We are a California-focused independent upstream energy company engaged primarily in the development and production of conventional oil reserves located in the western United States.
Company Summary — We are a value-driven, independent oil and natural gas company engaged primarily in the development and production of conventional reserves located in the western United States, including California and Utah. We target onshore, low-cost, low-risk, oil-rich basins, such as the San Joaquin basin of California and the Uinta basin of Utah. The Company’s assets are characterized by:
- high oil content with production consisting of approximately 93% oil;
- long-lived reserves with low and predictable production decline rates;
- an extensive inventory of low-risk development drilling opportunities with attractive full-cycle economics;
- a stable and predictable development and production cost structure; and
- favorable Brent-influenced crude oil pricing dynamics.
Our asset base is concentrated in the San Joaquin basin in California, which has over 100 years of production history and substantial remaining original oil in place. We focus on conventional, shallow reservoirs, the drilling and completion of which are low-cost in contrast to modern unconventional resource plays. Our decades-old proven completion techniques include cyclic or continuous steam injection.
We focus on enhancing our production, improving drilling and completion techniques, controlling costs and maximizing the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons from our assets, with the goal of generating top-tier returns. We seek to fund repeatable organic production and reserves growth through the use of internally generated free cash flow from operations after debt service, or levered free cash flow, while also maintaining ample liquidity and a conservative financial leverage profile.
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California
San Joaquin Basin — Our California operating area consists of properties located in Midway-Sunset, South Belridge, McKittrick and Poso Creek fields in the San Joaquin basin in Kern County. The Company’s properties in this region are primarily mature, low-decline oil wells. We have a 94% average working interest in our California assets, and our producing areas include:
- our North Midway-Sunset sandstone properties, where we use cyclic and continuous steam injection to develop these known reservoirs; and our McKittrick property, which is a newer steamflood development with potential for infill and extension drilling. Also located here are our North Midway-Sunset thermal diatomite properties, which require high pressure cyclic steam techniques to unlock the significant value we believe is there and maximize recoveries.
- our South Midway-Sunset, properties, which are long-life, low-decline, strong-margin thermal oil properties with additional development opportunities;
- our South Belridge Field Hill property, which is characterized by two known reservoirs with low geological risk containing a significant number of drilling prospects, including downspacing opportunities, as well as additional steamflood opportunities;
- our Poso Creek property, which is an active mature shallow, heavy oil asset that we continue to develop. We develop these sandstone properties with a combination of cyclic and continuous steam injections, similar to many of our west California operations; and
- our Round Mountain property, which has two productive sandstone reservoirs that are developed using waterflood and steamflood.
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Utah
Uinta Basin — We have assets and operations in Utah’s Uinta basin, primarily in the Brundage Canyon, Ashley Forest, Lake Canyon and Antelope Creek areas. Historically, we have focused on vertical well development from five reservoirs targeting the Green River and Wasatch formations that produce oil and natural gas at depths ranging from 4,000 feet to 8,000 feet. We are now actively evaluating horizontal drilling potential which includes horizontal development in the Uteland Butte and Wasatch reservoirs with depths ranging from 6,000 to 6,500 feet.
Over the recent years the Uinta Basin has experienced an increase in activity by others, including successful results from horizontal drilling across the basin which indicates new development potential for our existing acreage. The results from operations adjacent to our properties indicates new development potential for our existing acreage, which we have been and are actively exploring.
We have high operational control of our existing acreage, which provides significant upside for additional vertical and horizontal development and recompletions and additional behind pipe potential across our existing acreage. We believe that horizontal well development of our own acreage could yield substantial returns, with low break-even economics and a potentially significant runway of future development. We are strategically positioned to develop our own acreage horizontally at an optimal pace, staying true to our commitment to generate free cash flow.
We also have extensive gas infrastructure and available takeaway capacity in place to support additional development along with existing gas transportation contracts. We have natural gas gathering systems consisting of approximately 400 miles of pipeline and associated compression and metering facilities that connect to numerous sales outlets in the area. We also own a natural gas processing plant in the Brundage Canyon area located in Duchesne County, Utah.