The Energy Report: Garth, a year ago, Blackbird Energy Inc. (BBI:TSX.V) was a true penny stock. You were trading at about CA$0.07/share and your market valuation was below CA$11 million (CA$11M). Today your market cap is about CA$120M. How did you create so much shareholder value with energy prices plummeting?
Garth Braun: Let me start with the issue of falling energy prices. Blackbird is, at present, agnostic to commodity prices. Due to nonmaterial revenue generated from our noncore assets, we don’t see the current commodity price environment as a negative, but rather as an opportunity to grow even faster. Because of that, we are not making our decisions based on cash flow fluctuations.
When we went out to raise capital in fall 2014, we attracted numerous institutions that deployed capital into Blackbird because of our ability to execute—not just on drilling, but also on land capture and solving infrastructure issues. To put this in the simplest terms, we are able to grow the company and move it forward.
Our Elmworth Block—where we are in the midst of testing our first two Montney wells—will not have production tied in until later this year (Q4/15 or Q1/16), if they prove as prospective as we believe. That’s our core focus, and where we are delineating and derisking a very large contiguous block of land, up to 24 sections.
TER: I see that you have recently acquired an additional 11 sections of Elmworth Montney properties, for a total of 47 sections. In addition, you’ve acquired 77 sections of East Wapiti Montney land, as well as four more sections of Elmworth Montney properties that are noncontiguous with current Elmworth Montney properties. How much do you own? Do you have it all to yourself?
GB: We own a 100% working interest on all lands. The 11 sections of …read more