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| Mitchell Group |
Through asset purchases from several major oil & gas companies in 1991, Pakenham field was established. In 1994, Riata sold Pakenham field to Chevron for $97 million. In 1995, Riata acquired 200,000 acres of prospective acreage in the Pinon Field. Soon after, Riata became the sole operator in the area through a purchase from FINA.
In 1997, Riata purchased its first rig through an operating subsidiary, Lariat Services. Over the subsequent few years, Riata expanded its rig fleet to increase exploration and development. Additionally, Riata acquired and built-out gathering systems and treating plants through its midstream services subsidiary, ROC Gas Company. In 2003, Riata purchased an initial interest in Petrosource, an integrated CO2 Company. In 2005, Riata began development of its Piceance Basin acreage. In January 2006, Riata filed an S-1 to go public. However, in July 2006, Mr. Mitchell sold a $500 million controlling stake to Mr. Tom Ward, former co-founder of Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK).
In November 2006, Riata Energy purchased National Energy Group for $1.5 billion from American Real Estate Partners, an entity controlled by Carl Icahn. National Energy Group's core assets were in the Val Verde and Permian Basins of West Texas, including overlapping or contiguous interests in Riata's properties. Soon after, Riata's headquarters were moved to Oklahoma City, OK and SandRidge Energy became the Company's new name.
SandRidge made its initial public offering in November 2007, offering 28 million common shares for $26.00/share. At time of IPO, Mr. Mitchell was the second largest shareholder of SandRidge's common stock. The Company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker SD.
In December 2006, Mr. Mitchell resigned from daily management at SandRidge. From 1985-2006, Mr. Mitchell built Riata Energy into one of the largest privately-held energy companies in the United States. Riata's key characteristics and milestones include:
(1) 2006 Revenue and EBITDA of approximately $388mm and $93mm, respectively
(2) 1 TCF in proved reserves
(3) Operated for BP, Chevron, Conoco, Exxon, Occidental, amongst others
(4) Executed the largest farm-out agreement in Exxon's history, covering approximately 200 square miles, which committed Riata to drilling 25 wells per year
(5) 300 miles of gas gathering pipeline
(6) Greater than 34,000 horsepower of gas compression
(7) At one time, Riata owned and operated the second largest under-balanced drilling Company in the world
(8) In 2006, Lariat Services (Riata's field services and drilling subsidiary), owned or operated 43 drilling rigs, had assets, sales, and 3rd party net income of $175mm, $139mm, and $33mm respectively
(9) In 2006, Riata completed approximately one well per day

New Ventures
Shortly after stepping down from SandRidge, Mr. Mitchell founded Mitchell Group in an effort to return to the entrepreneurial stage of the energy industry. Substantially all of the key management who worked for Mr. Mitchell at Riata/SandRidge left the Company and joined him at Mitchell Group.
The Case for International
In early 2008, Mitchell Group determined that greater, conventional opportunities existed internationally. Mitchell Group began targeting investments with the following features:
Company specific:
(1) Management/technical team with an international record and in-country staff
(2) Large, undeveloped, onshore acreage base
(3) Potential to reproduce Riata's vertically integrated drilling & service business, Lariat Services
Country specific:
(4) Feature attractive fiscal terms, including tax and royalty rates
(5) Known petroleum systems but only sparsely explored
(6) Import a meaningful share of oil & gas (i.e. Turkey dependent on Russia)
(7) Improve results through technology and scale
(8) Introduce service business with very little competition
Mitchell Group's International Vehicle: TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd.
In 2008 and 2009, Mitchell Group invested over CDN $185 million in TransAtlantic. Mr. Mitchell became the Company's Chairman and former Riata Energy executive, Matt McCann, became TransAtlantic's CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Mitchell Group's commitment to TransAtlantic extends beyond just financial. The Group has committed key operational and technical resources, including former successful managers from Riata and National Energy Group.
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