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I also agree with your comment -
Today's press release brings forth a smart and strategic focus of its technology, how well it competes in the marketplace with competitors, thanking those that have used their services for 2007 and anticipate a big push for 2008.
Just another brilliant stream of additional information on Deep Down as reinforcement of some products, services, and customer base.
What I like is the substance of the PR this company issues- no fluff just the facts!
2008 will be interesting - glad to be here!
Investor 100
Good Morning @ Deep Down!
Investor 100
Leading Industry Veterans Join Commerce Planet Advisory Board
The momentum to drive this company forward continues to pick up a lot of steam in early 2008 and hopefully the PPS will follow in short order.
In speaking with Tony he mentioned that there was going to be an aggressive move to get things moving- he is right on!
Commerce Planet, Inc. (OTCBB:CPNE) today announced that Mr. Robert DeSantis and Mr. Gary Palmer have been appointed Members of the Company’s Strategic Advisory Board (“Advisory Board”) effective January 3, 2008.
“We are very fortunate to have these very experienced and qualified industry veterans join our Advisory Board,” stated Tony Roth, Chief Executive Officer. “Robert DeSantis is a seasoned, highly innovative executive with a reputation for leadership, integrity and forward-looking strategies. Gary Palmer brings a wealth of experience in payment and data processing including card issuing, merchant acquiring, ACH and emerging payments as well as a complement of enabling services that include call centers, web applications and fraud/risk management. We believe their combined advice, guidance and industry relationships will greatly benefit our Company as we expand our e-commerce business solutions, online marketing and media efforts, and associated revenue streams.”
As Members of the newly formed Advisory Board, Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Palmer will work directly with the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and Board of Directors to introduce the Company to industry alliances, platform distribution leaders and cooperative marketing partners for new business development initiatives. In addition, Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Palmer will advise the company on synergistic acquisition and merger opportunities.
Robert DeSantis is currently President of Transactional Media and Marketing for Maddocks, a branding and marketing firm located in Los Angeles, whose client list includes such companies as Red Bull, Estee Lauder, Kanebo, P&G, Sony, Coke, Phillips, Beauty TV, Ketel ONE, The Venetian Hotel, Lumina Hotels, Disney, The Platinum Group and many others. During his five year tenure with Maddocks, Mr. DeSantis has spearheaded his own brand of Transactional Marketing that identifies unfulfilled market segments and opportunities, and develops compelling value propositions within targeted demographics. With a focus on measurable and sustainable ROI he has also created and developed Transactional business for a variety of well-known celebrities.
"I am excited to join the Advisory Board of such a dynamic and fully-integrated e-commerce provider," said Robert DeSantis. "The platform Commerce Planet has created provides custom solutions for enterprise clients and I believe my expertise will help unlock the value in this leading platform."
In 1990, Mr. DeSantis identified the potential and mechanisms of Television Home Shopping founders HSN and QVC and formed SKLA INC., which generated over $150 million in sales by 1997.
Gary Palmer commented, “I look forward to working with the uniquely creative and dedicated people at Commerce Planet. The new team at Commerce Planet has the Company well positioned for long-term growth and I believe my background of forging strategic relationships with leading multi-national companies and ensuring companies have the proper disciplines in place for sustainable growth will enable Commerce Planet to greatly expand its long-term client base.”
Gary Palmer manages Fidelity National Information Services’ (NYSE: FIS) Government Solutions/EBT business unit, the ACH business unit as well as EFD Prepaid, formerly known as WildCard Systems, which Mr. Palmer co-founded in 1997. FIS acquired these entities as part of the purchase of eFunds/EFD in September 2007 for $1.8 billion. Immediately prior to joining FIS through the acquisition, Mr. Palmer was Executive Vice President of Global Strategic Business Development for eFunds/EFD and was responsible for taking EFD’s products into global and multi-national financial institutions as well as other strategic entities. In this role, Mr. Palmer established a key strategic relationship; signing a 10-year, exclusive processing agreement with American Express, the largest network branded prepaid card issuer in the world. Prior to the acquisition of WildCard by eFunds in July 2005 for $229 million, Mr. Palmer served as WildCard’s Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board and was directly responsible for the product strategy and innovation, direct sales, and domestic and international channel partner development. He earned his B.S. in Marketing from the University of South Florida.
Global Deepwater Expenditure to Exceed $108 billion through 2012
Lots of opportunities for Deep Down Inc.
Off Shore Publication:
Further west, the Amerada fields (formerly operated by Apache) have a 25-year lease and sales agreement that will allow the development of the Abu Sir, El Max, El King, and Al Bahig discoveries to go ahead.
The Latin America region is dominated by Brazil in terms of deepwater activity. National operator Petrobras has established itself as a pioneer in the use of innovative technology to achieve production from water depths in excess of 1,800 m (5,905 ft). The operator is continuing with its development of the Roncador, Marlim Leste, Marlim Sul, Jubarte, and Albacora Leste fields, while pursuing newer finds such as Golfinho. Overall, the region is expected to account for nearly 20% of deepwater development capex over the 2008-2012 period.
With a few notable exceptions, deepwater fields in the US Gulf of Mexico tend to be smaller than those in other deepwater “hotspots” such as Brazil and West Africa, for example. The region’s extensive offshore infrastructure, in the form of production platforms and export pipeline networks, and the relative proximity of supply and service centers have a significant influence on E&P activity, turning otherwise marginal prospects into viable commercial propositions. These factors also mean that project lead times tend to be shorter than in other regions.
In addition, the use of subsea tiebacks to floating production systems has resulted in “hub and spoke” developments, allowing production from several small (otherwise uneconomic) fields to go ahead, produced via a single floating production system. An example is the Atwater Valley Producers’ Independence Hub, a semisubmersible unit that recently started operating from the Atlas field. Additional production is set to begin from a number of other fields in the DeSoto Canyon and Lloyd Ridge areas, including Spiderman, Jubilee, Merganser, Vortex, San Jacinto, and Atlas NW. Petrobras is also set to operate an FPSO to receive production from the Cascade and Chinook fields.
North America is expected to account for over 25% of deepwater development Capex over the 2008-2012 period.
Asian prospects are centered around Indonesia, Malaysia, and India and include Chevron’s Gendalo and Gehem/Ranggas developments offshore Indonesia and Murphy’s Kikeh and Shell’s Gumusut off Malaysia.
The “Golden Triangle” of deepwater (Africa, Gulf of Mexico, and Brazilian) will still account for 84% of global deepwater expenditure over the forecast period, but the rapid emergence of Asia as a significant deepwater region should not be overlooked.
Indonesia, Malaysia, and India all have development prospects on screen for the 2008-2012 period, and the region should account for 10% of deepwater capex during this time.
After the drilling and completion of subsea wells, an activity that is becoming increasingly expensive in areas such as the US GoM, it is pipelines and platforms that form most of the remaining spend for deepwater developments. Advances in technology, particularly in mooring systems and innovative hull designs, are allowing production from greater water depths to be viable both technically and economically.
Over the next five years, $28 billion is likely to be spent on deepwater floating production systems, $38 billion on drilling and completing subsea wells, and $32 billion on flowlines and control lines, while subsea hardware and surface completed wells could account for a further $10.5 billion.
The deepwater “shopping list” for the forecast period includes over 1,270 subsea trees, 300 templates and manifolds, 68 platforms, and nearly 13,000 km (8,078 mi) of pipelines. Annual expenditure in the deepwater business is expected to reach $24.6 billion by 2012, with the overall spend for the 2008-2012 period totaling $108.5 billion.
Drilling supported by deepwater activity
Without exception, deepwater development drilling spend is increasing rapidly in all regions where deepwater oil and/or gas fields have been discovered, especially offshore West Africa. Deepwater development drilling spending is also forecast to begin in other regions, including Asia and Mexico.
Results from the World Offshore Drilling Report estimate that over the last five years $164 billion was spent on shallow-water drilling, representing 80% of all drilling expenditure. Meanwhile, $41 billion was spent on deepwater drilling. Over the next five years, it is forecast that $221 billion will be spent on shallow-water drilling, representing 72% of all offshore drilling expenditure. It is estimated that $85 billion will be spent on deepwater drilling.
The increase in deepwater spending relative to spending in shallow water is substantial. While shallow waters are seeing increased expenditure because of rising prices and rising unit well costs, deepwater expenditures reflect a real increase in global activity of global importance to rig contractors and associated drilling services.
From a mere 2% of global expenditure in 1991, almost all in Brazil, the deepwater share had increased to 17% by 2002 and is forecast to reach nearly 30% by 2011.
Within the deepwater sector, 28% of expenditure is directed toward engineering services, down from 42% in shallow waters. Just under a quarter is once again earmarked for support, but rig spends have gone up to 47% due to the increased use of expensive equipment. Only 4% goes toward geoscience.
The large jumps in deepwater spending throughout the period in all categories are due to big increases in drilling levels in the deepwater sector as well as inflationary pressures.
Like the pie chart!
http://images.pennnet.com/articles/os/thm/th_0710offdeep3.gif
Adrian John has conducted market analysis in the oil and gas sector as part of commissioned research, commercial due-diligence, and published market studies. He has worked on projects focusing on the downstream sector and is the lead author of the World LNG & GTL Forecast. John has a background in engineering and construction and holds an engineering degree from the University of Cambridge.
Georgie MacFarlan is publications manager for Douglas-Westwood and contributes to DWL publications. She has worked on a number of the firm’s studies for oil majors, government departments, and investment banks.
Dr. Michael R. Smith has spent over 20 years in the oil and gas industry. He has worked for several consultancies and oil companies as a geoscientist and as exploration manager with responsibilities for ventures in the many countries. Smith is chief executive of Energyfiles where he has developed a data and forecasting service available at www.energyfiles.com.
Commerce Planet Appoints Marcum & Kliegman as New Audit Firm
GOLETA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Commerce Planet, Inc - (OTCBB:CPNE) today announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Marcum & Kliegman, LLC, as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, effective December 27, 2007. Marcum & Kliegman, LLC, replaces Jaspers + Hall, PC, which has served as the Company’s firm of record.
“We are pleased to be working with Marcum & Kliegman, LLC, and we believe they have the resources to provide Commerce Planet with highly reliable review and audit services as we plan for aggressive and sustainable long-term growth,” stated Tony Roth, Chief Executive Officer. “We believe the transition to a new audit firm will further support our strategic direction, growth plans and application process for a national market listing in 2008 by assisting the management team in providing timely, accurate and orderly financial communications to our shareholders.”
Jaime Rovelo, Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Marcum & Kliegman offers us global resources, four offices and 400 professionals, and the experience of a larger firm.”
Marcum & Kliegman has developed a leading reputation among SEC-reporting companies throughout the U.S.
About Marcum Kliegman, LLC
In addition to its core accounting, audit and tax services, Marcum & Kliegman offers a multitude of comprehensive services including SEC compliance, information technology solutions, trust and estate planning and administration, financial and investment advisement, network security, back office support, personal financial management, litigation support and forensic accounting. The Firm ranks 24th in the nation, according to Public Accounting Report, 7th largest firm in the Northeast by Accounting Today and 1st on Long Island, according to Newsday and Long Island Business News. For more information, visit Marcum & Kliegman online at www.mkllp.com or contact Gordon L. Tepper at 631-414-4020 or via e-mail at gtepper@mkllp.com.
About Commerce Planet, Inc.
Commerce Planet, Inc. is a technology driven online media, marketing, and fully integrated e-commerce provider that offers media products, lead generation services, list database management, e-commerce solutions, web marketing, call center support and CRM tools to its client partners as well as through its own direct selling businesses. Commerce Planet offers turn-key business solutions through Legacy Media, its marketing & media division, and membership sales companies, customer care and call center facility, and it’s newly acquired E-Commerce Dashboard™ System by Iventa. In combination these services address the needs of small – medium size businesses, B2B and B2C marketing programs, and custom solutions for enterprise clients worldwide. For more about Commerce Planet (OTCBB: CPNE), visit our website at http://www.commerceplanet.com
Thanks Brikk for the Review!
This comes close to being as good as any press release given the conversation with the chairman of the board!
" I like the "No Comment" response...means we have a ton going on but need to save it for an official PR in the future!
Clearly like the three channels of business opportunities in 2008 given the Mako Technology acquisition!
Expecting to read a lot more PR's in the coming weeks, months and years ahead!
Lots of good DD on the board this weekend-thanks to all!
Cheers.
Investor 100
Energy Crisis? Not on the campaign trail
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It has been called the 800-pound gorilla but it's getting scant attention in the U.S. election. And yet it could well be one of the most pressing issues facing the next winner of the Oval Office.
Energy security, or the nation's ability to procure oil whenever needed, looms large for the current and future president after oil hit $100 a barrel this week and put markets on a razor's edge between supply and demand.
Yet the issue tends to receive only passing mention in candidates' stump speeches, save for crowd-pleasing references to ethanol in the corn-growing states such as Iowa as a means of weaning America off evil foreign oil.
"Everyone's making the usual comments but none of the candidates has offered any practical details," said Anthony Cordesman, energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, who gives all the candidates poor grades on energy issues.
"On a good day you could give the best candidate a D-, but on most days you'd give them all an F+," he said.
President George W. Bush signed a new energy bill into law last month and while it makes significant strides boosting auto fuel efficiency and will render Edison's light bulb obsolete, it is still seen as incremental and long-term in battling America's oil addiction.
Growing economies such as China are now competing directly with the United States for energy supplies and there is heightened concern that another Katrina-sized hurricane or a successful attack on a Mideast oil installation could upset the delicate balance.
"Anything could change the dynamics," said William Kovacs, the Chamber of Commerce's vice president for energy and environment.
"We are as close to an imbalance as you can get. You could have a supply disruption almost anywhere; you could have OPEC cutting back; you could have civil war in Pakistan spilling over; you could have pipelines being cut off in Europe. You name it, it's there."
Besides the long-term goals of conservation and developing alternative fuels, the U.S. government needs to focus on the flow of energy supplies in the short run as well.
Kovacs despairs that the White House hopefuls show little concern over the immediate threats to energy security.
"You name me one candidate who is talking about supplies of energy which is what energy security is: Can we get the energy when we need it?"
SENSE OF URGENCY?
But with homeowners already paying record winter heating oil prices and gasoline forecast to hit a record $3.40 a gallon nationwide this spring, the candidates may tap into consumer angst over energy issues.
Mike Huckabee and the Republican field tend to back market solutions on energy issues while Democrats such as Barack Obama support capping carbon emissions and tougher fuel efficiency for Detroit.
But analysts do not believe there is a sense of urgency among politicians in tackling the big issues.
"I do not believe these challenges are insurmountable but it's unlikely we can address them within the prevailing political mind-set that has proven to be incapable of more than incremental action on energy security." Sen. Richard Lugar, the outspoken Indiana Republican, said in a mid-December address to the Brookings Institution.
"In the absence of technological breakthroughs that expand energy supplies for billions of people worldwide, it will be exceedingly difficult to meet the world's energy needs," he added.
To be sure, not all analysts are wringing their hands over energy security.
Robert Ebel, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, does not think it will be a major issue for Americans when they head for the voting booths.
"It's important, but I wouldn't put it at the top of the list," he said, adding Americans care more about education, health care, or the price of goods.
But Alan Greenspan disagrees. In his book the "The Age of Turbulence," the former Federal Reserve chairman created a stir when he said that the Iraq war was really about oil and that not acknowledging the "highly precarious environment of the Middle East" was akin to ignoring an 800-pound primate in our midst.
He thinks gasoline taxes should be boosted by $3 a gallon over a five-to-10-year period to curb consumption and encourage alternative fuels, even if the move is unpopular.
"I consider the argument that gasoline tax hikes are politically infeasible irrelevant. Sometimes the duty of political leadership is to convince constituencies that they are just plain wrong. Leaders who do not do that are followers."
(Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe in Washington, editing by Matthew Lewis)
Off To A Good Start in 2008!
I would advise anybody to give it six months based upon comments from the shareholder conference call.
What they are doing is hiring professional salesman to sell the Iventa packages to corporations/small and big business that will bring in big bucks and become a turn key money machine (IMO)
CEO Tony Roth indicated we would see much progress during the first six months of 2008 and from I see his word looks to be good.
If you have doubts and questions call his office 949-485-0559 EXT 3143.
Cheers!
Investor 100
Give me a break....ickyy!
Been here since summer after some good DD from board members , the sector ( oil/equipment service ), the positive movement from Deep Down management and results thus far...I am here for the long haul and not shaken by the short term trends.
Count me in among the five...but I bet is it a lot higher than that (LOL)
Cheers!
Investor 100
Good Morning @ DPDW!
Looking forward to some possible good news with the hopes that the PPS rises.
Cheers.
Investor 100
Brikk -
I agree this company is as rock solid as the equipment they make!
As the business model matures in 2008 with its new acquisition (s), new orders, and much much more the PPS will clearly follow the direction it deserves.
Patiently waiting to watch the puzzle come together.
Cheers.
Investor 100
Tomorrow's Friday @ Deep Down..
Shake...Shake...Shake...
We know can happen on Friday's around this stock!
Buying a few more on the dip and holding for much better PPS.
Cheers.
Investor 100
Commerce Planet Executes Letter of Intent to Acquire Value Direct
Commerce Planet, Inc. - (OTCBB:CPNE) today announced that the Company has executed a Letter of Intent to acquire the operating assets of Value Direct and retain key employees as members of management for Commerce Planet. This acquisition will be funded from available working capital and is expected to close prior to the end of January 2008.
Value Direct was formed in 2005 and operates as a direct-to-consumer services company, marketing product and pricing information in the real estate housing and the pre-owned automobile markets. The Company’s member acquisition system offers a one-time or recurring monthly fee for consumer-driven benefits memberships and corporate partner programs. The founding executives of Value Direct have extensive tenure executing similar business models for leading competitors and plan to join the Commerce Planet management, further broadening the depth and experience of its Internet Service Provider team.
“We are pleased to have executed this agreement for acquisition as we move to continue diversifying the online offerings of Commerce Planet,” stated Tony Roth, Chief Executive Officer. “Value Direct achieved revenue in 2007 exceeding $2.3 million and we expect the acquisition to contribute meaningful cash flow and pre-tax profits to Commerce Planet in 2008, as well as effectively grow our operating management force.”
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Commerce Planet Updates Share Buy-Back Plan
Commerce Planet, Inc. (OTCBB:CPNE) today announced that the Company has recently repurchased an additional 2.2 million shares of its common stock for a total expenditure of $726,300. These purchases were funded from available working capital.
According to the Company’s stock repurchase program established in November 2006, Commerce Planet was authorized to repurchase $2,000,000 of its common outstanding stock through open market or privately negotiated transactions at prices deemed appropriate by management. Since the last update of December 13, 2007, the Company has repurchased a total of 2.2 million shares, or approximately 4.4% of the Company’s outstanding shares, pursuant to the program. Since November 2006, the Company has repurchased a total of 3.02 million shares, or approximately 6.2% of the Company’s 48,637,252 million outstanding shares, reducing the number of outstanding shares to 45,616,252 as of December 31, 2007. This current stock repurchase program concluded on December 31, 2007, and management may enact an additional repurchase program in the near future.
“We believe our stock is trading at a significant discount to the long-term value of the Company’s business and we are pleased that we were able to use our cash flow to repurchase shares at these current levels,” stated Tony Roth, Chief Executive Officer. “We believe our strong balance sheet and the current cash flow generation from our business will enable us to continue to create shareholder value through continued investments including additional share repurchases from time to time as the Board deems appropriate.”
This is the best news for 2007 and a great start to 2008!
New management team looking for ways to make it happen. If you have concerns call CEO Tony Roth at 805-964-9126 ext 3143 and tell him what you think - I did and I like his new approach!
Investor 100
Thanks Sagewise for the pictures!
You do some great DD for the board!
Go DPDW!
Investor 100
Great Networking Here for Deep Down!
Veolia ES Industrial added to DPDW client list...Nice!
Veolia Environmental Services Invests in State-of-the-Art Marine Vessel
Monday December 10, 9:29 am ET
New Ship Strengthens Veolia Environmental Services' Capabilities in Marine and Sub-Sea Operations to Offer New Deepwater Services to Oil and Gas Customers Worldwide
LOMBARD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veolia ES Industrial Services is pleased to announce the addition of the DSV MT-6016 vessel—named the Swordfish—to its growing Marine Services Group. Designed with cutting-edge technology, the new ship was custom-designed to allow Veolia Environmental Services to take on more complex sub-sea construction and dive-support projects. The vessel is currently at port in Galveston, Texas, and will be deployed during the month of December. The Swordfish will initially be assigned to a contract Veolia Environmental Services has with Chevron’s Houston-based hurricane restoration team working in the Gulf of Mexico.
ADVERTISEMENT
Veolia ES’ Marine Services Group, which includes a fleet of dive support vessels, undersea remote operated vehicles and highly qualified diver-technicians, is expected to grow from $7 million in revenue in its first year (2005) to well over $100 million in 2007.
Mr. Denis Gasquet, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environmental Services, stated: “The Swordfish will be the fifth vessel in our Marine Services fleet and will strengthen our “deepwater” capabilities to serve offshore oil and gas customers in the Gulf of Mexico and around the globe.” He added: “This strategic investment affirms our capacity to offer marine and sub-sea services that combine high-tech performance with safety.”
The Swordfish was designed by Marin Teknikk and built by Kelven Verft in Norway. It was designed to maximize deck and work space for equipment, materials and supplies and is spacious enough to comfortably house over 100 diver-technicians and personnel.
Onboard the 103.7-meter-long Swordfish, crews will travel at up to 16 knots and take advantage of the ship’s cutting-edge technology, including a moon pool launch and recovery area, and a 150-ton, heave compensated crane designed to help keep loads stable even in heavy seas. The ship will also have a 1,000 foot-rated saturation diving system, which is currently under construction by VES Marine Services in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp., headquartered in Lombard, IL, offers fully integrated environmental solutions to virtually all industrial, commercial, municipal and residential sectors. It is part of the Veolia Environmental Services (VES) group, the only global manager of liquid, solid, non-hazardous and hazardous waste; on-site waste processing, industrial cleaning and process maintenance; and recycling, recovery and disposal for both the public and private sectors. VES has over 80,000 employees in 33 countries and posted revenues of $9.8 billion in 2006. Veolia Environnement (NYSE:VE - News), the parent of VES, with operations in water, waste, energy and transportation management, has more than 300,000 employees in 64 countries and recorded revenues of $37.7 billion in 2006. For more information, please visit www.VeoliaES.com.
Veolia Environmental Services, the division of Veolia Environnement in charge of waste management business, is the only provider of a full range of services for hazardous and non-hazardous solid and liquid waste all over the world. The company provides waste management and logistics services (collection, pipe systems maintenance, cleaning, waste flow management), as well as materials recovery and recycling. Veolia Environmental Services generated revenue of €7.4 billion in 2006. www.veoliaes.com
Veolia Environnement is world leader in environmental services. With more than 300,000 employees the company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in four complementary segments: water management, waste management, energy management and freight and passenger transportation. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of €28.6 billion in 2006. www.veolia.com
Deep Pockets in Gulf of Mexico -
Flush with profits, companies spend billions to hunt for crude and drill more wells
San Francisco Chronicle - March 2006
(03-19) 04:00 PST Tahiti Reservoir, Gulf of Mexico -- Just before dawn on a warm February morning, a drill bit bristling with steel teeth hovered over the dark ocean floor three-quarters of a mile below Terry Gatlin's feet.
From the deck of the drilling ship Discoverer Deep Seas, Gatlin watched it sway on a small video screen linked to an undersea camera. Men in grease-smeared overalls crowded around him as, inch by inch, their massive vessel maneuvered the bit closer to its target. Workers nearby kept an eye on the drill shaft, plunging from the ship's 226-foot derrick through a hole in the deck.
Beneath them, beneath the seabed, lay oil. A lot of it, enough to produce 125,000 barrels per day, according to Chevron Corp. estimates. To reach it, the ship needed to punch a well more than 26,000 feet -- about 5 miles -- below sea level, nearly as far down as Mount Everest is up.
Chevron and two partners, Shell and Statoil, will pour $3.5 billion into this reservoir, called Tahiti. It's one of the San Ramon company's biggest projects in the world. Last year, hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore past this spot, 190 miles south of New Orleans. More will come, possibly wrecking the oil platforms in their paths. But the reservoir, like the entire gulf, is too important for Chevron to pass up.
"That good for you?" Gatlin asked the crowd, as the bit finally came to rest motionless on the silt floor. Hard hats bobbed in agreement.
"Let 'er rip," he said.
The Gulf of Mexico is in the midst of an oil boom.
Oil companies flush with the largest profits in their corporate lives -- $36.1 billion for Exxon Mobil last year, $14.1 billion for Chevron -- are spending billions to hunt for crude oil and drill more wells in the gulf, even as they struggle to repair what the hurricanes smashed.
In the search for oil, they are pushing to the edge of what is possible, exploring ever farther from shore and drilling deeper than before. Technological improvements let the oil companies bore wells 30,000 feet down. And with crude oil prices doubling in the last three years, projects that didn't make financial sense in the past now do.
The companies need the oil. Asia's hard-charging economies have strained supplies, and worldwide production has struggled to keep up. In most of the United States, including Alaska, oil production has dwindled for years.
But it has surged in the gulf, rising roughly 70 percent in the last decade. In 2004, the last year for which complete government statistics are available, the gulf produced about 531.9 million barrels of oil compared with 313.8 million 10 years earlier. In 2003, before Hurricane Ivan damaged rigs and undersea pipelines, production was even higher, 569.1 million barrels.
The gulf produces more than any other oil patch in the nation, even though its 4.1 billion barrels of proven reserves rank behind those in Alaska and Texas. And, compared with Saudi Arabia's 261.9 billion barrels in reserves, it's a mere pittance.
Still, if federal projections hold true, the gulf could pump enough crude in the next two or three years to raise America's overall production figures, even as other fields decline.
"We haven't gone up in decades," said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. "It's very important, not only to the companies but to the United States."
The companies know they are building multibillion-dollar projects in a sea prone to violent hurricanes. They are willing to take that risk. Despite the storms, the gulf is a far friendlier environment than many of the places where they work.
No armed insurgents roam the waters, kidnapping oil workers as they do in Nigeria. No populist president wants to hike the companies' taxes, as happened in Venezuela. OPEC doesn't control the gulf.
Chevron already owns or co-owns more than 3,000 oil and natural gas wells in the gulf. They account for roughly 8 percent of the company's worldwide production. The gulf will play a key part in the company's plan, announced earlier this month, to boost production 3 percent per year.
"We still feel there's a tremendous amount of resources to be found," said Scott Davis, Chevron's general manager of capital projects in the gulf.
The federal government may let the companies avoid paying some $7 billion in royalties on oil pumped from deepwater gulf wells in the next five years, although that arrangement has come under fire in Congress (see sidebar). And most states along the gulf welcome offshore drilling in a way that California emphatically does not.
Florida has resisted offshore drilling, but President Bush is pushing to open some of those waters for exploration.
The result: Oil companies are ramping up in the gulf, even as they brace for the next hurricane season, three months away.
"Where else are they going to go?" said analyst Jeb Armstrong with Argus Research. "This is the place that's open to them."
The Louisiana coast still bears hurricane scars. Roads trail off into open water. Stretches of bayou marked on maps as land now look like lagoons, with white egrets and blue herons fishing in the shallows.
From the battered shore, an armada of boats ferries supplies and workers to the oil platforms under repair. Divers on the seafloor carve up wreckage so it can be removed. Six months of nonstop rebuilding has strained the local labor market, forcing oil companies to recruit skilled welders and construction crews from Central and South America. Even truckers can be hard to find.
Farther out to sea, the work focuses on new production, not repair.
At the Tahiti reservoir, the Discoverer sits motionless in calm water. Seven stories high, the ship looks something like a tanker with an oil derrick stuck on top. There are few ships like it in the world, and its services aren't cheap. Chevron leases it from its owner, Transocean of Houston. The ship, the contractors on it and the supplies they use cost almost $500,000 a day.
At that rate, the ship can't afford to waste time by pulling into port or waiting for new orders between jobs. Discoverer either works on a well or sails to the next drilling site. Other vessels bring it supplies, while helicopters ferry its 170 crewmen and contractors to and from shore.
Early February found the ship drilling a plot of seafloor called Bob North, a typical name in a business that has labeled other exploration sites Big Foot and Blind Faith.
But Bob North posed unexpected problems. The subsurface rock kept crumbling around the well. Although oil companies study the geology of every site they drill, there's always room for surprises.
"You're trying to work with something you can't really see," said Gatlin, a drill site manager on the Discoverer. "It's like putting together a puzzle."
Chevron pulled the ship from Bob North and sent it steaming southwest, to Tahiti. The company had studied Tahiti since 2002 and saw in it great potential, estimating it held between 400 million and 500 million barrels of recoverable oil. Development of the reservoir had become one of Chevron's five largest projects worldwide, one on which the company had already bet big, ordering construction of the floating platform that would one day hover over eight wells at the site.
Gatlin, a solid man with hair shaved down to salt-and-pepper stubble, hadn't expected to start Tahiti for another three or four months. Now his men were scrambling to begin drilling it less than a week after leaving Bob North.
"We wasted $40 million out there," Gatlin said one evening as workers readied long steel tubes on the ship's drilling floor, preparing to start drilling Tahiti the next morning.
At half a million dollars a day, any problem or delay is expensive. Chevron wanted this well started as soon as possible.
"And people wonder why gas costs $2," Gatlin said. His own father, he said, gives him grief about the price.
Until recently, undersea oil fields as deep as Tahiti were considered too difficult and costly to tap.
But the recent run-up in crude prices has changed those calculations. Suddenly, reservoirs hidden under a mile of water and 3 or 4 miles of rock can be developed at a profit.
Any newly accessible reservoir helps the oil companies. For years, most have had trouble discovering enough petroleum to replace what they pump out of the ground. They can boost their reserves by buying other oil companies. But investors want to see new reservoirs, not just the same ones changing hands.
"These companies are under pressure to show increasing assets," Jaffe said. "They're under pressure to show they can have organic growth and not just buy another company."
At the same time, drilling technology has improved.
Deep-sea drilling is far more difficult than tapping a reservoir on land. Drill bits and metal casings for the wells must withstand 400-degree temperatures and pressures reaching 20,000 pounds per square inch. That compares with the typical air pressure at sea level -- 14.7 psi.
The drilling ship, meanwhile, can't move while the bit is boring through rock far below. The long metal shaft connecting the bit to the ship can flex, but not by much.
The Discoverer doesn't move. Six thrusters mounted on the hull constantly adjust its position, monitored through a GPS satellite link. A battery of video screens behind the bridge shows how far the ship has strayed from its ideal spot -- usually less than 3 feet.
Below the ship, a boxy robot called a remotely operated vehicle hovers near the well, keeping a bright light and camera trained on the work. Men operating the drill, 4,300 feet above, monitor the results in the drillers' shack, a glass booth packed with screens showing the drill bit's depth, rotations per minute and other key statistics.
The men on the ship aren't the only ones following the drill's progress.
A day later, in a downtown Houston office tower, data from the Discoverer light a wall in front of Senior Drilling Engineer John Breidenthal.
The numbers update constantly, fed from the ship via satellite. In the 28 hours since drilling at Tahiti began, a process oil workers call spudding, the drill bit has sunk 2,200 feet into the seafloor. Next to the figures projected on the wall, an intricate 3-D image shows the well's planned path through layers of rock and salt the drill is expected to find.
"You can't believe the man-hours that went into seeing that well spudded into the ground," Breidenthal said. "Just about every drilling problem that exists, exists in these deepwater wells."
If something goes wrong, the ship calls back to Houston and quickly arranges a videoconference in one of these specially rigged rooms. Engineers on ship and shore hash out possible fixes, such as aiming the drill in a different direction. Specialized software helps devise the new route.
Ideally, a possible solution will take less than a day to devise, Breidenthal said. But as Bob North demonstrated, fixes in the field don't always work.
"We can't play God," Breidenthal said. "We can't change what's down there."
Nor can they control the weather.
The gulf has always had hurricanes. With platforms and rigs now crowding the waters off Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, companies face the possibility that some very expensive assets could get hit again and again.
Katrina and Rita last year ripped through two of the main oil-producing areas in the gulf, destroying 113 platforms and causing an estimated $20 billion to $30 billion in damage and lost revenue. Chevron alone evacuated about 2,300 people by helicopter and boat. The Discoverer had to stop work, sail out of harm's way, then circle back when the storms passed. Hurricanes are notoriously hard to predict. But many climatologists see the recent storms as evidence that the Atlantic basin has entered an era of increased storm activity. One forecast, issued by Colorado State University, predicts another violent season this year, although it also projects fewer major storms striking the United States than did so last year.
Davis, Chevron's capital projects manager in the gulf, said newer platforms are designed to withstand rougher seas and stronger winds than their predecessors.
"A lot of facilities that were damaged in the gulf were vintage 1960s," he said.
Even when whole platforms are lost, the wells below usually remain intact. Assuming there's enough oil still left in the reservoir to make it economical, the platform can be replaced, albeit at a steep price.
Given their need for the oil, the companies accept those risks.
"I wish there were just a big pool of oil all around the world, and we could just tap into it," Davis said. "It doesn't work that way."
Powerful News To Kick It Off!
Just read the PR....excellent news and what a way to kick it into high gear!
I like the LARS news and its potential in 2008!
Silence the past two months = deals are working!
Cheers!
Investor 100
Oil Pushes to $100!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices kicked off the first trading day of 2008 by hitting a new high of $100 a barrel Wednesday on violence in oil-rich Nigeria, the prospect of more interest rate cuts, a halt in Mexican imports and the expectation of yet another drop in U.S. crude supplies.
U.S. crude for February delivery jumped $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The previous trading record was $99.29 set Nov. 20. Oil prices ended 2007 by gaining nearly 60 percent for the year, the largest jump this decade.
"This market is really gonna fly," Ira Eckstein, president of Area International Trading Corp, said from the NYMEX floor.
In Nigeria, bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center the oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel, The Associated Press reported. Four policemen, three civilians and six attackers were killed. The Niger Delta Vigilante Movement claimed responsibility for the attack.
A surprise fall in manufacturing activity sparked fears of yet another interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Interest rate cuts generally cause the dollar to fall - and oil prices rise - as investors bail out of U.S. equities and into commodities.
One trader said all oil exports from Mexico will be halted Friday, but the reason was unclear.
Analysts are expecting the latest government inventory report - set for release Thursday, to show a 1.8 million barrel decline in crude supplies, according to a Dow Jones poll. It would mark the seventh straight week U.S. crude stocks have dropped. To top of page
Oil Pushes to $100!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices kicked off the first trading day of 2008 by hitting a new high of $100 a barrel Wednesday on violence in oil-rich Nigeria, the prospect of more interest rate cuts, a halt in Mexican imports and the expectation of yet another drop in U.S. crude supplies.
U.S. crude for February delivery jumped $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The previous trading record was $99.29 set Nov. 20. Oil prices ended 2007 by gaining nearly 60 percent for the year, the largest jump this decade.
"This market is really gonna fly," Ira Eckstein, president of Area International Trading Corp, said from the NYMEX floor.
In Nigeria, bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center the oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel, The Associated Press reported. Four policemen, three civilians and six attackers were killed. The Niger Delta Vigilante Movement claimed responsibility for the attack.
A surprise fall in manufacturing activity sparked fears of yet another interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Interest rate cuts generally cause the dollar to fall - and oil prices rise - as investors bail out of U.S. equities and into commodities.
One trader said all oil exports from Mexico will be halted Friday, but the reason was unclear.
Analysts are expecting the latest government inventory report - set for release Thursday, to show a 1.8 million barrel decline in crude supplies, according to a Dow Jones poll. It would mark the seventh straight week U.S. crude stocks have dropped. To top of page
Happy New Year @ CMMI!
May 2008 be our best year yet!
Cheers
Investor 100
Crude looks set to finish a volatile year with the biggest yearly price gain since 1999.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices look set to end 2007 with the biggest gain this decade, climbing nearly 60 percent since the start of the year. But the ascent has been anything but steady.
Crude prices are on track to notch their biggest yearly gain since 1999 and end the year around $96 a barrel. Gasoline has followed suit, and is currently up over 30 percent from a year ago to over $3 a gallon.
The rise in prices has been dramatic and volatile. Energy prices tumbled at the start of the year, largely due to a swell in supplies amid an unusually warm winter and concerns over the health of the economy. Speculative investors also bailed out of oil futures.
Crude prices briefly dipped below $50 a barrel in the early part of 2007, falling to to nearly a 2-year low. Meanwhile, retail gasoline prices tumbled to a national average of $2.10 a gallon.
The drop in oil prices spooked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which continued production cuts started in October 2006 over the next few months, eventually taking about 1.5 million barrels a day off the market - or nearly 2 percent of the world's daily output of about 85 million barrels a day.
By spring, the summer driving season was back in focus, and tension mounted over Iran's nuclear program, sending oil prices back into the range of $60 a barrel. Refinery production continued to lag, and gasoline supplies dwindled.
The combination of strong demand and refinery problems ahead of the summer driving season caused nationwide average gas prices to hit an all-time record high of $3.227 May 24, according to the motorist organization AAA. In some parts of the country, gas prices surpassed $4 a gallon. However, prices began to fall back as consumers finally began to cut back on their gasoline use.
Oil, however, kept rising as tensions overseas, an expected uptick in crude use due to greater refinery output and the looming hurricane season pushed prices into the range of $70 a barrel.
But by summer's end the hurricane season had failed to materialize and oil began following gasoline lower. By the end of August oil was again hovering around $60 a barrel and gasoline was down to about $2.70 a gallon.
Then began what is one of the biggest run-ups in crude prices in recent memory. Throughout September and October, one event after another caused oil prices to rally.
The production cuts OPEC had begun at the start of the year began showing up in inventory reports - supplies were falling. The dollar sank as the housing market tanked in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve cut interests rates to shore up economic growth. Investors bought commodities as a hedge against U.S. stocks, and a series of reports pointed to tightening supplies as strong demand from developing countries swallowed up new production gains.
In September crude prices passed $80 a barrel for the first time ever. A month later they crossed $90, making oil just as expensive as it was in the early 1980s when adjusted for inflation. In November came the headlines of $100 a barrel. Although crude didn't break that triple- digit mark, it came pretty close, hitting $99.29 a barrel during trading on Nov. 21.
As the year comes to an end, crude is trading around $96 a barrel. The year-over-year price gain marks crude's biggest price jump since 1999, when prices doubled from $10 to $20 a barrel. Gas prices are again over $3 a gallon, although fortunately for motorists, weaker demand has kept gas prices from rising as rapidly as oil in recent months.
For 2008, most analysts expect crude to keep rising, but they don't expect the kind of heady gains 2007 brought. John Kilduff, an energy analyst at MF Global in New York, expects prices to top out around $110 a barrel early in the year.
"We'll certainly see $100 a barrel, and perhaps go beyond that," he said. But then "you could see a significant pull back [if the economy slows and] that speculative angst runs out," he said. Kilduff expects prices to average around $80 to $85 a barrel in 2008.
As for the price of gas, that depends on the direction of oil prices when traders turn their attention in early spring to the start of the summer driving season.
"$3 gasoline in this market is unavoidable," Stephen Schork, publisher of the industry newsletter the Schork Report, recently told CNNMoney.com. "At this rate, we're going to see $4 a gallon."
Shareholder Perspective Visit to Deep Down
With all the excellent DD this board receives on a daily basis this personal visit to Deep Down just a few months back answers those questions on "Who,What,Where,When" questions that only a personal visit confirms.
Many thanks to Tradeswapper for sharing this information.
Points #8 /#11: The last PR confirms this point with SAIPEM!
Point #5: Mako Tech has closed December 18,2007.
Looking forward to an exciting year in 2008!
Happy New Year!
Investor 100
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Hello,
I visited the company and indicated I would post a report or even a blog on that trip after following up with subsequent due diligence. I have been busy on other fronts so I did not put up my comments. I will not do a blog on DPDW as I have certain limitations on what I can say. What I can write I can do it here. I will not do a blog at this time due to other professional considerations where my opportunities far exceed my stake in DPDW, though it is quite large, and are not served by blogging about an investment I made on the open market like this.
I will keep it short and to the point. These are some of the areas of emphasis I think most here can benefit from regardless of whether anything is new information or not.
1. Deep Down is involved with basically all of the major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and also with many of the important oil companies globally. Repeat business is definitely a fact of life for the company and it should continue to grow in addition to contracting with new clients. As it is, their client list now is not fully promoted, but it is very extensive and impressive.
2. Deep Down has business globally. They are operating on other continents now with staff on location servicing client operations. This does mean there can be and should be important service and hardware contract wins coming from major deep sea projects in international waters in the future (I am not suggesting any time frames).
3. The DPDW work site is already fully equipped to fill all orders and can handle increased work loads. The work site is very active and morale is high. It is structured to meet all quality control review standards prior to shipment. Their current engineering and machining capacities are extensive and any complementary services required to complete a job are easily obtainable. Basically, they are ready to scale as order flow increases.
4. The company does not announce every order filled. There is plenty of activity with clients making repeat orders so while there may be silence on the PR level that in no way should lead anyone to think they are not busy at their home location prepping orders for delivery. Prior camera coverage of incoming and outgoing site traffic and gear movement was accurate in nature (it was on camera previously, but in person those impressions are verifiable).
5. The company has an already significant work force and may grow to over 100 employees in the coming year or so (my assumption, not their statement). With Mako closing soon, that assumption may already be met.
6. Over time there should be growth of additional streams of income coming from the boating sector and other markets that may be marketed to and penetrated by DPDW divisions with ElectroWave leading the way. The Mackinaw control systems are the real deal and it is just a matter of time before the Colonel is booking sales in this segment. The market is quite broad for systems control consoles and ElectoWave has cutting edge tech in this area with innovations in development in addition to those already designed. There is a sophisticated facility dedicated to these operations on site that is clearly a highly functioning operation with many irons in the fire. Fundamentally, their immediate value to the company are the direct synergies from its computerization of Deep Down mechanical devices, but over time EW looks to be a growth arm of the company generating new markets and sales channels that will grow revenues.
7. Clients maintain active roles in the development of products designed and crafted for them. As such, DPDW evidences deepening and ongoing relationships with clients for whom they are delivering new products.
8. The company is led by an expert in his field. Ron Smith is often senior in background and capabilities to those running the deep water rigs he advises for. The major oil companies and their hierarchies means more junior people are often placed into daily operational and implementation roles on the deep water platforms. Many are not equipped to trouble shoot these projects the way Smith is. As DPDW ramps up in size, their already growing reputation as problem solvers will translate into greater size orders coming from mega-billion oil deep sea development budgets.
9. Deep Down has relationships with all of the independent private companies that are also go to teams on the deep water projects. As a result, Ron Smith has been working alongside the intellectual leaders of the deep sea field and is friends with many of the CEOs of the key independent services company in his sector. These are the people driving many of the technological innovations in the deep sea sector, not the in-house engineers of the big clients.
10. Many of these top senior independent CEOs in deep sea oil services do not want to be absorbed into major oil companies, but are interested in both capitalization for growth and to capture more of the growing budgets in the sector as well as getting equity stakes in a public company they can help to grow. DPDW was the one in the group to go public and has the leadership position now from which to consolidate the deep water services into THE NUMBER ONE company in its space. Therefore, it is implicit in the business strategy to grow the company into a billion dollar revenue operations both through organic growth and via acquisitions and thus attain the status of the premier deep water oil services company in the world. They have a very good shot at doing just that.
11. On most products, Deep Down's turnaround time is vastly faster than larger companies that may provide similar gear. This time factor is likely going to be a growth driver unto itself and factor into securing even more contracts. It should also translate into better pricing advantages for DPDW as clients will pay a premium on a mission critical item that can be delivered and implemented a year faster than your competition. Therefore there should be advantageous increases in sales margins on some of their product lines as sales grow.
12. DPDW has made it to the next level where they are capitalized, larger, integrated and staffed to the degree larger companies will be comfortable placing more and larger orders. It is a common catch-22 for smaller growth companies that even if you have the best products and service available the largest companies may still give their business of a larger competitor of yours until the client sees you've attained a certain size yourself. Large companies want guarantees you will stay in business and can deliver on large contracts. DPDW is entering this phase now.
These are some basic ideas I'd focus on in continuing analysis of the company and their future prospects.
Oil Nears New Record
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices rose Thursday, putting crude within striking distance of its all-time high, after the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories.
U.S. crude for February delivery rose 65 cents to settle at $96.62 a barrel, after being up to $96.37 just before the inventory report.
Bhutto, who had a controversial past in Pakistan and returned in October to again seek the prime minister's seat, was killed, along with at least 22 others, in a suicide attack following a political rally Thursday.
Although nuclear-armed Pakistan has little oil, traders fear any instability could spread to neighboring states. Pakistan borders Iran, the world's fourth-largest exporter of crude, and also lies near the oil-rich Central Asian states.
One analyst said the situation in Pakistan is bound to get worse before it gets better.
"The rioting is just beginning, and there's talk of retaliatory terrorist attacks," said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at MF Global in New York.
Oil prices were also supported by a U.S. government report Thursday showing a drop in domestic supplies of crude oil and heating fuel.
In its weekly inventory report, delayed by a day due to the Christmas holiday, the Energy Information Administration said crude stocks fell by 3.3 million barrels last week. Analysts were looking for a drop of 1.3 million barrels, according to a Dow Jones poll.
Distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 2.8 million barrels while gasoline supplies increased by 700,000 barrels. Analysts were looking for an 800,000-barrel decline in distillate supplies and a 1.4 million barrel increase in gasoline stockpiles.
Traders blamed fog in the Houston area for the decline in supplies, as oil tankers were unable to unload their cargo.
It's the sixth-straight week that domestic crude stocks have fallen, and supplies of crude, distillates and gasoline are all in the lower half of the average range for this time of year, EIA said.
But that may not be surprising, as refiners generally try to deplete stocks in December because they must pay taxes on any inventory held at the year's end.
Refiners ran at 88.1 percent capacity, EIA said, slightly below analysts' estimates.
Oil prices jumped nearly $2 Wednesday on renewed Turkish attacks on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, although traders noted the thin trading volume during the holiday week was probably exaggerating the price swings.
Nonetheless, the runup puts oil within striking distance of its all-time nominal high of $99.29 a barrel set last month.
Adjusted for inflation, oil is at or near the prices of the early 1980s. At that time, following the Iranian revolution and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, oil traded in the high $30-a-barrel range, the equivalent of between $92 and around $102 a barrel in current prices, depending on the contract cited and the inflation calculation used.
Crude prices have jumped more than 60 percent this year, and surged nearly five-fold since 2002.
Analysts say strong demand and limited supply is the main reason. Strained supplies also exaggerate the effects of geopolitical events, and the price runup has attracted lots of speculative investment, further pushing up prices. A weak dollar is also partly to blame, as oil is priced in dollars worldwide.
Oil spikes on Turkish Airstrikes in Iraq
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices jumped Wednesday on supply concerns, stoked by a new round of Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and a growing belief that domestic oil inventories fell last week.
Turkey's military said its warplanes bombed eight suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq on Wednesday. It was the third Turkish strike inside Iraq in less than two weeks. Oil traders worry that the rebels could cut oil supplies from Iraq in retaliation.
The new attacks came as oil investors awaited inventory data from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. It is expected to show crude supplies fell by 1.3 million barrels last week, the sixth straight weekly decline.
The inventory numbers will be released on Thursday this week, a day late due to the Christmas holiday.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.84 to settle at $95.97 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose as high as $96.54, a one-month high.
At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices inched up 0.1 cent overnight to a national average of $2.973 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices have stabilized after falling nearly 14 cents since mid-November, when they peaked above $3.11 a gallon as oil prices approached $100 a barrel.
Trading in crude futures Wednesday was light, meaning the sharp price move could be exaggerated, said Linda Rafield, senior oil analyst at Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
"You're not on track for a normal trading day," Rafield said.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill., noted that recent Turkish airstrikes have not elicited such a strong price response on heavier trading days.
Analysts said the weaker dollar also boosted oil prices. Crude futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling. Many observers blame oil's rise last month to near $100 on speculators driven to oil futures by the weaker dollar.
But prices were not affected, analysts said, by word of a $16 billion agreement between Iran and Malaysia to develop two Iranian gas fields, or news of a gasoline pipeline explosion in Nigeria. Development of the Iranian fields is likely years away, and the Nigerian pipeline transports gasoline imported for domestic use.
Other energy futures also rose Wednesday. January heating oil futures rose 4.65 cents to settle at $2.6412 a gallon on the Nymex while January gasoline futures rose 6.86 cents to settle at $2.4526 a gallon. January natural gas futures rose 2.1 cents to settle at $7.046 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, February Brent crude rose $1.24 to settle at $93.94 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
In its weekly report, the EIA is also expected to show that inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 800,000 barrels last week, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Gasoline stockpiles are expected to rise by 1.4 million barrels, while refinery activity is expected to grow by 0.6 percentage point to 88.4 percent of capacity.
Drilling Deep in the Gulf of Mexico-
New York Times-November 8,2006
ABOARD THE WESTERN NEPTUNE, Gulf of Mexico — Every 17 seconds, a small armada of ships trawling 130 miles from the Louisiana coast fire powerful air guns toward the bottom of the sea in a hunt for the next big oil discovery.
The Neptune and three other ships are on a three-month mission to map one of the most remote regions of the United States. The data they collect from the vibrations set off by the guns in the gulf’s deepest waters will help engineers form a picture of some of the world’s newest petroleum prospects.
As oil consumption grows and access to most oil-rich regions becomes increasingly restricted, companies are venturing farther out to sea, drilling deeper than ever in their quest for energy. The next oil frontier — and the next great challenge for oil explorers — lies below 10,000 feet of water, through five miles of hard rock, thick salt and tightly packed sands.
“It’s not a place for the timid,” said Paul K. Siegele, the vice president for deepwater exploration at Chevron, which commissioned a survey by the Neptune. “It’s a place where a lot of people have lost their shirts.”
To picture the challenge, imagine flying above New York City at 30,000 feet and aiming a drill tip the size of a coffee can at the pitcher’s mound in Yankee Stadium. Then imagine doing it in the dark, at $100 million a go.
Even after hitting pay dirt, it will take another decade and billions of dollars to transform oil from these ultra-deep reserves into gasoline. Some of the technology to pump the sludge from these depths, at these pressures and temperatures, has not yet been developed; only about a dozen ships can drill wells that deep, and no one knows for sure how much oil is down there.
While most people regard affordable and abundant supplies as an essential element of the nation’s prosperity, few realize how complex and costly the quest has become, even in the nation’s own backyard. At the same time, some experts argue that the industry is nearing the limits of what it can do to maintain a growing supply of fossil fuels.
But for the geologists, scientists and explorers who work here in the Gulf of Mexico, the history of the deep water holds another lesson: technological breakthroughs have always breathed new life into the energy industry.
“This is as close as we get to the space age on earth,” said Kenny Lang, BP’s vice president for gulf production.
Thanks to advances in offshore technology, and tremendous leaps in supercomputers and three-dimensional imaging, this region’s deepest waters have become the hottest exploration prospects in the nation.
Barely more than a decade ago, the area was called the Dead Sea and was nearly abandoned as the major energy companies left for better prospects in Russia and the Caspian Sea basin.
In fact, the region’s output would have peaked and started slipping long ago without the leaps that have driven the search for offshore oil and natural gas. While production from the Gulf’s shallow waters is declining, deepwater production is on an upswing. Altogether, the Gulf of Mexico accounts for more than 25 percent of the nation’s oil production and 20 percent of its natural gas output.
According to the most optimistic estimates, there could be 40 billion barrels of undiscovered reserves in the deep water, which starts at about 1,500 feet, enough to satisfy American consumption for more than five years.
These reserves might lift the offshore output to 2.2 million barrels a day by 2012, up from 1.5 million barrels today.
Still, that’s a drop in the bucket. Even as the deepwater resources are developed, the nation is expected to continue to import more than two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil it consumes each day.
Since 2001, there have been 12 discoveries in waters 5,000 feet deep, drilling into older rock formations known as the Lower Tertiary. Those point to the presence of a region that might hold as much as 15 billion barrels of reserves.
The latest and largest find in the Lower Tertiary, about 250 miles south of New Orleans, was announced in August by BP. The find is a layer of 800 feet of oil-bearing sands, more than five miles under the ocean floor.
“The deep water in the Gulf of Mexico is a textbook application of where technology drove opportunity,” said Barney Issen, a geologist with Chevron. “It’s been known for quite some time that there were huge resources out there but we didn’t have the seismic data to have the nerve to drill. And even if we did, we didn’t have the drilling tools until recently.”
Last month, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it would develop three ultradeep discoveries 200 miles south of the Texas coastline. The project, called Perdido, will tie together fields called Great White, Tobago and Silvertip, and is projected to have a daily capacity of the equivalent of 130,000 barrels of oil by the turn of the decade.
Some of the earlier doubts about production in the Lower Tertiary were recently lifted when Chevron successfully tested its Jack field. The test proved that oil could flow in commercial quantities from sediments deposited as long as 65 million years ago.
“The geology has been proven, the oil is present,” said Renato Bertani, the chief executive of the American unit of Petrobras, Brazil’s national oil company. His company plans to produce from Lower Tertiary discoveries in 2009.
“The result really encouraged us tremendously,” he said. “There is nevertheless some level of uncertainty.”
Part of the problem for deep exploration in the Gulf of Mexico is a thick layer of salt — 15,000 feet deep in some places — that extends unevenly under the Gulf’s waters. The salt acts like frosted glass when geologists try to see through it, blurring their view of untapped oil reserves thought to lie below.
A clear image of the subsea salt can make the difference between a successful discovery and a dry well.
“This is an industry that has to manage risk,” said Rocco Detomo Jr., a senior geophysicist at Shell. “And it’s much too risky and too expensive to look for oil the old-fashioned way.”
At BP’s sprawling campus in a Houston suburb, geologists take many years looking for oil before drilling a single well. They are counting on huge leaps in processing power from computer networks that allow scientists to make sense of the complex seismic data acquired by ships like the Neptune.
The more sophisticated data is necessary because drilling costs have soared in recent years and can now reach as much as $800,000 a day, or up to $100 million for a single well. Those costs raise the risks when, on average, only one in every three to five wells turns up oil.
Chevron, for example, expects to spend $3.5 billion on its Tahiti project, which should start production in 2008. BP invests more than $2 billion a year in the Gulf and devotes 40 percent of its global exploration budget here.
“When you’re living in that place where you’re constantly on the edge, occasionally you’re going to stub your toe,” Mr. Lang of BP said.
That recently happened at BP’s Thunder Horse, the world’s largest offshore platform, with a planned oil capacity of 250,000 barrels a day. The platform, dwarfing anything else in the Gulf, was supposed to start production last year, but ran into problems, including being left listing after Hurricane Dennis passed in 2005. The latest mishap involves replacing critical pieces of equipment at the bottom of the ocean, a lengthy process that will delay production until 2008.
Thunder Horse has been more than a decade in the making, according to Cindy A. Yeilding, the company’s chief geologist in Houston. Back in the early 1990s, Ms. Yeilding and other BP scientists used better technology, including the new three-dimensional seismic mapping, and more powerful computers to focus on big fields, which are referred to as “elephants” in the industry.
“We went on an elephant hunt,” she said. “To test a new play, we needed to find a huge accumulation of hydrocarbons and we needed a rig that could drill in 5,000 or 6,000 feet of water. It was a combination of geology and technology.”
From 1992 to 1997, the company acquired dozens of new leases from the government, spurred by a new royalty relief program that provided extra incentives to encourage deepwater exploration.
On the first day of 1999, the company finally began drilling a well in the Mississippi Canyon’s Block 778, a lease in the northeast region of the Gulf, about 125 miles from New Orleans. The drilling team, led by Ms. Yeilding, was confident it had found the giant field it was looking for but was nervous at the prospect of drilling through salt in deep waters.
“We were petrified,” Ms. Yeilding recalled. “We were so afraid of salt, we wanted to go around it.”
But the efforts paid off. On July 4 that year, the BP well reached its final depth of 29,000 feet, after having gone through 6,000 feet of water and 2,500 feet of salt. There, BP made the biggest discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. The field, holding one billion barrels of reserves, became known as Thunder Horse.
The wider hunt has been on ever since. On the Neptune’s deck, the repetitive beat of the air guns can barely be heard. But below the sea, the vibrations travel deep inside the earth’s crust. Then they bounce back and are picked up by streamers of densely packed electronic sensors, stretching four miles behind the ship.
Inside, working in cool temperature-controlled rooms, dozens of engineers control the ship’s position, collect the seismic data and begin forming a picture of the earth’s geological layers.
“The easy oil is running out because it has already been found,” said Ezio Plenizio, an Italian geophysicist aboard the Neptune, which belongs to the oil services company Schlumberger. “But 20 years ago, when I started in the business, people were already saying that oil is going to run out soon.”
Seasons Greetings to all @ CMMI!
Investor 100
Happy Holidays To All @ DPDW!
I agree with many that the press release came across as a form of "promotional advertisement" given the content and quote from the CEO.
There are many suggestions in the article indicating that we are working with large organizations (Saipem) who contract with us for complex projects that requires speedy resolve with a professional teamwork approach!
Also, promoting itself that they are doing business in the Gulf of Mexico and booking additional business with its Baricon 30-ton, 4-track tensioner.
Clearly a wonderful marketing/sales promotion of itself as they set up for 2008.
Seasons Greetings to all!
Investor 100
Shareholders Summary On Visit to DDI
For those that have not had the benefit of reading Tradeswappers summary after his visit to DDI this is a well documented visit.
A Brief Summary of Thoughts on DPDW
Hello,
I visited the company and indicated I would post a report or even a blog on that trip after following up with subsequent due diligence. I have been busy on other fronts so I did not put up my comments. I will not do a blog on DPDW as I have certain limitations on what I can say. What I can write I can do it here. I will not do a blog at this time due to other professional considerations where my opportunities far exceed my stake in DPDW, though it is quite large, and are not served by blogging about an investment I made on the open market like this.
I will keep it short and to the point. These are some of the areas of emphasis I think most here can benefit from regardless of whether anything is new information or not.
1. Deep Down is involved with basically all of the major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and also with many of the important oil companies globally. Repeat business is definitely a fact of life for the company and it should continue to grow in addition to contracting with new clients. As it is, their client list now is not fully promoted, but it is very extensive and impressive.
2. Deep Down has business globally. They are operating on other continents now with staff on location servicing client operations. This does mean there can be and should be important service and hardware contract wins coming from major deep sea projects in international waters in the future (I am not suggesting any time frames).
3. The DPDW work site is already fully equipped to fill all orders and can handle increased work loads. The work site is very active and morale is high. It is structured to meet all quality control review standards prior to shipment. Their current engineering and machining capacities are extensive and any complementary services required to complete a job are easily obtainable. Basically, they are ready to scale as order flow increases.
4. The company does not announce every order filled. There is plenty of activity with clients making repeat orders so while there may be silence on the PR level that in no way should lead anyone to think they are not busy at their home location prepping orders for delivery. Prior camera coverage of incoming and outgoing site traffic and gear movement was accurate in nature (it was on camera previously, but in person those impressions are verifiable).
5. The company has an already significant work force and may grow to over 100 employees in the coming year or so (my assumption, not their statement). With Mako closing soon, that assumption may already be met.
6. Over time there should be growth of additional streams of income coming from the boating sector and other markets that may be marketed to and penetrated by DPDW divisions with ElectroWave leading the way. The Mackinaw control systems are the real deal and it is just a matter of time before the Colonel is booking sales in this segment. The market is quite broad for systems control consoles and ElectoWave has cutting edge tech in this area with innovations in development in addition to those already designed. There is a sophisticated facility dedicated to these operations on site that is clearly a highly functioning operation with many irons in the fire. Fundamentally, their immediate value to the company are the direct synergies from its computerization of Deep Down mechanical devices, but over time EW looks to be a growth arm of the company generating new markets and sales channels that will grow revenues.
7. Clients maintain active roles in the development of products designed and crafted for them. As such, DPDW evidences deepening and ongoing relationships with clients for whom they are delivering new products.
8. The company is led by an expert in his field. Ron Smith is often senior in background and capabilities to those running the deep water rigs he advises for. The major oil companies and their hierarchies means more junior people are often placed into daily operational and implementation roles on the deep water platforms. Many are not equipped to trouble shoot these projects the way Smith is. As DPDW ramps up in size, their already growing reputation as problem solvers will translate into greater size orders coming from mega-billion oil deep sea development budgets.
9. Deep Down has relationships with all of the independent private companies that are also go to teams on the deep water projects. As a result, Ron Smith has been working alongside the intellectual leaders of the deep sea field and is friends with many of the CEOs of the key independent services company in his sector. These are the people driving many of the technological innovations in the deep sea sector, not the in-house engineers of the big clients.
10. Many of these top senior independent CEOs in deep sea oil services do not want to be absorbed into major oil companies, but are interested in both capitalization for growth and to capture more of the growing budgets in the sector as well as getting equity stakes in a public company they can help to grow. DPDW was the one in the group to go public and has the leadership position now from which to consolidate the deep water services into THE NUMBER ONE company in its space. Therefore, it is implicit in the business strategy to grow the company into a billion dollar revenue operations both through organic growth and via acquisitions and thus attain the status of the premier deep water oil services company in the world. They have a very good shot at doing just that.
11. On most products, Deep Down's turnaround time is vastly faster than larger companies that may provide similar gear. This time factor is likely going to be a growth driver unto itself and factor into securing even more contracts. It should also translate into better pricing advantages for DPDW as clients will pay a premium on a mission critical item that can be delivered and implemented a year faster than your competition. Therefore there should be advantageous increases in sales margins on some of their product lines as sales grow.
12. DPDW has made it to the next level where they are capitalized, larger, integrated and staffed to the degree larger companies will be comfortable placing more and larger orders. It is a common catch-22 for smaller growth companies that even if you have the best products and service available the largest companies may still give their business of a larger competitor of yours until the client sees you've attained a certain size yourself. Large companies want guarantees you will stay in business and can deliver on large contracts. DPDW is entering this phase now.
These are some basic ideas I'd focus on in continuing analysis of the company and their future prospects.
Silence is "Golden" @ DPDW!
Wow, the two press releases this week have created a new dynamic to its business model and also points out the leadership from our CEO Ron Smith.
Substance in the material written is the key to issuing PR's!
For those of you who read Tradeswappers comments after his visit with DDI and Ron Smith just a few months ago his point here is well taken and verified!
No questions ask this guy is the real deal with todays PR!
8. The company is led by an expert in his field. Ron Smith is often senior in background and capabilities to those running the deep water rigs he advises for. The major oil companies and their hierarchies means more junior people are often placed into daily operational and implementation roles on the deep water platforms. Many are not equipped to trouble shoot these projects the way Smith is. As DPDW ramps up in size, their already growing reputation as problem solvers will translate into greater size orders coming from mega-billion oil deep sea development budgets.
I am pleased to be onboard and looking forward to many more new opportunities throughout 2008!
Happy Holidays!
Investor 100
Great Source of Network for us!
What a track record and clearly one that I would enjoy having on my team!
Pleased to see that he has his eye on DDI!
Good catch 4mars!
CHARLES T. MAXWELL @ Weedon
Educated at Princeton as an undergraduate and Oxford as a graduate, Charles T. Maxwell entered the oil industry in 1957 and worked for a major international oil company for 12 years in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. His background has been in four traditional sectors of the industry—producing, refining, transportation, and marketing. In 1968, Mr. Maxwell joined a well-known Wall Street firm as an oil analyst. In polls taken by Institutional Investor magazine, Mr. Maxwell has been ranked by the US financial institutions as the No. 1 oil analyst for the years 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1981-1986. In addition, for the last 17 years he has been an active member of an Oxford-based organization comprised of OPEC and other industry executives from 30 countries who meet twice a year to discuss trends within the energy industry.
Thanks Terrific Confirmation!
One of the best sources of confirmation for DDI was the unsolicited press release from DR and they have not waivered during the brief ups /downs.
What is exciting today and into 2008 are the new ventures with MAKO and all the rental opportunities available!
The DDI business model keeps building positive momentum and the PPS will take care of itself!
Cheers!
Investor 100
Thanks Brikk!
Sounds very positive and encouraging from DR!
Investor 100
Positive Rebound Today!
Perhaps Santa will be nice this holiday season!
Cheers to those that bought or hung on to their shares!
Investor 100
These Players Have Confidence in DPDW!
HOUSTON, July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has initiated research coverage of the Company with a BUY rating and a target price of $1.50 per share.
'The management team and employees of Deep Down are very pleased with this unsolicited and uncompensated research by such a prestigious firm. We believe this interest in providing coverage lends credible third-party validation that our business model is sound and capable of generating significant shareholder value,' commented Robert E. Chamberlain, Jr., Deep Down's chairman.
'In seven months since listing DPDW on the over-the-counter Bulletin Board(R) (OTCBB) exchange, Deep Down's strategy of organic growth, coupled with strategic acquisitions of complementary industry service providers such as ElectroWave USA and our currently pending acquisition of Mako Technologies, is gaining significant momentum,' Chamberlain concluded.
Gave way to $1.50 before the second press release was issued!
--------------------------------------------------------------
Deep Down Announces Upward Revision by Dahlman Rose
HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Dahlmann Rose & Company, LLC (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has reaffirmed its BUY rating and revised its target price to $2.50 per share.
Dahlman Rose is a full-service investment bank offering value-added research, trading, and advisory services for growing companies operating along the energy and commodity supply chain. It is a leading boutique investment bank specializing in the marine shipping and energy industries with offices in New York, Houston, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Further information on Dahlman Rose may be obtained at http://www.dahlmanrose.com.
Got as close as $2.35 before falling back.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate Info
DAHLMAN ROSE & COMPANY, LLC (MEMBER: FINRA/SIPC) is a full-service investment bank specializing in the energy and commodities supply chain. The firm is headquartered in New York and has offices in Boston, Houston, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
In 2002, the Firm’s founding partners, Ernest J. Dahlman III and Simon Rose saw opportunity for value creation in the under-covered Marine Transport sector and sought to build a firm that would become the thought leader in the sector. A dramatic escalation in demand for commodities and refined products driven by emerging economies and global GDP growth had placed the international transport infrastructure under strain, and new investment would be needed. After all, they reasoned, a bridge linking the continents would not be built any time in the foreseeable future. The Firm sought to build a platform predicated upon an insightful and differentiated Equity Research product and a highly specialized Institutional Sales team.
In a very short amount of time, the Firm gained significant mindshare in the Marine Transport sector and became a market leader in capital raising and security trading. Since the Firm’s inception, we have helped to raise over $3.5 billion for Marine Transport companies.
Our involvement in Marine Transport gave us a unique perspective into the energy and commodities supply chain. International seaborne transport touches and relates directly to practically every sector in the global commodities and energy industry, and, based on the Firm’s initial success in the sector, an expansion into adjacent sectors was a natural progression. Our expansion efforts are based on the Firm goal of providing a superior research product and forward-thinking market analysis to our institutional clients and innovative corporate solutions and sound guidance for our corporate clients.
Due to our size and our model, we are often “ahead of the curve” with respect to our peers, and we continue to emphasize under-followed industries where huge growth opportunities lie. Our recent emphasis on the floating production and offshore services sector underscores this point.
**These folks are a major firm whose reputation in choosing who they follow is vital!
Checkout the website http://www.dahlmanrose.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Deep Down Announces Research Report by Tuohy Brothers
HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc. (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has issued an unsolicited research report on the Company.
Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc. is a New York based independent energy research boutique providing fundamental equity research designed to compliment, not duplicate, traditional 'Street' research. Tuohy Brothers provides insightful analysis of energy industry trends, commodity markets and individual companies to institutional investors. Tuohy Brothers' Director of Research Steven Parla, CFA, can be reached at 212-605-0450.
Good Morning To Deep Downers!
Yesterday was the day that I again asked myself:
"Do you believe in what you own at DPDW"?
My answer was "Yes" with another big purchase of shares knowing what I know from my own research, the great contributors on this board including our moderators Brikk & Company and reviewing Deep Down Inc.
Clearly, yesterdays announcement was confirmation that the management team is moving forward with anticipated organic growth and perhaps another acquisition, according to Breakouts comments from his conversation with Mr. Butler.
I am looking forward to a great year in 2008!
Cheers,
Investor 100
Who Is Mako Technologies?
Mako Technologies provides the offshore industry with reliable equipment and first class service. Based in the heart of the offshore oil & gas industry, Morgan City LA., Mako can respond quickly with equipment to support your topside projects, diving operations and your ROV rental and tooling requirements.
Mako has recently added to its rental inventory a 2000' depth rated inspection / light work class ROV complete with control van and launch recovery system.
Mako have also recently added 300 meter and 1500 meter Seaeye ROV's to their fleet of ROV's available for the offshore industry. Seaeye Lynx, Seaeye Falcon
From the surface to 10,000 fsw, Mako has the equipment that you need, and the service that you want.
Diving Equipment Rental
Mako has provided reliable equipment and superior services to the diving industry since 1994. Mako employs a permanent staff of highly qualified technicians and mechanics to maintain and refurbish its equipment in between rentals. This ensures that the equipment is 100% before it returns to the field. It also ensures that you’ll have professional and fast response to your service needs.
Offshore Construction Equipment Rental
Mako prides itself in providing equipment that is well maintained and extremely reliable. This is accomplished by building the equipment to suit the job site conditions in the first place, then to maintain it aggressively. When Mako rental equipment arrives on your job site, you can rest assured that it has just undergone a complete overhaul and cleanup.
ROV Equipment Rental
Mako Technologies is bringing the latest ROV tooling technology to its rental fleet. By listening to the customer's needs, and then responding to those needs with the latest technology available in the ROV industry, Mako is responding to the ROV market requirements. Mako's ROV tooling rental fleet is growing, with the addition of tools that have been most requested.
Mako Technologies has recently added to its rental inventory a 2000 ft. depth rated inspection / light work class remotely operated vehicle (ROV) complete with control van and launch / recovery system. Mako-ROV Services and Specs
Mako technologies has also recently added 300 meter and 1500 meter Seaeye ROV's to their fleet of ROV's available for the offshore industry. Seaeye Lynx, Seaeye Falcon.
Mako Technologies has ROV clamps and ROV friendly hooks and shackles available, click on the slideshow pictures for larger images or here for clamp specifcations.
Mako Technologies new line of ROV tools, includes equipment that is smaller, lighter and more reliable than older systems. For example, Mako’s new torque tool, designed and built by OceanWorks Intl., is state-of-the-art in torque tool design. The Mako Torque Tool is compliant with API17D & H standards and provides the operator with a single tool with the capability to cover all four classes of torque rating (1 to 4), up to a maximum of 2,000 ft. lbs.
Marine Survey
Mako provide the offshore industry with a responsive Marine Survey service. The company’s surveyors have extensive experience in the marine industry, and provide a reliable and timely service.
* On and Off Hire Surveys
* Damage Surveys
* Engine Surveys
* Loading / Securing of Cargo (Warranty)
* Trip and Tow
* Suitability Surveys
* Valuation Surveys
* Hull Audio Gauging
* Owner Representatives
* Regulatory Vessel Compliance
Contact Us
Mailing Address: Mako Technologies
P.O. Box 3186
Morgan City, LA 70380
Phone: 985-385-7817
Fax: 985-385-0056
Email: sales@makotechnologies.com
Shareholders Perspective From DPDW Visit!
Yesterday was a difficult day and perhaps many new visitors have not had the benefit of reading Tradeswapper recent visit to the offices of Deep Down so here it is.
A Brief Summary of Thoughts on DPDW
Hello,
I visited the company and indicated I would post a report or even a blog on that trip after following up with subsequent due diligence. I have been busy on other fronts so I did not put up my comments. I will not do a blog on DPDW as I have certain limitations on what I can say. What I can write I can do it here. I will not do a blog at this time due to other professional considerations where my opportunities far exceed my stake in DPDW, though it is quite large, and are not served by blogging about an investment I made on the open market like this.
I will keep it short and to the point. These are some of the areas of emphasis I think most here can benefit from regardless of whether anything is new information or not.
1. Deep Down is involved with basically all of the major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and also with many of the important oil companies globally. Repeat business is definitely a fact of life for the company and it should continue to grow in addition to contracting with new clients. As it is, their client list now is not fully promoted, but it is very extensive and impressive.
2. Deep Down has business globally. They are operating on other continents now with staff on location servicing client operations. This does mean there can be and should be important service and hardware contract wins coming from major deep sea projects in international waters in the future (I am not suggesting any time frames).
3. The DPDW work site is already fully equipped to fill all orders and can handle increased work loads. The work site is very active and morale is high. It is structured to meet all quality control review standards prior to shipment. Their current engineering and machining capacities are extensive and any complementary services required to complete a job are easily obtainable. Basically, they are ready to scale as order flow increases.
4. The company does not announce every order filled. There is plenty of activity with clients making repeat orders so while there may be silence on the PR level that in no way should lead anyone to think they are not busy at their home location prepping orders for delivery. Prior camera coverage of incoming and outgoing site traffic and gear movement was accurate in nature (it was on camera previously, but in person those impressions are verifiable).
5. The company has an already significant work force and may grow to over 100 employees in the coming year or so (my assumption, not their statement). With Mako closing soon, that assumption may already be met.
6. Over time there should be growth of additional streams of income coming from the boating sector and other markets that may be marketed to and penetrated by DPDW divisions with ElectroWave leading the way. The Mackinaw control systems are the real deal and it is just a matter of time before the Colonel is booking sales in this segment. The market is quite broad for systems control consoles and ElectoWave has cutting edge tech in this area with innovations in development in addition to those already designed. There is a sophisticated facility dedicated to these operations on site that is clearly a highly functioning operation with many irons in the fire. Fundamentally, their immediate value to the company are the direct synergies from its computerization of Deep Down mechanical devices, but over time EW looks to be a growth arm of the company generating new markets and sales channels that will grow revenues.
7. Clients maintain active roles in the development of products designed and crafted for them. As such, DPDW evidences deepening and ongoing relationships with clients for whom they are delivering new products.
8. The company is led by an expert in his field. Ron Smith is often senior in background and capabilities to those running the deep water rigs he advises for. The major oil companies and their hierarchies means more junior people are often placed into daily operational and implementation roles on the deep water platforms. Many are not equipped to trouble shoot these projects the way Smith is. As DPDW ramps up in size, their already growing reputation as problem solvers will translate into greater size orders coming from mega-billion oil deep sea development budgets.
9. Deep Down has relationships with all of the independent private companies that are also go to teams on the deep water projects. As a result, Ron Smith has been working alongside the intellectual leaders of the deep sea field and is friends with many of the CEOs of the key independent services company in his sector. These are the people driving many of the technological innovations in the deep sea sector, not the in-house engineers of the big clients.
10. Many of these top senior independent CEOs in deep sea oil services do not want to be absorbed into major oil companies, but are interested in both capitalization for growth and to capture more of the growing budgets in the sector as well as getting equity stakes in a public company they can help to grow. DPDW was the one in the group to go public and has the leadership position now from which to consolidate the deep water services into THE NUMBER ONE company in its space. Therefore, it is implicit in the business strategy to grow the company into a billion dollar revenue operations both through organic growth and via acquisitions and thus attain the status of the premier deep water oil services company in the world. They have a very good shot at doing just that.
11. On most products, Deep Down's turnaround time is vastly faster than larger companies that may provide similar gear. This time factor is likely going to be a growth driver unto itself and factor into securing even more contracts. It should also translate into better pricing advantages for DPDW as clients will pay a premium on a mission critical item that can be delivered and implemented a year faster than your competition. Therefore there should be advantageous increases in sales margins on some of their product lines as sales grow.
12. DPDW has made it to the next level where they are capitalized, larger, integrated and staffed to the degree larger companies will be comfortable placing more and larger orders. It is a common catch-22 for smaller growth companies that even if you have the best products and service available the largest companies may still give their business of a larger competitor of yours until the client sees you've attained a certain size yourself. Large companies want guarantees you will stay in business and can deliver on large contracts. DPDW is entering this phase now.
These are some basic ideas I'd focus on in continuing analysis of the company and their future prospects.
Take care and happy investing
These Players Have Confidence in DPDW!
HOUSTON, July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Dahlman Rose & Company, LLC (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has initiated research coverage of the Company with a BUY rating and a target price of $1.50 per share.
'The management team and employees of Deep Down are very pleased with this unsolicited and uncompensated research by such a prestigious firm. We believe this interest in providing coverage lends credible third-party validation that our business model is sound and capable of generating significant shareholder value,' commented Robert E. Chamberlain, Jr., Deep Down's chairman.
'In seven months since listing DPDW on the over-the-counter Bulletin Board(R) (OTCBB) exchange, Deep Down's strategy of organic growth, coupled with strategic acquisitions of complementary industry service providers such as ElectroWave USA and our currently pending acquisition of Mako Technologies, is gaining significant momentum,' Chamberlain concluded.
Gave way to $1.50 before the second press release was issued!
--------------------------------------------------------------
Deep Down Announces Upward Revision by Dahlman Rose
HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Dahlmann Rose & Company, LLC (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has reaffirmed its BUY rating and revised its target price to $2.50 per share.
Dahlman Rose is a full-service investment bank offering value-added research, trading, and advisory services for growing companies operating along the energy and commodity supply chain. It is a leading boutique investment bank specializing in the marine shipping and energy industries with offices in New York, Houston, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Further information on Dahlman Rose may be obtained at http://www.dahlmanrose.com.
Got as close as $2.35 before falling back.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate Info
DAHLMAN ROSE & COMPANY, LLC (MEMBER: FINRA/SIPC) is a full-service investment bank specializing in the energy and commodities supply chain. The firm is headquartered in New York and has offices in Boston, Houston, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
In 2002, the Firm’s founding partners, Ernest J. Dahlman III and Simon Rose saw opportunity for value creation in the under-covered Marine Transport sector and sought to build a firm that would become the thought leader in the sector. A dramatic escalation in demand for commodities and refined products driven by emerging economies and global GDP growth had placed the international transport infrastructure under strain, and new investment would be needed. After all, they reasoned, a bridge linking the continents would not be built any time in the foreseeable future. The Firm sought to build a platform predicated upon an insightful and differentiated Equity Research product and a highly specialized Institutional Sales team.
In a very short amount of time, the Firm gained significant mindshare in the Marine Transport sector and became a market leader in capital raising and security trading. Since the Firm’s inception, we have helped to raise over $3.5 billion for Marine Transport companies.
Our involvement in Marine Transport gave us a unique perspective into the energy and commodities supply chain. International seaborne transport touches and relates directly to practically every sector in the global commodities and energy industry, and, based on the Firm’s initial success in the sector, an expansion into adjacent sectors was a natural progression. Our expansion efforts are based on the Firm goal of providing a superior research product and forward-thinking market analysis to our institutional clients and innovative corporate solutions and sound guidance for our corporate clients.
Due to our size and our model, we are often “ahead of the curve” with respect to our peers, and we continue to emphasize under-followed industries where huge growth opportunities lie. Our recent emphasis on the floating production and offshore services sector underscores this point.
**These folks are a major firm whose reputation in choosing who they follow is vital!
Checkout the website http://www.dahlmanrose.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Deep Down Announces Research Report by Tuohy Brothers
HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW) today announced that Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc. (MEMBER: NASD/SIPC) has issued an unsolicited research report on the Company.
Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc. is a New York based independent energy research boutique providing fundamental equity research designed to compliment, not duplicate, traditional 'Street' research. Tuohy Brothers provides insightful analysis of energy industry trends, commodity markets and individual companies to institutional investors. Tuohy Brothers' Director of Research Steven Parla, CFA, can be reached at 212-605-0450.
Thanks! Compliments of Tradeswapper!
Excellent objective and perspective of DPDW!
Reference to 42412 post.
Investor 100
Shareholders Perspective from DPDW Visit!
Today being very tough on many this shareholders perspective might help those that are fairly new here and might have doubts and questions given todays activity and long term play @ DPDW!
A Brief Summary of Thoughts on DPDW
Hello,
I visited the company and indicated I would post a report or even a blog on that trip after following up with subsequent due diligence. I have been busy on other fronts so I did not put up my comments. I will not do a blog on DPDW as I have certain limitations on what I can say. What I can write I can do it here. I will not do a blog at this time due to other professional considerations where my opportunities far exceed my stake in DPDW, though it is quite large, and are not served by blogging about an investment I made on the open market like this.
I will keep it short and to the point. These are some of the areas of emphasis I think most here can benefit from regardless of whether anything is new information or not.
1. Deep Down is involved with basically all of the major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and also with many of the important oil companies globally. Repeat business is definitely a fact of life for the company and it should continue to grow in addition to contracting with new clients. As it is, their client list now is not fully promoted, but it is very extensive and impressive.
2. Deep Down has business globally. They are operating on other continents now with staff on location servicing client operations. This does mean there can be and should be important service and hardware contract wins coming from major deep sea projects in international waters in the future (I am not suggesting any time frames).
3. The DPDW work site is already fully equipped to fill all orders and can handle increased work loads. The work site is very active and morale is high. It is structured to meet all quality control review standards prior to shipment. Their current engineering and machining capacities are extensive and any complementary services required to complete a job are easily obtainable. Basically, they are ready to scale as order flow increases.
4. The company does not announce every order filled. There is plenty of activity with clients making repeat orders so while there may be silence on the PR level that in no way should lead anyone to think they are not busy at their home location prepping orders for delivery. Prior camera coverage of incoming and outgoing site traffic and gear movement was accurate in nature (it was on camera previously, but in person those impressions are verifiable).
5. The company has an already significant work force and may grow to over 100 employees in the coming year or so (my assumption, not their statement). With Mako closing soon, that assumption may already be met.
6. Over time there should be growth of additional streams of income coming from the boating sector and other markets that may be marketed to and penetrated by DPDW divisions with ElectroWave leading the way. The Mackinaw control systems are the real deal and it is just a matter of time before the Colonel is booking sales in this segment. The market is quite broad for systems control consoles and ElectoWave has cutting edge tech in this area with innovations in development in addition to those already designed. There is a sophisticated facility dedicated to these operations on site that is clearly a highly functioning operation with many irons in the fire. Fundamentally, their immediate value to the company are the direct synergies from its computerization of Deep Down mechanical devices, but over time EW looks to be a growth arm of the company generating new markets and sales channels that will grow revenues.
7. Clients maintain active roles in the development of products designed and crafted for them. As such, DPDW evidences deepening and ongoing relationships with clients for whom they are delivering new products.
8. The company is led by an expert in his field. Ron Smith is often senior in background and capabilities to those running the deep water rigs he advises for. The major oil companies and their hierarchies means more junior people are often placed into daily operational and implementation roles on the deep water platforms. Many are not equipped to trouble shoot these projects the way Smith is. As DPDW ramps up in size, their already growing reputation as problem solvers will translate into greater size orders coming from mega-billion oil deep sea development budgets.
9. Deep Down has relationships with all of the independent private companies that are also go to teams on the deep water projects. As a result, Ron Smith has been working alongside the intellectual leaders of the deep sea field and is friends with many of the CEOs of the key independent services company in his sector. These are the people driving many of the technological innovations in the deep sea sector, not the in-house engineers of the big clients.
10. Many of these top senior independent CEOs in deep sea oil services do not want to be absorbed into major oil companies, but are interested in both capitalization for growth and to capture more of the growing budgets in the sector as well as getting equity stakes in a public company they can help to grow. DPDW was the one in the group to go public and has the leadership position now from which to consolidate the deep water services into THE NUMBER ONE company in its space. Therefore, it is implicit in the business strategy to grow the company into a billion dollar revenue operations both through organic growth and via acquisitions and thus attain the status of the premier deep water oil services company in the world. They have a very good shot at doing just that.
11. On most products, Deep Down's turnaround time is vastly faster than larger companies that may provide similar gear. This time factor is likely going to be a growth driver unto itself and factor into securing even more contracts. It should also translate into better pricing advantages for DPDW as clients will pay a premium on a mission critical item that can be delivered and implemented a year faster than your competition. Therefore there should be advantageous increases in sales margins on some of their product lines as sales grow.
12. DPDW has made it to the next level where they are capitalized, larger, integrated and staffed to the degree larger companies will be comfortable placing more and larger orders. It is a common catch-22 for smaller growth companies that even if you have the best products and service available the largest companies may still give their business of a larger competitor of yours until the client sees you've attained a certain size yourself. Large companies want guarantees you will stay in business and can deliver on large contracts. DPDW is entering this phase now.
These are some basic ideas I'd focus on in continuing analysis of the company and their future prospects.
Take care and happy investing