Company Profile
Underground Energy was formed in 2007 as a Delaware corporation. Its headquarters are in Santa Barbara, California.
Underground Energy is an exploration and production company focused on unlocking oil and gas from shale plays, principally in the Western US. The company has a strong team, quality assets, and a focused approach to growth. The team is comprised of highly experienced oil and gas exploration and production, project management, land and resource conservation, and environmental compliance professionals who have worked around the world, but whose primary expertise is in California. In addition to the team, the assets of the company include oil and gas exploration and development assets in California and Nevada.
Underground Energy is committed to be an industry leader applying advanced technologies in the development of environmentally responsible projects, raising the standard of practice for oil exploration and development. Our business and projects will invest in local communities and contribute to their economic vitality through quality jobs, utilization of local contractors and services, and payment of taxes and royalties. The company and our employees also have a history of giving back to the local community through various charitable and non-profit endeavors.
Company History
Underground Energy, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation on June 4, 2007. The corporation became a public company in August, 2011 with trading commencing on the TSX Venture Exchange on 22 August, 2011 under the trading symbol “UGE”. Through August, 2011, the company has raised a total of approximately $36.5 million in operating capital.
Since inception, the company has built an organization of employees in key positions plus a well qualified team of consultants to provide the in-depth business and technical skills, expertise and personnel resources to conduct the Company’s business.
Underground Energy is primarily focused on aggregating large-scale shale oil opportunities to which the latest geological evaluation and recovery techniques can be applied. The Company has identified and acquired prime hydrocarbon resources. The company has focused initial efforts on California because of the abundance of oil resources, particularly in the historic and prolific Monterey Shale, close proximity to infrastructure, multiple markets for the heavy oil, available human resources with oil production experience, local knowledge of the industry, and workable regulatory and permitting conditions for oil operations. In addition to California, the company has prospects in Nevada.
Focused Approach to Growth
Underground Energy employs a focused approach to growth. The company is currently focused on large scale oil-prone shale plays in the Western US. These oil-prone shales have generated billions of barrels of oil over millions of years, but historically were believed to be only source rocks unless naturally fractured. Advanced technologies, developed in the last 5-10 years are enabling naturally fractured source rocks to be more easily identified and produced, and oil and gas to be unlocked from the tight source rocks. The advanced technologies utilized by Underground Energy are opening up a huge potential for new production in otherwise mature petroleum basins of the US.
The company has screened a broad spectrum of shale play opportunities and has identified a few key plays where both the play’s characteristics are attractive and the company’s expertise is strong. These opportunities will provide for high impact, large scale developments of primarily oil-prone shales, or resource opportunities. The company’s initial play opportunities are in the naturally fractured Monterey Shale in Central California (Santa Maria Basin), and in the emerging Mississippian and Paleozoic shale plays in Nevada’s Great Basin.
The company will mitigate geological risk by:
- Generating multiple prospects selected in areas where oil and gas have been proven to exist,
- Conducting analog field studies to determine the key success factors,
- Utilizing independent third party confirmation of the scale of prospects and chance of discovery,
- Employing advanced technologies for formation evaluation and seismic acquisition and
interpretation, and Partnering where warranted.
Additionally, the company prides itself on it internal knowledge of the ins and out of permitting oil and gas drilling and production in California. The company has mitigated its permitting risks by:
- Selecting acreage blocks in remote areas, out of view from the general public,
- Studying potential impacts to neighbors and the environment and then working in cooperation with neighbors and regulators to mitigate the impacts in a cost effective manner,
- Employing local labor and professional expertise, familiar with the strict requirements of the local communities,
- Minimizing the footprint of drilling locations by using multi-well drilling pads, and
- Reaching out to land owners, neighbors, and the larger community to keep them informed about the projects and the mitigations put in place.