NEW YORK, May 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Wall Street Reporter Magazine has just published an exclusive interview with John Schiller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Energy XXI (LSE:EGY), updating the investment community on the soon-to-be NASDAQ-listed company's success in locating and acquiring existing Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbon assets where it can add value.
"When we set out, one of the things we focused on was finding older, more marginal oil fields that we felt, with our background, had more upside in them," Mr. Schiller tells Wall Street Reporter senior analyst Todd Santorelli. "Basically, oil is your friend in an oil reservoir, it helps you get the oil out of the ground, whereas in a gas reservoir it hurts you."
The 8-minute interview is now available at http://wallstreetreporter.com in streaming audio, MP3, and text format -- all free of charge.
Highlights include detailed discussions of the following topics:
-- How his company doubled production on its lead asset, one of the
Top 10 oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico, in its first year of
operation.
-- Ongoing exploration programs in southern Louisiana "We've very
excited with what we're seeing out there," he says. "We've seen at
least a dozen leads already on what to drill."
-- The recent acquisition of Gulf of Mexico shelf properties from POGO
Producing Company (NYSE:PPP), which should boost the company's
reserve base around 50% and production by around 40%. "When we
close the POGO deal, we expect our total production on an
equivalent oil-per-day basis to be in excess of around 27,000
barrels of oil."
-- The management team's extensive (and varied) collective pedigree in
the E&P and service industries.
-- Plans for a NASDAQ listing in the next few weeks.
-- His own forecasts for 10% organic growth over the next few years,
as well as emerging international production.
"We've got great underlying value, we've got some of the most profitable barrels in the business," he tells Wall Street Reporter. "When you look at our EBITDA per barrel it's in excess of $47 at the field level. Partly because of where our properties are located and partly because of how good a job we do at hedging and keeping expenses down."
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About Energy XXI
Energy XXI is an exploration and production company focused on acquiring and exploiting producing oil and gas reserves. The company leverages management's global experience and utilizes hedging to lock in attractive returns on our acquired properties. Currently, we have interests in 40 producing fields located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore in the Gulf Coast areas. Over 70% of our reserves are located on company-operated properties and 59% of our reserves are gas. Our acreage position of more than 200,000 acres provides us with a significant exploitation and drilling inventory. Energy XXI intends to grow rapidly through strategic acquisitions while maintaining our financial discipline.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, risk factors inherent in doing business. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "forecasts," "potential," or "continue," or similar terms or the negative of these terms. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The company has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.