Universal Property Development Corporation (fka UPDV)

[Han_Solo]

Kamal the Motherf..... is out of jail
since a couple of weeks

[A44975]

If this guy is in Jail, then there is no one at the helm. Can't we than take over the company ourselves and find out where the books and records are. If he is in Jail, than who ever prosecuted against him should be able to tell us or show us the books and what happened to the money being made! Any ideas?

[turn around]

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93399216

[medodk]

KAMAL Z ABDALLAH
Register Number: 52139-280
Age: 49
Race: White
Sex: Male
Located at: Texarkana FCI

Release Date: 05/21/2014

How you get it Infomation.
Its not fanny if you make joke.
What helps Upda if he is released money is gone and stock is gone.

[turn around]

KAMAL Z ABDALLAH
Register Number: 52139-280
Age: 49
Race: White
Sex: Male
Located at: Texarkana FCI

Release Date: 05/21/2014

[nitwitboy]

Here is Kaml's prison information. I wrote him a nice letter to let him know my thoughts. Anybody know where Jack Baker ended up? I want t o track him down as well. Another scumbag.

http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=kamal&Middle=&LastName=abdallah&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=-529&y=-517

[knight247]

https://tts.sec.gov/oiea/QuestionsAndComments.html


If you have a question about your investment, investment account, or financial professional

contact the SEC complaint center and fill out SEC question complaint form and send it in

[knight247]

Best thing to do is contact the SEC securities exchange commission

Useful SEC Contact Information

Personnel Locator:
[phone]

SEC Toll-Free Investor Information Service:
1-800-SEC-0330

Public Document Requests:
[phone]
To request a public document, please see "How to Request Public Documents."

Disability Program: Accommodations and Accessible Information
To request accommodations for public programs or access to SEC information in alternate formats send email to [e-mail] or call 202-551-4119

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Access: Use the Federal Relay Service to call specific SEC offices: http://fts.gsa.gov/frs/tollfree.htm

Public Affairs:
[phone]
For press inquiries

Certified Document Requests:
Submit your request for certified documents via the Certified Document Form: https://www.sec.gov/forms/request_cert_docs.

Division of Corporation Finance:
See Division of Corporation Finance: Directory of Division Offices

Division of Investment Management:
See Division of Investment Management: Directory of Telephone Numbers and E-Mail Addresses

Division of Trading and Markets, Office of Interpretation and Guidance:
202-551-5777

EDGAR Filer Support:
[phone]

EDGAR Filing Fee Information:
[phone]

Investor Assistance and Complaints:
[phone]

Office of Credit Ratings:
[phone]

Office of Municipal Securities:
[phone]

Regional Offices:
See SEC Addresses: HQ and Regional Offices

Branch of Registrations and Examinations:
[phone]

Office of the Secretary:
[phone]

Office of Small Business — Small Business Ombudsman; Division of Corporation Finance:
[phone]

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Office:
[phone]



http://www.sec.gov/contact/phones.htm

[medodk]

If is something new about UPDV. Did vi get anything here or all is gone .I invested 50.000 USD.Can we get some information from anyone

[knight247]

HOw is that so?where is the evidence??

[turn around]

one cypress energy seems to own now all former UPDV transportation assets (Geer Tank Trucks and US Petroleum Depot)

http://www.onecypressenergy.com/assets/

[ssake]

Dear my Friends

All Money is stolen and I don't think we will get something.
Such is Life -You can contact Goldman Sash or FBI they will help you with UPDA if you have some money. I bayed for 23.000 $ on one account and 10.000$ CNFU .This is Amerika and we Like World Sreet and Goldman Sash.

[MR MUTT]

i STILL OWN SHARES OF updv AND i CANNOT GET THEM OUT OF MY ACCOUNT!wHAT DO i DO?

[MR MUTT]

i STILL OWN SHARES OF updv AND i CANNOT GET THEM OUT OF MY ACCOUNT!wHAT DO i DO?

[knight247]

not certain you have to contact them

[A44975]

Are they a fee based attorney or free or will they work to do a class action suit and collect if they win. I can't afford a lawyer!

[knight247]

Well if they stole money from investors you should contact securities fraud attorney


Texas Securities Fraud Lawyer Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP Website
1-800-259-9010
http://www.securities-fraud-attorneys.com/
Office:
1010 Lamar
Suite 900
Houston, Texas 77002
Phone: [phone]
Toll Free: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[knight247]

Well if they stole money from investors you should contact securities fraud attorney


Texas Securities Fraud Lawyer Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP Website
1-800-259-9010
http://www.securities-fraud-attorneys.com/
Office:
1010 Lamar
Suite 900
Houston, Texas 77002
Phone: [phone]
Toll Free: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[knight247]

Whats really weird HTOG subsidiary of UPDV is still trading and rising!!!something is defintely fishy!!

[turn around]

don´t know what happens there.
imo updv has sold every assets to pay back debt and loan and no money was left to pay to shareholders. but i really don´t know, i haven´t found anything on updv since a long time.

[A44975]

Turn Around:

You seem to known that we have an empty shell. Doesn't U
PDV still own the stock for Cypress and HTOG. If not, then the stock must have been sold. If sold, where is the money? Also is there any law suite against MGT, do you know of, Iwould like to join in against it.

[JimProfit]

omg u sure? ;) j/k

[knight247]

exactly!

[turn around]

it only shows that we will get nothing back.
updv is a empty shell

[knight247]

The stock hasnt moved in well over a yr! how does that help shareholders???

[turn around]

then you should know what it means that tim brink, former CNFU ceo is now vice president of one cypress energy.

geer tank trucks and us petroleum depot(port of brownsville) were former CNFU subsidiaries. CNFU was majority owned by UPDA.

so OUR (former)subs are running under one live oak energy, which is connected to one cypress energy.

we´ve got back an empty shell and OUR former subs are run by the same person as before.

[knight247]

updv is delisted,the whole corporation under investigation by FBI,company went out of business so how is that turn around?

[turn around]

if you don´t know tim brink, then you know not enough about UPDA

[knight247]

what does cypress energy have to do with UPDV??

[turn around]

it´s getting better and better

http://www.aftercollege.com/job/44025294/employer/190841/

[turn around]

just found a few interesting links.
seems like they have left us with a empty shell.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/timothy-brink/51/1ab/942

http://www.corporationwiki.com/Unknown/Unknown/one-cypress-energy-llc/101403271.aspx

http://www.corporationwiki.com/Unknown/Unknown/one-live-oak-energy-llc/101403298.aspx

http://geertanktrucksinc.com/

[turn around]

[A44975]

I have 450,000 shares of UPDV, I would like to join in in any class action suit.

[ssake]

I have 30.000 $ in updv and my brother 50.000$.
We have 2 person if any other who would like make action lawsuit.

[knight247]

the stock is worthless!!! no one will receive no money from updv, not unless there is class action lawsuit!!!

[turn around]

without words

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20FDCO%2020120106C23.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR

[knight247]

Interesting article
http://news.yahoo.com/oil-pipeline-argument-focuses-jobs-environment-211338366.html

..Oil pipeline argument focuses on jobs, environment
AP – 6 hrs ago....tweet7Share0EmailPrint......Business slideshows.
.Teen Lexi Thompson to become LPGA member
50 photos - Fri, Sep 30, 2011"Occupy Wall Street" protest
50 photos - 2 hrs 1 min agoVenezuela train crash kills 1, injures dozens
11 photos - Thu, Sep 29, 2011...See latest photos »....MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (AP) — Backers of an oil pipeline that would cut across Oklahoma to deliver crude oil from Canada to refineries in Houston want the jobs that would come with the project, but environmental groups say the damage to natural areas isn't worth the benefits the shortcut would bring.

Supporters of the 1,700-mile pipeline that would carry oil that's being extracted from Canadian oil sands also said at a Friday hearing by the U.S. State Department that it's better to buy crude from a close ally than from unstable sources from overseas. Federal officials also held hearings this past week in Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Kansas and Montana.

Opponents of the $7 billion project, including Oklahoma Sierra Club Chairman Charles Wesner, say the pipeline is bound to leak and cause environmental problems. The Oklahoman reported that Wesner said oil development in Canada is destroying millions of acres of boreal forest and contributing to global warming.

"Pipelines are notorious for leaking," he said. "It's not a matter of if; it's a matter of where and when. It's going to cause a great deal of destruction, somewhere at some time," Wesner said.

American Petroleum Institute economist John Felmy said Wesner overstated his argument and that the pipeline would provide a path for moving $17 trillion worth of oil that's under the ground in Canada.

Calgary-based TransCanada would operate the Keystone XL pipeline. An existing line starts in Alberta, Canada, and runs through the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba before heading south through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and ending at Cushing, Okla., in the state's north-central region.

The Keystone XL would take a more direct route to Cushing, going through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, and meeting up with the existing route at the Nebraska-Kansas border. The new line would extend from Cushing south into Texas, where it would stretch to Houston, with a branch also going to Port Arthur.

Environmental groups fear the pipeline would leak and endanger subsurface water supplies across the territory and disrupt wildlife habitats. They also say the project is being rushed to approval without adequate safeguards and emergency response plans, something backers deny.

The Norman Transcript reported that two members of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 344, Kenny Whitson and James McDonald of Oklahoma City, said the environmental concerns aren't so great. Plus, they want the jobs that construction of the underground pipeline would create.

"I think it's people overreacting," McDonald said.

"There'll be a lot of jobs for welders, operators digging ditches and getting it back the way they found it again," Whitson said. "It isn't anything new. It's just the length and the enormity of the job that sets this one apart."

Supporters also say pipeline technology has improved and that the chances of leaks are remote.

..

[knight247]

Three ETFs For NatGas Act 2011
by Jared Cummans on June 3, 2011 | ETFs Mentioned: FCG • MLPG • UNG

14Share
The debate on our nation’s dependence on oil has been a major issue for quite some time now. Crude oil is a finite resource, and one that we will eventually run out of–though estimates of just how long that will take stretch across the board. But as the largest consumers of crude (roughly 7.3 million barrels per day) in the world, and with 51% of our oil coming from foreign nations, the U.S. will eventually be forced to face its addiction to crude head on. From here, many experts and analysts have their own opinions as to which resource would be the most environmentally friendly and cheapest alternative. While alternative sources of power such as wind and solar energy have been in the works for years, these industries face considerably hurdles still before becoming economically viable.


In recent years, natural gas has gained momentum as a viable piece of the domestic energy equation thanks to the high profile efforts of a number of individuals and organizations. Natural gas is already a major energy source for homes all across the country, as over half use some form of natural gas to run appliances like stoves, water heaters, and clothes dryers (in 2009, about 25% of domestic energy was derived from natural gas). But as a fuel for automobiles, natural gas is a relatively new concept. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has slowly been gaining popularity as a fuel for cars, though less than 1% of all vehicles currently utilize this method. In order to help promote this clean-burning– and abundant– alternative to gasoline, Congress has proposed The New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions of 2011, aka the NatGas Act 2011 [see also Natural Gas ETFs: Seven Ways To Play].

Inside NatGas 2011
The NatGas Act “provides incentives for the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel; the purchase of natural gas fueled vehicles; and the installation of natural gas vehicle refueling property,” writes Ryan Gray. The bill will provide numerous provisions such as a tax credit of up to 80% of the cost of buying a natural gas vehicle. This could include vehicles that utilize both natural gas and another fuel for power, as well as those that exclusively use natural gas. The bill will also extend the current 50 cent per gallon credit on LNG. Tax incentives will also be offered for manufacturers of natural gas as well as those involved in the fuel’s infrastructure. The proposed bill make sense, as the EIA has reported that the U.S. possesses 2.55 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas resources (this compared to the modest 22.84 trillion cubic feet that was consumed in all of 2009). If natural gas companies are able to tap into these major reserves, supplies could skyrocket in a relatively short period of time [see also Natural Gas ETFs: Investing In The Fuel Of The Future].

With the possibility of a viable alternative to oil on the horizon, and possible legislation to push it to the forefront, investing in the natural gas sector has become increasingly popular. There are a number of ETFs that offer exposure to natural gas in various ways, including direct ownership in futures contracts, equities that are involved in gas production and exploration, and gas-focused master limited partnerships (MLPs). Below, we outline three natural gas option to keep an eye on as NatGas 2011 makes its way through Congress in the coming weeks:

United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG)
UNG is one of the most popular ETFs, as nearly 16 million shares change hands on an average day. This ETF invests in front month natural gas futures, rolling holdings on a monthly basis. That strategy creates some meaningful contango-related headwinds for long-term investors, but also results in increased correlation with spot prices over the short run. As the huge ADV figures indicate, UNG is more of a trading vehicle used by those expressing a short-term outlook than it is a buy-and-hold security [see also Strange Times For The Natural Gas ETN (GAZ)].

First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas (FCG)
This product offers exposure to natural gas indirectly, investing in companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the exploration and production of natural gas. The underlying index is an equal-weighted index that considers, among other factors, historical correlation to natural prices in selecting component stocks. FCG holds over 85% of its assets in U.S. equities, with the other allocations going to companies in Canada, the UK, and Norway. The passing of NatGas could be major boost for FCG, as many of its 31 holdings would be eligible to receive a tax benefit based on their production and manufacturing on natural gas.

E-TRACS Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index (MLPG)
MLPG is an exchange-traded note linked to the Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index, which provides investors with a benchmark for the infrastructure component of the natural gas industry. Top holdings in this product include Copano Energy LP, ONEOK Partners LP, and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, companies that are engaged in the pipeline transport primarily of natural gas. Increased usage of natural gas would boost demand for the assets owned by MLPG components, potentially allowing these companies to charge higher “tolls” to transport fuel through the tollways (i.e., pipelines) they own. While many products in the MLP ETFdb Category are involved in the storage and transfer of petroleum-based products, MLPG is a purer play on natural gas.

[For more ETF ideas sign up for our free ETF newsletter]

Disclosure: Photo courtesy of Adam E. Moreira. No positions at time of writing.

ETF Database is not an investment advisor, and any content published by ETF Database does not constitute individual investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. From time to time, issuers of exchange-traded products mentioned herein may place paid advertisements with ETF Database. All content on ETF Database is produced independently of any advertising relationships. Read the full disclaimer here.

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Related News Stories
Natural Gas ETFs: Seven Ways To Play
Natural Gas ETFs: Investing In The Fuel Of The Future
WCAT: Another Alternative To UNG
UNG vs. FCG: A Better Natural Gas ETF?
UNG Springs A Leak
Comments on this entry are closed.

http://etfdb.com/2011/three-etfs-for-natgas-act-2011/

[turn around]

06/30

Last March, Abdallah was found guilty by a Brooklyn federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit mail, securities and wire fraud. He has yet to be sentenced, and no final judgment has yet been entered in the civil case against him.

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2011/06_-_June/SEC_bans,_fines_securities_dealer_in_penny-stock_scheme/

[knight247]

UPDATE http://www.usamoney.org/news.php?extend.455

Former Chief Executive Officer of Small Cap Company Convicted in Market Manipulation Scheme
Following three weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday returned guilty verdicts against Kamal Z. Abdallah, the former chief executive officer at Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corp. (UPDV), on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. These charges arose out of his participation in a scheme to artificially inflate UPDV’s stock price. When sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco on June 17, 2011, Abdallah faces a maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on the most serious charge.

The guilty verdicts were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The government’s proof at trial established that the defendant served as UPDV’s chief executive officer from 2005 to 2008. During that time, he obtained hundreds of millions of shares of UPDV stock, some of which he received at no cost as part of his compensation. Shortly before Abdallah left UPDV, the company defaulted on over $14 million in loans, and one of its subsidiaries bounced approximately $2.5 million in checks to its suppliers. Neither the defendant nor anyone else at UPDV disclosed these financial problems to UPDV’s shareholders or the investing public.

Beginning in June 2009, the defendant orchestrated a scheme to unload as many of his UPDV shares as possible before the company went out of business. Due to a lack of demand for UPDV’s stock, the defendant paid cash kickbacks to a co-conspirator in exchange for the coconspirator’s creating false demand for UPDV’s stock, which, in turn, increased UPDV’s share price and allowed the defendant and another conspirator to sell tens of millions of UPDV shares at artificially high prices. The defendant’s co-conspirator created the false demand by fraudulently inducing several stock brokerage houses to purchase a total of more than 200 million shares of UPDV. The co-conspirator telephoned each of these brokerage houses, falsely identified himself as a representative of an actual client of the broker, and placed orders to buy large blocks of UPDV common stock. After the brokerage houses purchased the stock, the co-conspirator ceased contact with the brokerage houses and failed to pay for the shares he had caused the brokerage houses to purchase.

The false demand enabled the defendant and another conspirator to sell over 70 million UPDV shares for approximately $300,000. In exchange for the creation of the false demand, the defendant paid his co-conspirator approximately $40,000 in secret kickbacks from his UPDV sale proceeds.

Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York, the agency responsible for leading the government’s criminal investigation, and thanked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Scott Klugman and David Woll.

[knight247]

http://www.cleanvehiclesolutions.com/blog/2011/04/01/updatepresident-obama-urges-passage-nat-gas-act

UPDATE…PRESIDENT OBAMA URGES PASSAGE OF NAT GAS ACT

Posted on April 1, 2011

Washington, D.C. (April 1, 2011)–President Obama’s call this week for the passage of the NAT GAS Act as part of his new federal energy blueprint, is a call to action for supporters of compressed natural gas vehicles. According to the President: “Last year, more than 150 Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle proposed legislation providing incentives to use clean-burning natural gas in our vehicles instead of oil. They were even joined by T. Boone Pickens, a businessman who made his fortune on oil. So I ask them to keep at it.”

“With the increasing price of gasoline, natural gas is an important domestic fuel at our disposal that can replace foreign oil to power heavy-duty fleet vehicles. Converting heavy-duty trucks and high-fuel use commercial fleet vehicles to natural gas can reduce our OPEC dependence now while we wait for technology to power the vehicles of tomorrow,” said T. Boone Pickens.

Increased use of natural gas will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil while also reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution, while saving consumers and fleets money.

Last year, natural gas vehicles displaced 360 million gallons of petroleum in the U.S. With encouragement and incentives from the federal government, this could grow to 1.6 billion gallons by 2015.

The NAT GAS Act, which was introduced in the last Congress, would provide incentives for using natural gas in vehicles, purchasing NGVs, installing natural gas refueling stations and producing natural gas vehicles in America. U.S. Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) announced this week that the NAT GAS Act of 2011 will be introduced in the current Congress on April 6.


Other NGV-related initiatives called for by the President are:

Leading by Example –With the Federal Fleet calls directing agencies to ensure that, by 2015, all new vehicles purchased for the federal government fleet of 600,000 will be alternative fuel vehicles. The natural gas vehicle industry already produces a wide – and growing — variety of vehicles powered by natural gas for the U.S. market, from a Honda Civic to 18-wheeler tractors.

Developing Alternatives to Oil, Including Biofuels and Natural Gas–Availability of renewable natural gas (or biomethane) which is produced from landfill gas, sewage and animal, crop and industrial waste – could grow quickly here in America with the proper federal governmental support. Biomethane use is rapidly expanding around the world, and has been shown to be the most economic of all biofuels for vehicles.


About Clean Vehicle Solutions

A leader in the compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle industry, Clean Vehicle Solutions is a full service, end-to-end alternative fuel solutions provider supporting fleet operations with extensive consultative, financial, production, maintenance and training services required to support the development and effective operation of an alternatively fueled fleet. To learn more about Clean Vehicle Solutions, please visit www.cleanvehiclesolutions.com


Share and Enjoy:

[why_meil]

Hey slob how the hell are you! I sent you an email. Oh, and to keep this on topic GO UPDV!!!

[A44975]

Is there any law suits on behalf of stockholders to get our money back? I have 450,000 shares of UPDV and I have had it since about the time Kamel became head of UPDV. Is anyone trying to get their money back?

[slob]

Hey why meil,,hows it going with you ? i was just scouring the updv board and seen this post of yours that knight247 responded too. i'm doing ok hows about yourself ?...send me an email we can talk better that way...[[e-mail]] ...best to you!!!

[knight247]

http://www.financialfraudlaw.com/lawblog/updv%E2%80%99s-ex-ceo-convicted-securities-fraud/2074


UPDV’s Ex-CEO Convicted Of Securities Fraud
Submitted by Steven Meyerowitz on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 12:48pm
Following three weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned guilty verdicts against Kamal Z. Abdallah, the former chief executive officer at Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corp. (“UPDV”), on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. These charges arose out of his participation in a scheme to artificially inflate UPDV’s stock price. When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco on June 17, 2011, Abdallah faces a maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on the most serious charge.

The government’s proof at trial established that:

Abdallah served as UPDV’s chief executive officer from 2005 to 2008. During that time, he obtained hundreds of millions of shares of UPDV stock, some of which he received at no cost as part of his compensation. Shortly before Abdallah left UPDV, the company defaulted on over $14 million in loans, and one of its subsidiaries bounced approximately $2.5 million in checks to its suppliers. Neither Abdallah nor anyone else at UPDV disclosed these financial problems to UPDV’s shareholders or the investing public.

Beginning in June 2009, Abdallah orchestrated a scheme to unload as many of his UPDV shares as possible before the company went out of business. Due to a lack of demand for UPDV’s stock, Abdallah paid cash kickbacks to a co-conspirator in exchange for the coconspirator’s creating false demand for UPDV’s stock, which, in turn, increased UPDV’s share price and allowed Abdallah and another conspirator to sell tens of millions of UPDV shares at artificially high prices. Abdallah’s co-conspirator created the false demand by fraudulently inducing several stock brokerage houses to purchase a total of more than 200 million shares of UPDV. The co-conspirator telephoned each of these brokerage houses, falsely identified himself as a representative of an actual client of the broker, and placed orders to buy large blocks of UPDV common stock. After the brokerage houses purchased the stock, the co-conspirator ceased contact with the brokerage houses and failed to pay for the shares he had caused the brokerage houses to purchase.

The false demand enabled Abdallah and another conspirator to sell over 70 million UPDV shares for approximately $300,000. In exchange for the creation of the false demand, Abdallah paid his co-conspirator approximately $40,000 in secret kickbacks from his UPDV sale proceeds.

[knight247]

« ECOtality, Inc. (ETLY.OB) – Fuel from a Cell?Beijing Muncipal Water Bureau Awards China Voice Holding Corp. (CHVC.PK) with Second Contract »Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (UPDA.OB) Awarded $0.16 Price Target

Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation is focused on exploring, developing, producing, storing, distributing as well as blending oil and natural gas. The company operates as a holding company as it owns controlling interests in energy-related businesses and provides the necessary funds to develop energy reserves and leading-edge technologies. Through this strategic plan, the Company is able to both expand and diversify its asset portfolio and operations while simultaneously broadening its knowledge base and expertise.

The Company owns controlling interests in six operating subsidiaries focused on the areas of oil and gas exploration and production, distribution, storage and trading. The Company’s business model pursues joint-ventures that expand its assets and operations and provide the services of skilled energy industry professionals and financing support while at the same time reducing operating risk. The Company’s operating subsidiaries and joint ventures include UPDA Operators, Inc., Catlin Oil & Gas, Inc., Canyon Creek Oil & Gas, Inc., Aztec Well Services, Inc., Continental Fuels, Inc. and Heartland Oil & Gas Corp.

The Company is focused on low-risk oil and gas prospects providing high net revenue interests; frequently in regions of proven production. Universal Property Development believes that risks are reduced by utilizing advanced technologies for geological interpretation, drilling, geophysics and production engineering such as 3-dimensional seismic and magnetic survey data.

The analyst who completed the report stated, “UPDA’s value is the $157 million sum of the fair values of its oil and gas trading and exploration businesses. Also taking into account the Company’s 87% ownership interest in its largest subsidiaries, we derive a $0.16 price target for UPDA shares. Accordingly, we are initiating coverage of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation with a Speculative Buy rating and a $0.16 price target”

Let us hear your thoughts below:

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 6:43 am and is filed under Beacon Equity Research, QualityStocks Stock Newsletters, Universal Property Development and Acquisition UPDA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

http://blog.qualitystocks.net/?p=6594#respond

[knight247]

Special Report: China set to unearth shale power



Companies:
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation
PetroChina Company, Ltd.
CNOOC, Ltd.

.



A worker performs a routine check to the valves at a natural gas appraisal well of Sinopec in Langzhong county, Sichuan province, in this file picture taken March 1, 2011. Just over a year ago, Beijing awakened to a technology revolution that has unlocked massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the United States. China's confidence has been bolstered by a new report of its estimated reserves of shale gas, which shows them to be, by far, the largest in the world. REUTERS/Stringer/Files



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On Wednesday April 20, 2011, 11:31 am EDT

By Aizhu Chen

YUANBA, China (Reuters) - China has spent tens of billions of dollars buying into energy resources from Africa to Latin America to slake the unquenched thirst for fuel from its growing industry and burgeoning cities.

But China may have more energy riches under its own soil than policy makers in the world's second-largest economy ever dared imagine.

Just over a year ago, Beijing awakened to a technology revolution that has unlocked massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the United States.

Once deemed too costly to extract, shale gas has turned around U.S. dependence on foreign gas imports. Just a few years ago, the United States was building scores of expensive facilities to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), looking at booming long-term demand forecasts and wondering which countries would supply the huge volume of imports it needed.

Instead, the United States is turning import facilities into export terminals, because its shale gas reserves are estimated to be big enough to meet domestic demand for 30 years. This is an American dream that China wants to emulate.

"America's shale gas production alone has exceeded that of total Chinese gas output. That gives us a lot of confidence," said Zhang Dawei, deputy director of the Strategic Research Center for Oil and Gas in the Ministry of Land and Resources(MLR).

China's confidence has been bolstered by a new report of its estimated reserves of shale gas, which shows them to be, by far, the largest in the world.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency in a report last month estimates China holds 36.1 trillion cubic meters (1,275 trillion cubic feet) of technically recoverable shale gas reserves -- significantly higher than the 24.4 tcm (862 trillion cubic feet) in the United States, which has the second-most.

Industry estimates in China peg shale gas resources slightly lower -- but still huge -- at 26 trillion cubic meters (tcm), although they have yet to give their own forecasts of how much of that is recoverable.

China's imminent shale rush comes at a critical point.

It will soon overtake the United States as the world's top energy user and is already the world's biggest coal burner. China also pumps more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other country.

Beijing's bureaucrats thus face a daunting challenge: how to clean up its brown skies while meeting the world's fastest growing energy demand.

Natural gas burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels and installing gas-fired power generation is cheaper and easier than building nuclear plants. The problem is China cannot meet its rising demand for gas with its limited reserves of conventional gas. It faces the prospect of becoming as dependent on international markets for gas as it is for oil, where China is the world's second-largest importer.

But shale gas may not be as clean as advertised, according to a study released last week by Cornell University in New York. This study argues that significant amounts of methane -- a potent greenhouse gas -- escape into the atmosphere during production in wells and distribution in pipelines.

Regardless, China is racing to find out how much shale gas it can exploit -- and how quickly it can get the technology and build the infrastructure it needs to pump it to market -- to reduce its dependence on foreign sources of gas.

AUCTION ACTION

The starting gun for that race is about to fire any day now.

The MLR said it would hold the first auction of shale gas blocks by the end of the first quarter of this year, so it is already overdue. The ministry had previously delayed the auction, initially scheduled last November, to open up the bidding to more domestic companies -- inject more competition into the process and quicken the pace of shale development.

The auction is for eight exploration blocks covering 18,000 square kilometers in four inland provinces: southwest Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou, and central Hubei province.

"We are aiming for major breakthroughs in locating the reserves in five years, and in eight years shale gas should take a significant position in China's energy mix," said Zhang at the land ministry. He talked of having shale gas account for one-tenth of China's total gas output by 2020.

China has identified shale gas as one of the country's top targets for technological breakthroughs in the 2011-2015 five-year plan, which means that Beijing will be opening the funding faucets for shale gas research.

China's National Energy Administration is setting up a shale gas laboratory in Langfang, near Beijing, to be financed mostly by PetroChina, and that will become China's national shale gas research center, officials say.

Experts say shale, which needs intensive drilling and many wells, plays to China's strengths.

"Shale gas projects are sometimes referred to as manufacturing operations. Which countries globally are particularly good at manufacturing?" said Robert Clarke, global head of unconventional gas research for Wood Mackenzie.

"China certainly comes to the forefront of your mind -- good in controlling costs, looking at efficiencies, and continually learning from earlier mistakes.

" PetroChina, which produces nearly 80 percent of China's total gas output, just last month completed its first horizontal shale gas well in the Weiyuan block of Sichuan province.

Its parent company and China's biggest oil and gas firm, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), said it aimed to have unconventional gas, mostly shale, account for about a fifth of total gas production by 2030.

CNPC predicts China's overall gas production will more than triple to 300 billion cubic meters by 2030 from 94 bcm in 2010. That would put shale gas output up near 60 billion bcm in 20 years, or more gas than India currently consumes.

That's quite a jump, because right now, China is pumping nothing at all from its shale gas reserves.

OBAMA'S VISIT

The shale rush only really began in China when President Barack Obama signed a cooperation pact on shale gas in November 2009 during a state visit to Beijing, just weeks before the Copenhagen climate talks. Washington thought that if China could increase gas usage at the expense of dirty coal, it would reduce the carbon footprint of the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluter.

U.S. firms had hoped the pact would help them leverage their technology to gain rare access to China's tightly controlled oil and gas reserves. China may have hoped to acquire some of that technology to help develop its fledgling shale industry.

Neither has materialized to any great extent so far. But the pact has undoubtedly helped smooth out any political objections to acquisitions by cash-rich Chinese energy giants of stakes in North American shale assets. In a flurry of recent deals, they have effectively purchased the technology and expertise they lack back home.

China's third-largest oil and gas firm CNOOC (HKSE:0883.HK - News) struck two deals with leading U.S. shale gas player Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK - News) over the last several months, giving it access to drilling leases in Texas, Wyoming and Colorado.

The deals marked CNOOC's triumphant entry into the United States after its 2005 bid for Unocal Corp was killed by strident political opposition over the involvement of Chinese state companies in the U.S. energy sector. Chevron (NYSE:CVX - News) later acquired the U.S. oil firm instead.

"Chesapeake has accumulated abundant experience in drilling and completion in various U.S. shale plays," CNOOC said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters. "The techniques and experiences we learn from the U.S. shale projects will benefit our potential participation in other areas in the future."

PetroChina (HKSE:0857.HK - News), the world's second-most valuable energy company, announced in February it would buy a $5.4 billion stake in Calgary-based Encana Corp's (NYSE:ECA - News) shale gas assets. Analysts say PetroChina paid a fat premium for that deal. But a CNPC executive said it was all about gaining expertise for shale.

"We don't care much about whether the market believes it's a good or bad price. The top priority is gaining access to a resource and mature technology," he said. "Price is only a secondary consideration."

U.S. companies, on the other hand, have had little luck getting their foot in China's door.

Majors like Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - News) and ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP - News), and smaller independents like Hess (NYSE:HES - News) and Newfield (NYSE:NFX - News), are looking for opportunities but Beijing-based international industry executives lamented the door was at best ajar.

In fact, ever since the failed Unocal bid, dealmaking between the world's two largest economies has been largely in limbo. A series of planned acquisitions has died in the hands of bureaucrats or politicians in Beijing and Washington, and other ideas haven't seen the light of day for fear they will also be blocked.

The energy sector has been a case in point. Six months after Obama's visit, China and the United States set up a shale gas task force and agreed to jointly conduct a shale gas project -- assessing the Lower Liaohe basin in northeastern Liaoning province. The block is part of an aging oil basin and fell short of U.S. expectations that it would cover a much wider area.

While the U.S. government and companies have invited Chinese geologists for technical workshops and field trips, Chinese firms have been more lukewarm about sharing technical information, or opening up new blocks for resource studies, industry officials said.

China remains wary about letting foreigners prowl too much around the interior.

SECRETIVE ENERGY APPROACH

"It's no secret China has a secretive approach to energy security ... Some in the government have a deep mistrust of U.S. motives," said a Beijing-based diplomat who requested anonymity.

China last year sentenced U.S. geologist Xue Feng to eight years in jail for leaking state secrets after he arranged the sale of an industry database to his then employer, Colorado-based consultancy IHS Energy.

China's notoriously vague state secrets laws drew international attention last year when Australian citizen Stern Hu and three colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO.L - News; ASX:RIO.AX - News) were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.

China is especially sensitive when it comes to onshore oil and gas projects, which account for most of its domestic production.

Several rounds of onshore concessions in the 1990s attracted firms such as Exxon Mobil, BP (LSE:BP.L - News), Royal Dutch Shell (LSE:RDSA.L - News) and Chevron. But the companies were largely disappointed by how little they found after spending hundreds of millions of dollar drilling.

Royal Dutch Shell, whose current and previous greater China Chief Executive Officers are both Malaysian Chinese, has so far won the biggest access to China's onshore sector among international firms.

The first among international majors to win an onshore gas contract in northwest China's Changbei field in 2005, Shell is now drilling at least two shale gas wells in Sichuan's Fushun block under an agreement with PetroChina.

"It's too early to say that shale gas is a game-changer (in China) but I have great expectations," Shell CEO Peter Voser told Reuters last month in Beijing.

Shell is drilling 17 wells this year, which should give it a good idea about the potential, he said. "If we are successful, we are aiming to spend $1 billion a year over the next five years on shale gas (in China)," said Voser, adding the firm was spending $400 million this year.

China is the world's second-largest oil consumer and the fifth-largest producer. But a cap on domestic gas prices to support the domestic fertilizer sector meant gas reserves were neglected until the last decade, when rapid urbanization and industrial growth spurred demand for the fuel.

Rising demand has sparked pressure to open up the upstream gas industry to smaller state-run firms or even foreign investment.

The land ministry's Zhang, one of the officials organizing the shale gas block auction, has repeatedly delivered the same message: a diversified body of investors and an open market were key to the U.S. shale gas rush once the technological breakthrough was made, and the same holds for China.

"Money, technology is not a problem, but the (Chinese) monopoly system is," Zhang told Reuters after returning from a tour of government agencies and shale gas companies in the United States.

The Barnett shale deposit in Texas, he noted, attracted more than 100 individual operators, each drilling a few wells and looking to sell to bigger companies.

FRACKING CONTROVERSIAL

In Yuanba, a green hilly county dotted with rice paddies and vegetable farms about 500 kilometers from Sichuan province's capital of Chengdu in China's southwest, Sinopec Corp (HKSE:0386.HK - News) drilled its first shale gas test well last December.

Using a vertical exploration well, the type designed for conventional gas, it struck a shale formation about 4,100 meters deep yielding a daily gas flow of 11,500 cubic meters.

It was a start. But for commercial production, shale gas needs a different type of well -- one drilled horizontally and used to pump in torrents of sand, water and chemicals to crack open channels in the rock for the gas to flow through.

The technique is called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and it has opened up gas reserves trapped in rocks with little permeability -- reserves hitherto seen as too difficult and too expensive to exploit.

Sinopec plans to drill its first horizontal shale gas well around June in Fuling, not far from Yuanba and in the same geological Sichuan basin -- China's most prolific gas producing region.

Hydraulic fracking has provoked opposition from environmentalists who say the injection of chemicals contaminates water tables, concerns that are vividly depicted in the documentary Gasland.

The Oscar-nominated film showed tap water in the homes of families living near drilling sites in Pennsylvania turning a foul color and catching fire when touched with a lighter.(http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/).

Energy companies say there is no evidence that fracking has contaminated water supplies. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in March it would begin to take a closer look at the impact of shale gas drilling on both human health and the environment.

Shale's green credentials have also been questioned.

A study released last week by professors at Cornell said that while shale gas burns much cleaner than coal, it also leaks more methane in production, whether accidentally or through releases designed to relieve well pressure.

The research, led by Cornell University ecology professor Robert Howarth and published in the journal Climatic Change Letters, raised howls of protest from the gas industry, which said the study used flawed data and the document was political.

"Compared to coal, the footprint of shale gas is at least 20 percent greater and perhaps more than twice as great on the 20-year horizon ...," the study says.

The gas industry says producers already have the means to eliminate the bulk of these emissions, and the incentive to do so -- sales of trapped methane were worth $344 million in 2009.

CHINESE LEARN FAST

Indeed, much is yet to be learned about shale gas, especially in China, which has little expertise in interpreting shale data, a shoddy environmental record, and has only just begun to acquire operational experience with fracking.

"I have a lot of difficulty understanding the shale resource ... struggling to figure out where are the exact spaces in the rocks that trap the gas and oil," said Wei Zhihong, a shale gas project manager with Chengdu-based Sinopec South Exploration Corp, an exploration unit of number-two energy firm Sinopec Corp.

It worries him a little because his bosses are so eager to get the latest news on their shale projects in Sichuan.

"In a little over six months, I was called to take more than 10 trips to Beijing to update the management on shale gas," Wei said. "The company's very top boss on upstream listened in on many of the meetings. I have the feeling our big bosses are very keen on shale gas."

China's energy giants believe they can pick up the technology fast.

"We will develop and build our own knowledge based on what the international companies have showed us... we will compare that to our own gas basins and pick and choose the knowledge that is relevant to our own geological conditions," Wei said.

The United States is home to mostly shallow, broad marine basins, while China has a mix of lake, marine and continent-based structures. The difference in geology may initially result in a higher exploration cost for China and it will need to fine-tune existing fracking techniques.

"The question remains as to whether U.S. technology can easily be replicated in China. China's geological conditions are more complicated," said Song Yan, a senior researcher with PetroChina.

It took nearly two decades for U.S. companies to perfect shale gas technology, which requires many more wells being drilled than conventional reservoirs and often lots of failed early wells.

"Unconventional gas plays need hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of wells. It will be interesting to see if management fatigue develops in large companies -- are they going to continue investing in a statistical project if maybe the first 10 wells don't work?" Wood Mackenzie's Clarke said.

Chinese firms say they are undaunted by the technical hurdles. "You should have confidence in Chinese companies... If many small U.S. firms can do the job, why not big Chinese companies? They simply have not tried it before. Chinese (companies) are extremely good in emulating and imitating, they will get there very quickly," said Zhang at the land ministry.

Companies may also choose to pick up the know-how from service companies such as Baker Hughes, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - News) and Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - News), probably a quicker route than undergoing the lengthy negotiations that go with sharing equity with energy companies, analysts said.

Schlumberger, for instance, won a contract to supply Sinopec with long-term, on-demand service on well appraisals that covers both conventional and shale gas, said Sinopec's Wei.

"Is it a huge opportunity to service companies, or is it just an area in which the Chinese just want to learn what they need to do and then do it on their own?" said Gavin Thompson, Beijing-based head of China gas research of Wood Mackenzie.

This shale game will largely play out in Sichuan, one of the largest and most inaccessible provinces in China, just north of Tibet, with 87 million people.

SICHUAN'S GAS FRONTIER

Sichuan province is about four times the size of Pennsylvania, the U.S. state which holds the huge Marcellus shale deposit.

Sichuan is where China's Song Dynasty people invented bamboo wells to drill for salt about 1,000 years ago. Today, the province pumps nearly a quarter of China's total natural gas production.

One of China's main rice-growing provinces, Sichuan has rich water sources, sitting at the upper reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze. Access to water is key to shale development because fracking is so water-intensive.

"If there are any major breakthroughs, they should come from Sichuan," said Guo Tonglou, chief geologist of Sinopec South Exploration Company. "We've done lots of work in the basin."

Explorers have sunk wells over 7 kms deep and made major discoveries such as Puguang, a conventional gas reservoir with proven reserves of 400 billion cubic meters, one of the country's largest gas fields. Geologists believe shale deposits normally sit close to big conventional reservoirs.

Few at Chinese firms think money will be a problem once companies prove sizeable reserves can be tapped.

"Decisions on spending come really quick nowadays if you can convince management it's a good project," said Sinopec's Wei.

The rising cost of importing gas is imparting some urgency to those decisions.

China is set to secure nearly a third of its gas consumption through imports by 2020, much of it from costly sources such as gas piped from Turkmenistan and a string of long-term purchase agreements for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia, Qatar and Indonesia. The price of the gas in those contracts is indexed to oil, making them relatively expensive when oil prices are high compared to other fuels.

A rapid rise in domestic gas reserves, boosted by shale development, would be likely to depress domestic prices and may make China think twice about those LNG deals.

PetroChina's Chief Financial Officer Zhou Mingchun said in March the company lost 3.7 billion yuan in marketing 4.3 bcm of imported gas last year, mostly from Central Asia, because domestic gas prices were capped lower than import costs.

Still, China faces huge development costs in bringing shale gas supplies online. It only has 49,000 kms of gas pipeline grids, barely a tenth of the U.S. system, and would need to spend billions of dollars to build infrastructure to pump the gas to market.

Farmers such as Cui Jinlian, who is planting peas and eggplants by a conventional gas well near Yuanba county in Sichuan, say they've never heard of "shale gas" -- or had any idea it could contaminate the water they use for cooking and farming.

But Cui is aware the gas under their land has a poisonous component -- hydrogen sulphide (H2S)-- that can kill people. Gas pumped from the Sichuan basin, both conventional and unconventional, is mostly sour gas that contains H2S.

"It is no good for immediate use. The gas needs to be sent somewhere for processing first," said Cui in her musical Sichuan dialect, while resting by her small vegetable field. Piling up at the backyard of her simple one-story brick house were the dried tree twigs her family uses for cooking.

She knew also that hydrogen sulphide leaked from an explosion at a PetroChina exploration well in 2004 in Chongqing, killing hundreds of villagers in their sleep.

"Shale gas is a bit controversial, it can have a negative impact if done improperly," said Johnny Browaeys of CH2M, a U.S. consulting firm providing environmental and engineering services with an office in Shanghai.

"It's something we need to do right from the very start," said Browaeys, a fluent mandarin speaker who once lived in western China. "You don't want to get into a reputation issue."

(Editing by Simon Webb and Bill Tarrant)

[knight247]

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire chairman of BP Capital LLC, talks about crude oil and natural gas markets, his plan for tax incentives and the need for new U.S. energy policy. Pickens speaks with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)




http://www.bloomberg.com/video/68368976/

I think every natural gas investor should listen to this video!!!!

[knight247]

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/natural-gas-america-fuel-future-20110323-094805-684.html


Sponsored by


....Natural Gas: America’s Fuel of the Future?
By Jennifer Carinci | Breakout – 11 hours ago
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The nuclear-plant scare in Fukushima, Japan, has again forced the U.S. and President Obama to face what could be the greatest question of the century: What will fuel America toward energy independence? The answer could lie in one of the energy market's longest-running underdogs -- natural gas.

As an investment, it's the biggest loser in the energy complex, down nearly 6% in 2011, compared with crude oil's 12.5% gain and a whopping 20% rise for heating oil. Good old natty just can't make any sustainable gains, but veteran traders like Dan Dicker, author of the upcoming book "Oil's Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Oil to Secure Our Economy," aren't giving up on the prospect that nat gas is on the brink of a breakout.

Like fellow believers, Dicker is putting his money where his mouth is, getting into gas producers such as Devon (DVN) and Apache (APA). He told Breakout "we'll be forced" to greatly expand the production and use of natural gas. (Dicker is not thrilled with energy futures ETFs, which he discussed in an earlier interview.)

Oil majors such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are also betting big on gas, exploring massive expansion in this space. Tapping into the U.S.'s own natural resources, Chevron expects to drill 70 wells this year in the Marcellus shale, the gigantic rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, New York and other states.

Despite the vast energy riches beneath the earth, nat gas has its own set of troubles. Safety and environmental concerns over producing the gas through hydraulic fracturing are under scrutiny. This method, which involves drilling through and shattering thousands of feet of rock formations, has been called out for creating carbon dioxide emissions and potentially harmful water contamination.

Still, supporters of natural gas, like Dicker, say it's "domestic, cleaner, abundant and cheap as hell."

..

[A44975]

n an earlier email (in Nov) I had stated that UPDV still owned 52% of HTOG. I was corrected by a person on HTOG site, UPDV did at one time own 52%, but they secrectly sold 4/5 of this and was left with about 10%, plus the convertable bonds. So I still see UPDV stilling owning assets in HTOG, just not as much as I thought!