source: Wright Brianna)

In the last few years, we have seen a tremendous rise in investment in oil and gas. A major reason for this might be the tragic scenario in the share markets across the globe, which has forced many investors, to look out for alternative avenues of investments. As it is, oil and gas investment requires a keen sense of judgment on the part of the investor in determining what oil and gas stocks he should invest in.

Now, before you decide to invest in any particular stocks, such as the oil sands stocks, or the Canadian oil stocks, you need to take care of a few aspects. The following are some of the aspects, which you need to consider, before you go ahead with your investment:

1. First and foremost, your decision should be based on facts rather than market sentiments. That does not at all imply that you have to go against popular views; but it is always better to go by a logical analysis, instead of mood swings.

2. The most common saying that is very much applicable in Oil and Gas investment is; do not keep all your eggs in one basket. So, as it is in this case, it is advisable to diversify your portfolio and not pin all your hopes on a particular area. This would not only help you gain in the long run, but would also lower the risk factor as well. In fact the more diversified is your portfolio, the lower are your chances of loss.

3. Make sure that your research is not limited to simply market reviews. Do what most people rarely do, i.e. read journals and know about latest research and development projects as well as new patent rights which have been registered. This would give you a fair idea of promising prospects. Apart from that, make sure that you know bout the recent findings in regard to oil and natural gas reserves.

4. A common mistake which you should always avoid is investing your cash reserves, all at one time. You should always have some spare reserves, to bail you out of difficult times. Spare reserves may also play a great role in maximizing your returns as well.

Apart from the above factors, there are several other factors, which may help you in making the right kind of investment. Make sure that you do not buy overpriced stocks. For this you may check the price earning ratio. Apart from this, another factor which plays an important role is commodity prices. So, if you are looking forward to long term investment in oil and gas, then you do not have to worry much about the commodity prices. In case if you are focusing on short term investment, then in that case, commodity prices become extremely important.

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Partners & Suppliers in the Oil & Gas Services Sector - Part 2

2009-05-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

(Source: Hans Bool -continued)

9. Prosafe ASA (Norway)
Prosafe operates globally and has about 340 employees. The company is headquartered in Larnaca, Cyprus and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS. Operating profit reached USD 222.2 million in 2007.
Prosafe comprises a parent company and the business division Offshore Support Services, the world's leading owner and operator of semi-sumbersible accommodation/service rigs.
Prosafe has more than three decades of operational experience from the world's largest oil and gas provinces. With an excellent uptime record, a solid financial performance and the ability to offer innovative in house technology and cost-efficient solutions, the company has positioned itself as a provider of high quality services.
Prosafe owns and operates 12 accommodation rigs (flotels).

10. Reservoir Exploration Technology (Norway)
Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA (RXT) is a marine geophysical company specialising in multi component seismic sea-floor acquisition.

Until May 2006 RXT has been operating one crew in the Gulf of Mexico, a dual vessel operation comprising a shooting vessel and a cable/buoy handler. Their GOM operations started in June 2004 and have demonstrated the superior imaging capabilities of the VSO sensors and cables.

RXT is planning a change according to the info on their site: "What we are going to do; Innovative business models to drive the marine multi-component business: In producing fields, For obstructed area long-offset applications, For time lapse 3D, Develop a "tool box" of acquisition methods (For deep water, For shallow water, For transition zone), Focus completely on what we do best: Marine acquisition.

Vision-statement: "to become the leading supplier of multi-component sea-floor acquisition."

11. SBM Offshore (Netherlands)
SBM Offshore N.V. is a pioneer in the offshore oil and gas industry. Worldwide, we have over 4,000 employees representing 40 nationalities, and are present in 15 countries. Our activities include the engineering, supply, and offshore installation of most types of offshore terminals or related equipment. In addition, SBM Offshore owns and operates its own fleet of Floating (Production) Storage and Offloading units. SBM Offshore has a track record of developing innovative, cost-effective solutions for the ever-changing needs of its Clients. Each company of the group contributes its technical expertise, making SBM Offshore a market leader.
...
became a pioneer in Single Point Mooring (SPM) systems, dynamically positioned drilling vessels, jack-up drilling rigs, and heavy offshore cranes.
SBM Offshore's present activities include the engineering, supply, and offshore installation of SPM systems for offshore loading and unloading of vessels or the permanent mooring of offshore oil production and/or storage vessels, as well as the turnkey supply of complete floating facilities for the production, storage, and export of crude oil and gas.
The latter comprise (FPSOs), (FSOs), (TLPs), (FPUs) and (MOPUs).

12. Sevan Marine (Norway)
Business Model
Sevan Marine ASA is listed on Oslo Børs (ticker SEVAN) and is specializing in building, owning and operating floating units for offshore applications. The Company has developed a cylinder shaped floater, suitable in all offshore environments. Presently Sevan Marine has four floating production, storage and offloading units (FPSOs) and three drilling units contracted to clients. The Company is also developing other application types for its cylindrical Sevan hull, including floating LNG production and power plants with CO2 capture.
The Company's business strategy is based on a Build-Own-Operate model, which gives Sevan control over the value creation chain.

13. Saipem (Italy)
"The Group is now the largest, most powerful, most international and best balanced turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry." The organization has been rationalised into three global business units: Onshore, Offshore and Drilling. It enjoys a superior competitive position for the provision of EPIC/EPC services to the oil industry both onshore and offshore; with a particular focus on the toughest and most technologically challenging projects - activities in remote areas, deepwater, gas, difficult oil.

Along with its strong European content, the major part of its human resource base comes from developing countries. Saipem employs over 30,000 people comprising more than 100 nationalities... it employs large numbers of people from the most cost effective developing countries ... and has sizeable service bases in India, Croatia, Romania and Indonesia.
Saipem has a distinctive Health & Safety Environment Management System and its Quality Management System has been granted ISO 9001:2000 certification by Lloyd's Register Certification.

14. Subsea 7 (Norway)
Subsea 7 is one of the world's leading engineering and construction companies offering all the expertise and assets that make Subsea Umbilical, Riser and Flowline (SURF) field development and operation possible.
With a multi-national workforce in excess of 5,000 personnel, the company's offshore operations are supported out of the North Sea, Africa, Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and Asia Pacific.

Subsea 7's experienced and skilled project managers and experienced engineers offer all the disciplines that make subsea oil & gas development and operation possible, including complete EPIC services, and life of field IRM services.
These services are supported by a modern fleet of pipelay, construction, diving and ROV support vessels. Global Operations include logistical and spool bases which are supported by dedicated in-house survey and positioning resources together with technology development, including robotic intervention services.
"Our deep-rooted health, safety, environmental and quality culture is inherent in all we have achieved to date and remains the pivotal foundations of performance."

15. Technip (France)
Engineering, technologies and construction services for Oil and Gas, Petrochemical and other industries.
"Backed by 50 years of experience and thanks to the expertise and know-how of its teams, Technip is a key contributor to the development of technologies and sustainable solutions for the exploitation of the world's energy resources."
2007 key figures: 23,000 employees in 46 countries, Industrial assets on five continents, A fleet of 19 vessels by 2010, Operating income from recurring activities: €247 million, Revenues: close to € 7.9 billion.
Fields: subsea, offshore and onshore.

16. TGS Nopec (Norway)
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) is a principal resource for global non-exclusive geoscientific data products and services in the oil and gas industry. Countries worldwide have entrusted TGS to assist with licensing rounds and the preparation of regional data programs. This global presence, which includes offshore surveys conducted in more than two dozen nations, is made possible by a diverse staff on three continents. Success in this competitive marketplace reflects a proud reputation for benchmark quality and personalized service.

1. Geophysical products & services. TGS specializes in the design, acquisition and processing of 2D and 3D multi-client seismic surveys worldwide.
2. Geological Data products & services. An industry-leading digital well log collection, well data management & services, multi-client interpretive products and subsurface consulting are also available from TGS.
3. Imaging Services. TGS delivers advanced high performance imaging and software solutions to support its geoscience data programs.

17. John Wood Group (GB Scotland)
Wood Group is an international energy services company with $4.4bn sales, employing approximately 25,000 people worldwide and operating in 46 countries.

Wood Group is an international energy services company with more than $4.4bn sales, employing approximately 25,000 people worldwide and operating in 46 countries.
The Group has three businesses - Engineering & Production Facilities, Well Support and Gas Turbine Services - providing a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul and repair services to the oil & gas, and power generation industries worldwide.

Wood Group is among the global market leaders in: deepwater engineering, offshore pipelines, artificial lift using electric submersible pumps, enhancement of oil & gas production in mature fields, the repair and overhaul of industrial gas turbines.

Wood group focuses on three areas: 1.Engineering and production facilities. Greenfield, infield engeineering, production enhancement and maintenance. 2. Well support and 3. Gas Turbine services. (*)

(*) - Information gathered from the companies websites...

Partners & Suppliers in the Oil & Gas Services Sector - Part 1

2009-05-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

(Source: Hans Bool)

There are 16 companies in this (sub) sector, most of them of Norwegian origin, two from the Netherlands and three from Britain, two from France and one from Italy. These companies have been selected from a sector overview of Goldman Sachs, focused on European companies as part of portfolio of a single analyst.

Operating in this sector requires specific knowledge, as noticed by the many abbreviations that are used in the annual reports and on the websites:

EPIC - engineering, procurement, installation and construction
IMR - Inspection, Maintenance and Repair
FPSO - Floating Production Storage and Offloading (systems)
FSO - Floating Storage and Offloading
TLP - Tension Leg Platforms
FPU - Floating Production Units
MOPU - Mobile Offshore Production Units
HD3D - high-density 3D (seismic)

1. Acergy (Norway)

Acergy's Vision: to be the acknowledged leader in seabed-to-surface engineering and construction. It's core competences are:

1. EPIC delivery. These can be further divided into: Deepwater operations (subsea infrastructure, umbilical, riser and flowline systems). And IMR ... to keep oil and gas fields worldwide producing at optimum capacity.
2. Conventional Field Development. Conventional construction skills and capabilities that help our clients solve complex hydrocarbon extraction and field development problems, together with pipeline installation tie-ins.
3. Trunkline expertise. "We operate the worlds largest and most successful semi-submersible pipelay barge, the Acergy Piper."
Special attention is set - On the homepage - to HSE: health, safety and environmental protection. This topics is detailed by graphs about the safety awareness and the (declining) number of accidents over the years...

2. Aker Solutions (Norway)

Aker Solutions is informing clearly about the sectors it operates in: oil & Gas, Refining and chemicals, mining & metals, nuclear, power generation and additional services. These latter encompasses both onshore and offshore field services.

Aftermarket is one of the most strategically important and exciting growth areas for Aker Solutions. Encompassing products and services related to the maintenance, modification and development of our installed base ... has enormous potential in terms of improving our revenue streams and margins.

3. Emgs - (Norway)

EMGS is an acronym for - Electromagnetic (EM) geoservices (GS).
Leader in technology "clearpay" for EM.

EMGS offers a different service for the oil downstream sector. "Unlike seismic surveys, which use acoustic energy to locate promising geological structures, seabed logging can directly reveal the presence of commercial hydrocarbon reserves. Seabed logging can identify reservoirs before seismic surveys are conducted ... And seabed logging has the potential to find hydrocarbons in traps that cannot be detected using seismic methods and would be overlooked by conventional workflows.

4. Expro International Group (GB)

Oil companies choose Expro for well flow management. They need services and products to measure, improve, control and process flow from oil and gas wells. "Today," Expro offers services and products through our five marketing areas of: Well Testing & Commissioning, Production Systems, Wireline Intervention, Drilling Choke Systems, Connectors & Measurements.

5. Fugro (Netherlands)
Fugro collects and interprets data related to the earth's surface and the soils and rocks beneath and provides advice, for purposes related to the oil and gas industry, the mining industry and the construction industry.
Fugro operates around the world at sea, on land and from the air, using professional, highly-specialised staff and advanced technologies and systems.

Services they offer are: GEOTECHNICAL (Investigation & advice on physical & chemical characteristics of the soil and construction materials). SURVEY SERVICES (like Airborne photogrammetry, lidar, and radar mapping; topographic, hydrographic and geological surveying..).
GEOSCIENCE SERVICES (Gathering, processing and interpreting geophysical data, quantitative and qualitative estimates of oil, gas, mineral and water resources ...)

6. CGGVeritas (France)

CGGVeritas is the world's leading international pure-play geophysical company delivering a wide range of technologies, services and equipment ... mainly throughout the global oil and gas industry.
Divisions are: Geophysical Equipment and Geophysical Services.

These... offer an advanced suite of seabed seismic services... also owns a recent vintage, well positioned library of multi-client land and marine seismic data.

CGGVeritas is a recognized leader in data processing & imaging services, made available via a worldwide network of 28 open seismic data processing centers and 15 client-dedicated centers.
Also ... "offers the world-famous Hampson-Russell software that ... makes sophisticated technology easily accessible by the working geophysicist and has an installed base of more than 1400 licences at over 500 petroleum and service companies worldwide."

The company has a total workforce of approximately 7,000 staff operating worldwide.

7. Petrofac (GB)
Through its three divisions - Engineering & Construction, Operations Services and Energy Developments - Petrofac: designs and builds oil & gas facilities; operates or manages facilities and trains personnel; and, where synergies are identified, co-invests to provide additional alignment.

8. Petroleum Geo Services (Norway)

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is a leading worldwide geophysical company. PGS provides an extensive range of seismic services and products for the petroleum industry including data acquisition, processing, reservoir analysis and interpretation. The company also possesses the world's most extensive multi-client data library.

Formed in 1991, the company today operates 12 marine streamer vessels including 6 vessels of the unique Ramform class. The company also operates between 7 and 10 Onshore crews and has 15 data processing centers.

Since the start of the company PGS has pioneered the development of multi-streamer marine seismic acquisition, producing increasingly efficient, high-quality 3D seismic data for the industry. The company has also introduced HD3D in all environments and developed in-house expertise in geology, geophysics, and reservoir analysis. PGS also provides onshore seismic services where the company has a reputation for using the latest equipment in challenging environments and has an enviable program of sustainable development. The data processing capabilities of PGS have grown substantially from originally processing PGS data to a major player in a high technology industry.
With its headquarters in Oslo, the company has offices in 22 different countries. (*)

(*) - Information gathered from the companies websites...

Are You Following Heartland Energy Colorado's on Twitter

2009-05-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Are you following our tweets? IF not, visit us on Twitter: Heartland Energy Colorado & Heartland Energy Colorado

Heartland Energy Colorado

2009-05-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

For more than 15 years, the Heartland Energy Development Corp. has innovated technologies and led the oil and gas production and development industry in many ways. Thanks to the Company’s unique management style, long-term approach to resource development, and investments in both great technology and smart personnel, it has grown from a spitfire natural gas and propane seller into a a national powerhouse.

The Heartland Energy Development Corp. team can take on practically any development or extraction job. If an oilfield is located in an environmentally sensitive zone, the Company will take due care to ensure the sanctity of natural resources. It has always been a cornerstone of Heartland Energy’s philosophy to develop sensibly with respect to environmental matters –- to that end, we’ve invested a lot of money in cutting-edge technologies, educational materials, and scientific and geologic surveys.

It may come as a surprise to many who have followed the debate over domestic energy resources that the contiguous 48 states still have significant amounts of oil and natural gas to develop. Companies like Heartland Energy Development Corp. work to extract these resources so that our country doesn’t have to depend on imports from the Middle East and Russia and Venezuela to meet our energy needs. Our specialty teams, proprietary technology, and sound management practices have allowed us to remain competitive, notwithstanding the downturn in the global energy markets.

(Source: Heartland Energy Development)

Heartland Energy Colorado - Resources

2009-05-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some resources about Heartland Energy in Colorado:

Heartland Energy Colorado Info
Heartland Energy Colorado News
Heartland Energy Colorado Profile
Heartland Energy Colorado Twitter Account
Heartland Energy Colorado Toolbar (Software)
Heartland Energy Colorado Jobs
Heartland Energy Colorado Content (About)
Heartland Energy Colorado Announcement
Heartland Energy Colorado

Oil Drilling Equipment & Methodology

2009-05-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Heartland Energy Development Corporation - Oil Drilling Equipment and Methodology -

Source: Heartland Energy Development Corporation

Drilling activity continues to diminish

2009-05-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Sam Fletcher
OGJ Senior Writer

HOUSTON, May 15 -- The US rig count continued to contract, down by 10 to 918 rotary rigs working this week, less that half of the 1,862 units that were active in the same week a year ago, said Baker Hughes Inc.

Land operations shouldered the latest loss, down 13 rigs to 855 drilling. Inland-water activity remained unchanged with 7 rigs working. Offshore drilling increased by 3 to 55 rotary rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico out of a total of 56 on federal offshore leases.

Of the rigs still working, 728 are drilling for natural gas, down 2 from the previous week. The number drilling for oil fell by 9 to 181. There were 9 rigs unclassified. Horizontal drilling was down 1 to 379 rigs. Directional drilling totaled 160 rigs, 4 fewer than last week.

Texas continued to lead the decline among major producing states, down 13 rigs with 342 still working. Arkansas lost 4 rigs to 44. North Dakota and New Mexico laid down 3 rigs each, to respective counts of 33 and 31. California was down by 1 to 20. Oklahoma was unchanged at 84.

Wyoming and Alaska increased by 1 rig each to 36 and 6, respectively. Colorado was up 2 to 45 rigs working. Louisiana's rig count jumped by 8 to 146. In other states of interest, Pennsylvania gained 3 to 31. Utah increased by 1 to 15, and West Virginia was unchanged with 23 rotary rigs drilling.

Canada's rig count increased by 5 to 68 this week, down from 132 units working a year ago.

While assessing several oil field service companies this week, James C. West at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York had some general observations about drilling markets. "The natural gas market remains difficult, and we believe a significant recovery in gas-directed activity is unlikely until mid-2010. A modest pick-up in oil-directed activity near term and aggressive cost cutting should partially mitigate this weakness," he said.

Commenting on Basic Energy Services Inc. (BAS) in Midland, Tex., West said, "Although conditions have stabilized somewhat within the well servicing market and pricing appears to be firming, we continue to believe natural gas fundamentals will not support a meaningful recovery in utilization until mid-2010." He said, "While maintenance activity has picked up, utilization is expected to remain low, particularly in the Rockies and Midcontinent. In response, BAS stacked one third of its well-service fleet and is scaling back operations in less active markets."

In his assessment of Parker Drilling Co., Houston, West said, "While utilization has recently improved for Parker's US barge fleet, we believe business conditions for the company's domestic-oriented businesses are likely to remain challenging into 2010, given the likelihood of continued weakness in natural gas activity." He noted, "Around one third of Parker's international fleet will come off contract in 2009; however, bidding activity remains high, and many rigs are likely to find work with some gaps in between contracts. Southeast Asia is the most challenging region, while the Americas is relatively strong."

Looking at offshore marine services, West said, "We believe weakness in the shallow-water Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea will continue to pressure vessel day rates and utilization during 2009." He said, "The shallow-water gulf has become increasingly challenging—average marine vessel utilization fell to 81% from 88% in the fourth quarter, with significant declines in gulf-levered asset classes. We believe this market will remain difficult through 2009. Deepwater utilization and day rates are relatively stable."

Contact Sam Fletcher at samf@ogjonline.com.

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MARKET WATCH: Crude oil, natural gas prices retreat

2009-05-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

Sam Fletcher
OGJ Senior Writer

HOUSTON, May 14 -- After briefly topping $60/bbl in the previous session, oil futures prices fell May 13 on the New York Mercantile Exchange despite a government report of an unexpected drop in US inventories, the first in 10 weeks.

Crude prices continued to decline in early trading May 14 "on news that the International Energy Agency reduced its 2009 demand forecast for the ninth consecutive month," said analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc. "On the natural gas front, natural gas prices dropped nearly 3% [May 13] on a report by the Energy Information Administration that industrial consumption of natural gas will drop by 8% this year. The EIA is forecasting that total US natural gas will fall by 1.9% in 2009, which compares [with] our estimate of a 3% decline."

In New Orleans, analysts at Pritchard Capital Partners LLC said the oil price decline was the likely result "of demand concerns, lower equity prices, a stronger dollar, and poor retail figures weighing on optimism of an economic recovery and as a result lower energy demand."

The EIA said commercial US crude inventories fell 4.7 million bbl to 370.6 million bbl in the week ended May 8, compared with Wall Street analysts' expectation of a 1 million bbl increase. Gasoline stocks dropped 4.1 million bbl to 208.3 million bbl in the same week. Distillate fuel inventories increased 1 million bbl to 147.5 million bbl (OGJ Online, May 13, 2009).

However, crude inventories were not reduced by increased demand but by "a sizeable (12%) drop in imports," said Pritchard Capital Partners. Gasoline inventories fell because of 1.6% decline in refining run rates, low gasoline imports, and improved demand. The analysts said, "Demand for all products is still at 10-year lows and year-to-date collections show gasoline down 0.9% year-over-year, distillate down 8%, and all petroleum products down 5.7%. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that the slight recovery in gasoline demand witnessed at the end of the first quarter may have given way to further year-over-year erosion."

Nevertheless, Paul Horsnell, a managing director and head of commodities research at Barclays Capital in London, said, "After 7 months of constant increase, the US [crude] inventory overhang seems at last to have peaked. He said, "From the time of the deepening of the financial crisis and the recovery of oil operations from the hurricanes, through to the middle of April, US inventories rose from nearly 50 million bbl below their 5-year average to more than 90 million bbl above. The rise in inventories above normal seasonal patterns amounted to some 140 million bbl over the course of about 210 days, i.e., an abnormal rise of some 650,000 b/d across 7 whole months."

Horsnell said, "Over the 2 previous weeks, the overhang above the 5-year average had declined by 3 million bbl, and in the latest data it has declined by a further 9.1 million bbl. The overhang is still large at 80 million bbl, but over the past few weeks it has become an overhang that is being whittled away and not added to by the flows. If the peak inventory overhang has been passed, and the drop of 12 million bbl from the putative peak is of sufficient scale to provide some encouragement to that view, then that is an important change in the market dynamic. It would tend to support both the recent move up of the trading range and also to encourage a continuation of the recent significant narrowing in both the West Texas Intermediate and [North Sea] Brent time spreads."

Refining outlook
Jacques H. Rousseau, an analyst at Soleil-Back Bay Research, said, "Although the headline data of declining gasoline inventories is positive for refiners, the underlying supply-demand fundamentals remain very weak. The average US refinery utilization rate of 80.4% last week was more than 6% below year-ago levels, while demand for light products (gasoline plus distillate plus jet fuel) was 7% below the same calendar week of 2008, according to the EIA data. Potential for a summer demand-driven recovery appears to be waning; thus refiners must keep production low in order to support margins, in our view."

Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix, Zug, Switzerland, reported, "Implied [US] demand for gasoline on the 4-week average is calculated to be down 235,000 b/d vs. a year ago, but it is offset by gasoline imports that are much lower than a year ago (down 318,000 b/d). Given the lower gasoline imports, refiners are producing slightly more than a year ago (up 24,000 b/d) and for that they need to keep the crude oil inputs relatively high compared to the overall drop in demand."

However, he said, "The problem is that distillate demand is down much more than gasoline demand, hence as refiners run for gasoline demand they keep on adding to stocks of middle distillates, and storage capacity is missing. Combined US stocks of middle distillates and gasoline are basically at recent historic highs and the unwanted distillates that refiners are producing need to chase gasoline out of storage capacity. If US refiners do not cut runs more aggressively, then they need to run a fine balancing act of running gasoline into minimum of inventory to free some storage capacity for distillates."

Jakob said, "One way or another it means that gasoline could remain exposed in the future to supply disruptions while there is already enough distillate to cover next winter, and this then draws a picture where the gasoline premium to distillate could still have some further upside."

IEA reports
For the ninth consecutive month, IEA reduced its previous forecast of oil demand, down 230,000 b/d in its latest adjustment to a total 83.2 million b/d, 3% below 2008 demand. "Continued oil demand weakness is premised on strong economic recovery later this year remaining elusive," said EIA officials (OGJ Online, May 14, 2009).

Only a day earlier, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reduced its 2009 demand growth forecast by 200,000 b/d to 1.6 million b/d to 84 million bbl (OGJ Online, May 13, 2009).

IEA said world oil supply averaged 83.6 million b/d in April, up 230,000 b/d from March because of increased OPEC output after the cartel had reduced production over the previous 7 months. OPEC's total production increased 270,000 b/d to 28.2 million b/d. The 11 OPEC countries other than Iraq increased production by 230,000 b/d to 25.8 million b/d, compared with their target of 24.845 million b/d.

IEA officials expect total non-OPEC supply to slip from 50.6 million b/d in 2008 to 50.3 million b/d in 2009, offset by a similar rise in OPEC NGL production.

Natural gas
Energy Solutions Inc., Verona, Wis., advisor to gas purchasers, said May 13, "The perception of a recovering economy, along with rising crude oil prices, have also provided support for natural gas prices. The value of the US dollar recently hit a 4-month low, and that has been a contributing factor to stronger crude oil prices. Weakness in the dollar, which is expected to last into late June, has trumped the fact that US crude oil inventories have reached 19-year highs, and there is an estimated 100 million bbl of crude oil being stored at sea on tankers. There is nothing bullish about crude oil fundamentals."

Company analysts reported, "Right now, fundamentals don't matter—particularly for natural gas prices. In just 1 week, the front-month natural gas NYMEX futures contract rallied by more than $1/MMbtu, surpassing a number of technical resistance price levels. The June natural gas NYMEX contract is now trading at a price level comparable to where it traded in the second half of March. We believe the primary culprit for the recent price rise in natural gas is a combination of short-covering by speculators and a surge in the purchase of shares of [Denver-based] United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG), an exchange-traded fund, which is designed to track in percentage terms the movements of natural gas prices."

Energy Solutions said, "When money is invested into UNG, it initiates the purchase of the underlying portfolio of products (i.e. the purchase of natural gas futures contracts). If this buying is aggressive, natural gas prices will rise quickly."

Energy prices
The June contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes fell 83¢ to $58.02/bbl on NYMEX. On the US spot market, WTI at Cushing, Okla., was down the same amount to the identical price. The July contract dropped 74¢ to $58.97/bbl on NYMEX. Heating oil for June declined 1.7¢ to $1.49/gal. However, the June contract for reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) gained 2.09¢ to $1.69/gal.

Natural gas for June fell 11.6¢ to $4.33/MMbtu on NYMEX. "The decline may have been the result of weaker equity prices, lower crude prices, and profit taking after natural gas spiked after last week's 22% advance in June NYMEX prices," said Pritchard Capital Partners. On the US spot market, gas at Henry Hub, La., increased 2¢ to $4.39/MMbtu.

EIA reported the injection of 95 bcf of natural gas into US underground storage in the week ended May 8. Working gas in storage exceeded 2 tcf. That was 497 bcf more than in the same period a year ago and 374 bcf above the 5-year average.

In London, the June IPE contract for North Sea Brent crude dropped 60¢ to $57.34/bbl. The June gas oil contract gained 50¢ to $483.75/tonne.

The average price for OPEC's basket of 12 reference crudes advanced 40¢ to $57.16/bbl on May 14.

Contact Sam Fletcher at samf@ogjonline.com.

Alternative Energy Development In Japan - How Japan Uses Wind For Energy

2009-05-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

As Japan is a country that is densely populated, alternative energy development is a serious matter and cannot be compared to other markets. With wind energy in use, its continuation will depend on utilising near shore as well as offshore installations and the possibilities here are endless. Once an energy network is set up in Japan it is quickly taken up by the market. As the offshore wind is usually stronger, so the costs in installation become higher. The efficiency of turbines is increasing so the price per kilowatt-hour produced is lowering due to competition with equipment. Wind energy is generating more interest and in comparison to other renewable energy sources, it is proving more competitive.

In Svend Sigaard's words, "By utilising sites near or at sea with good wind machines, then the price per kilowatt-hour is competitive against other sources of energy". Svend Sigaard is president and CEO to the biggest wind turbine maker in the world, Denmark's 'Vestas Wind Systems'. Vestas has invested heavily in capital for research, development and their efforts towards helping Japan to expand in generating capacity in wind turbine power. Offshore installations are being sought for the Japanese nation, who are ready to put a lot of investment into alternative energy by much research and development. Their efforts will surely pay off and they can then enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Japan has long run their own course, refusing to follow other foreign nations - in World War II, the U.S. crippled all their military equipment and their oil supplies - and refuse to be dictated to. Japan is an island with a lack of natural resources which are conducive for energy production, so depend on producing other alternative energy supplies of their own. They are very open to overseas investment as well as foreign development; the introduction of new and innovative technology will help them advance and become more independent. With Vestas and other corporations being allowed into Japan to help them more with wind-production, keeping it up and running smoothly, the Japanese people are moving forward and keeping up with the times towards environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. Japan have also caught on to another power source - the microhydroelectric power plants. With its myriad of rivers and available mountain streams, Japan is absolutely ideal for placing microhydroelectric power plants to produce energy. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation has defined them as power plants which run on water and having a maximum output of less or equal to 100 kilowatts. "Minihydroelectric" power plants can, in comparison, give an output of electrical energy to a maximum of 1000 kilowatts.

For some considerable time now, Japan have regarded microhydroelectric and the smaller scaled mini hydroelectric power plants as very suitable for the mountainous terrains. Japanese cities now increasingly use these plants through refinement and have proved excellent. Smaller scale hydroelectric power plants have been developed through the involvement of Japan Natural Energy Company, Kawasaki City Waterworks and Tokyo Electric Power Company.

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Siemens Introduces New Second Pass Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment System For High Quality Water In Offshore Applications

2009-05-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

May 5th, 2009
Siemens Water Technologies announces a new second pass reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment system to the offshore oil and gas industry. The new system can be used on offshore platforms and drilling rigs to generate high quality water on-board – water normally transported to the platform. By generating water on the platform, costly transportation charges are eliminated and water volume can be adjusted according to need.

The Siemens reverse osmosis system is a rugged, pre-engineered, pre-assembled, standardized system that minimizes expensive installation and start-up costs. The new second pass RO system is ideal for offshore applications because it is a compact, single-skid unit for easy installation.

Reverse osmosis is a process in which pure water is produced by forcing waste or saline water through a semi-permeable membrane. On-site generation of water helps reduce costs and provides an additional source of water supply for various applications on the platform or rig. For more information visit www.siemens.com/water

About Siemens Industry SectorThe Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the world's leading supplier of production, transportation, building and lighting technologies. With integrated automation technologies as well as comprehensive industry-specific solutions, Siemens increases the productivity, efficiency and flexibility of its customers in the fields of industry and infrastructure. The Sector consists of six Divisions: Building Technologies, Drive Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility and Osram. With around 222,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry posted in fiscal year 2008 a profit of EUR3.86 billion with revenues totaling EUR38 billion.

With the business activities of Siemens VAI Metal Technologies, (Linz, Austria), Siemens Water Technologies (Warrendale, Pa., U.S.A.), and Industrial Technologies, (Erlangen, Germany), the Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities. Using its own products, systems and process technologies, Industry Solutions develops and builds plants for end customers, commissions them and provides support during their entire life cycle. With around 31,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry Solutions achieved an order intake of EUR 8.415 billon in fiscal year 2008. For more information visit www.siemens.com/industry-solutions
(Source: Heartland Energy Development - Offshore Drilling Industry news Blog)

Marathon Oil Corporation Awarded Third Indonesian Offshore Exploration Block

2009-05-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO - News) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiaries, Marathon Indonesia New Ventures Limited and Indonesia Kumawa Energy Limited, entered into a Production Sharing Contract with the Indonesian Government for a combined 49 percent interest in the Kumawa Block offshore Indonesia. Marathon's co-bidder, Komodo Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Black Gold Energy LLC, was awarded the remaining 51 percent interest. Marathon Indonesia New Ventures Limited will serve as the operator.

The Kumawa Block encompasses approximately 1.24 million acres and is located offshore West Papua, Eastern Indonesia, in the Semai region, approximately 180 miles south of the recently commissioned Tangguh liquefied natural gas facility. The Kumawa Block is a high-potential, under-explored area with water depths ranging from 2,400 to more than 4,000 feet.
"Marathon is pleased to further strengthen its exploration program in Indonesia with the award of the Kumawa Block," said Annell R. Bay, Marathon's senior vice president, Worldwide Exploration. "This is an important step in the continued growth of Marathon's portfolio of large-scale, high-potential blocks in the country."

Current exploration plans for the Kumawa Block call for the acquisition of 2D seismic followed by drilling operations.

Another Marathon subsidiary, Marathon International Petroleum Indonesia Limited, holds a 70 percent interest and operatorship in the Pasangkayu Block located predominantly in the Makassar Strait offshore Sulawesi Island and directly east of the prolific Kutei Basin oil and gas production region. The Pasangkayu Block covers 1.2 million acres ranging from onshore Sulawesi to water depths of up to 7,200 feet. Marathon Indonesia (Bone Bay) Limited, a separate Marathon subsidiary, also holds a 49 percent interest and operatorship in the Bone Bay Block which covers 1.23 million acres located 200 miles southeast of the Pasangkayu Block in water depths ranging between 165 and 6,500 feet.

Marathon is an integrated international energy company engaged in exploration and production; oil sands mining; integrated gas; and refining, marketing and transportation operations. Marathon has principal operations in the United States, Angola, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Norway and the United Kingdom. Marathon is the fourth largest U.S.-based integrated oil company and the nation's fifth largest refiner. For more information on Marathon Oil Corporation, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.marathon.com/.

Fore more news like this: Heartland Energy Development Corporation