Two Oil & Gas Stocks With Room To Grow

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $5.21 (Toronto symbol BIR; SI Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Units outstanding: 112.4 million; Market cap: $585.6 million) is focused on oil and gas exploration, development and production in northwestern Alberta’s Peace River Arch area. Last year, Birchcliff paid Compton Petroleum $263.3 million in cash for light oil production and drilling prospects at Worsely. The light oil assets complement Birchcliff’s gas assets. It can now choose between directing spending to either light oil opportunities or natural gas, depending on market conditions. Birchcliff’s other main interest is its Montney/Doig horizontal gas drilling program at Pouce Coupe. The company continues to drill at Pouce Coupe employing advanced horizontal drilling techniques. This involves drilling development wells sideways or at an angle to reach isolated pockets of oil and gas, or to follow a reservoir spread out in a narrow layer. Horizontal drilling works well in situations where conventional drilling is either impossible or too costly. In the three months ended June 30, 2008, cash flow…