Folks, I am on vacation this week in sunny Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and it is difficult, but not impossible to get motivated to research and write in constant 30 degree Celsius sunshine (especially after 4 o’clock!).
I have had a couple interesting conversations I would share. Two of our cabbies are ex-illegal aliens in the US – one had spent the last 10 years in chilly Chicago, the other 5 years in Portland Oregon, sending money back home. But because of the recession, there were no jobs for them so they are now driving taxi in “Zihua”.
I had a great chat with a fellow Vancouverite down here who had spent the last 2 years in San Miguel de Allende, a bohemian town 3 hours north of Mexico City in the altiplano. All of 24 years old, she was a silversmith in town. (I spent a week there when I first met my wife 14 years ago – very cool place – a beautiful colonial town with healthcare!)
I asked her what her favourite spot was in Mexico, and she said there are still untamed beaches in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the real (as opposed to touristy) Mexico still lives on the coast, and the only white folk are leftover hippies. She said life is very tranquil, very different – she said life has not changed much in some of these places for the last 100 years. That would be worth trying to see (without 3 kids in tow).
I am getting more feedback on various stories from readers, and I’m grateful. I’ll share one (anonymously, and with permission) on the recent story I did on Reece Energy:
“Hello, I read your article on Reece Energy with interest and have a few comments for you.
”I agree that their massive Q4-Q1 spending and the consequent debt led to their take-over by PWT. However, they got in that mess due to serious management errors in the direction the company took over the past year. Reece was indeed the industry leader in drilling “HD-MSF” wells in the Viking sand in the Dodsland area. They drilled the first such well there in December 2007 and currently have drilled approximately 30 HD-MSF wells in that project, all successful.
“Their big mistake was to NOT leverage this advantage into securing a large land base in this project – it could have been done relatively easily and inexpensively, as several other small operators have secured land bases substantially larger than Reece’s over the past year. Reece has essentially drilled up everything they can in Dodsland and as you pointed out, their lack of success in the Bakken and Shaunavon plays meant that they had nowhere to go.
”Their big mistake was to spend millions on land acquisition and drilling in the crappy left-over areas in the Bakken and Shaunavon plays – they were 2-3 years too late! All the good land was gone. They should have spent their millions in Dodsland instead.”
Thank you for the feedback and keep it coming – I read and respond to all of it!
Please forgive me that we may not keep up our regular postings for the next week.
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