Weekly News Week of Apr 30-Jun 10, 2003
May was another good month for the company. We are slowly chiseling away on debt, and looking forward to rearranging our financing. When the smoke clears I hope to have access to a reasonable amount of cash to carefully invest in short term projects that have the prospects of paying out in 2-3 months. As I can build cash flow, our ability to service our existing debt increases and we gain confidence for bigger expenditures later.
John, Sarah and I are holding up well on the work requirements for well pulling and roust about work. John works part time 2-3 days per week and Sarah works part time 2-3 days per week. I don't get as much done as when I had a full time helper, but it is offset by the savings in money.
Cash flow is my best friend and I have been diligently working to cut costs and start re-building the bank account. Personally we are getting back on our feet from the budget and emotional shell shock associated with Cindy's Leukemia. Blaine Exploration is getting back on its feet after paying off some key loans and increasing income by renting out part of the property to our next store neighbor "Bell Camper Sales". Now we have about 15 RVs in our yard and getting some rental income.
Gateway is just barely starting to respond to my efforts after about 9 months of touch and go struggles (see previous news letters). There is always an issue to deal with or something to fix, but so far we are pulling out of the slump that started last year. Although I am still very nervous and concerned about the tiniest expenditures. We just have too much debt for the cash flow available and this must be re-arranged. It is slow hard work, but I seem to be making progress and am feeling better about where we are going. As I look back on the past 9 months I wonder how we made it all, but by staying cool and hanging on, we live to tell the tale, and have the opportunity to hope for the future.
Some of the highlights of the past 6 weeks have been: Anderson A has been turned back on after a long repair due to lightning strikes and moles taking out the under ground wiring. We are preparing to work on our last, but worst disposal well (Brown 3-W) as per OCC requirements. Oil sales above $15,000 for May.
My main focus at this time is to produce oil and make a profit. Those profits are going to be used to pay down credit lines and build a cash reserve for further use. I intend to focus solely on projects and activities that can produce pay outs of less than 3 months. While it may not seem grandiose, pulling a well for $500 that will make $2000 in 2 months is a great investment. I recover my seed capital and have extra money to take on a bigger project down the road. We have tools and skills to pull wells and I intend on using my pulling units to build our cash flow and credit lines to new levels of capability. We have wells that need to be pulled and they can produce oil, not it great quantities, but still sufficient to offset expenses and provide an early payout.