skiff

I too own a Sunrise & can't say enough good things about it - easily the best bang for the $$'s out there (worksmanship, materials & design) - especially if they have any Demo models left. My only complaint is that they put the Scadden logo everywhere & on everything which is a bit of advertising overkill. I've even tried standing up on the casting platform while floating the Bow without a problem...in the slower sections & not during runoff of course

Go to your nearest Dive shop & buy a pair of the least expensive (<$100) fins that you can find that fit over your boots. You shouldn't have to buy the dry suit fins unless you have bigger feet than me (size 11-12) and you'll find that they're just as good (better?) than Force Fins, half the price, likely come with quick release buckles & float. Pontoon specific fins are overhyped & overpriced IMHO.

Its interesting to note that production dropped about 6% from 2006 to 2007 even though rig utilization was at 63%. At current prices and rig utilization rates that drop is going to accelerate rather quickly next year (even before the Royalty tax grab) unless we have an abnormally cold winter (not likely given the weather predictions so far & recent experiences). Given that: significant new gas is coming on stream from the offshore Gulf of Mexico next year; several LNG re-gassification plants are already under construction in the US and comming onstream in the next 1-2 years (they're economic at $4-$5 gas; Canada needs $7 so they have economics on their side); and that US Rockies gas will be de-bottlenecked also in the next year, any decline in Western Canada's production could very well be nicely offset (hence keeping prices low) and that $1.4B in extra revenue is never going to materialize for Albertans. Personally, I think Government should be doing everything possible to help the industry keep production flat in a high cost/low price environment so that they maintain rather than loose Royalty revenue and keep the 25-75 people/rig employed and contributing to our tax base.

"So you can see that in today's price environment we get back between $0.75-$1 for every $1 of investment ($3.3 / $3.3 or $4.3). Under the new royalty the numbers drop to $0.7-$0.9." Sorry - those are %'s not $'s. ie we're getting back either just what we invested or up to 30% less. Anybody wanna buy some stock? I should mention that our cost structure is very much in line with many other Juniors out there, which is why most are trading at upt o 70% off what their price was back in early 2005 when gas was at $12/mcf but most service & land acquisition costs have only typically fallen 20-30%.

Troubles with completing my first post, so here it goes again... I can't speak for the heavy oil guys as our company is 80% gas. Here's how our "Profits" are calculated in the Natural gas business in today's environment (all numbers from my companies latest quarterly results) Sale Price = $6.5/mcf (What people bought our gas for on a per unit basis) LESS Operating Costs = $1.3/mcf (What it cost us to operate our wells, etc) AB Royalties = $1.6/mcf (25% of price; would rise to 30% or $1.95 under the new proposal) G&A Costs = $0.3/mcf (Salaries, office rental, paperclips, etc; NOTE - the new royalty adds the equivalent cost of doubling our workforce & office space to our cost structure) ============================== Total Cash Left to Reinvest = $3.3/mcf It cost most Junior O&G companies like ours approximately between $3.3/mcf and $4.3/mcf just to find & develop (F&D) new gas last year ($20-$26/barrel oil equivalent) So you can see that in today's price environment we get back between $0.75-$1 for every $1 of investment ($3.3 / $3.3 or $4.3). Under the new royalty the numbers drop to $0.7-$0.9. Our beef is not that we have to pay royalties, or even that they need to be adjusted, it is just that under the proposed system, at today's prices, you're making an unprofitable business even less profitable which means we have to curtail capital spending until either the service sector costs go down sufficiently (reduces our F&D costs; less work for the rural areas & associated communities) or the price of gas rises sufficiently to offset the higher service costs that go along with that increas. Just my $0.02. Tite lines, not tite government

Hi all, Having 'lurked' on this and predecessor boards for quite a while now I finally feel like I have something to add to this board. I work in a Junior oil & gas company who's production is dominately natural gas (85%) and who dominately drills in the western part of the province (read = more expensive; typical drill, complete & tie-in costs are $2.5 - $3.5 million per well, on average 60-70% of the times they are abandoned therefore we're out of pocket & our annual budget is $50MM for everything). On a per unit basis here's a simple way that we look at our current difficulty in trying to stay in business. Cash left to reinvest after we sell our product: Average price: $7.0/mcf (in the US; Alberta's is actually closer to $6/mcf) LESS Cost to operate: