Latest / Pioneer Mind Podcast / Unlocking Oil Investments: Insights from Encore Energy
Transcript
- Mark Workman: Welcome to the Mark Workman Show. And we're just thank you so much for joining us today. We have a great guest. I'm excited to have him. I I love this guy. He knows I do. I actually tell him that on the phone. so it's not a mystery to him how much respect I have for what he's doing and and This is Steve Stengel with Encore Energy. And really, he's coming today with some exciting news for some discoveries they've made and the opportunities to invest in oil and gas. And he's we're going to talk all about that today. We really encourage you to listen closely and and reach out to Steve if you're interested in this type of program. he would explain it even more to you in the future. But there's some exciting news today, and he's just gonna get right into it. thanks, Steve, for joining me, and the floor is yours. Steve: Great. Well well Mark, I'm really excited today to announce that not only have we made three oil and gas discoveries in a row or or one discovery well with two two offset pr successful producers that are going into production. we ultimately feel like we can drill upwards of fifteen to twenty horizontal wells. On this proven trend where each and every Mark Workman: Wow. Steve: well is going to be proven and offset to another producer. Okay. And with horizontal drilling technology and the multi stage fracking, not only do we believe that we can be successful at least 90% of the time, but we also believe that we're going to be meeting the ORI. We're going to be bringing that ORI well above industry average. And right now, our first project is averaging about a 38 to 40 percent ROI cash. Now, when you take the tax benefit and you add it to the mix, your investment is looking to be over close to 60% first year. Okay. Mark Workman: Wow. Steve: And The the first well is the H1A that's currently in production. That's what you're receiving your checks on every month, which you know are in the range of thirty five hundred dollars a month for a one hundred thousand dollar investment. Okay. And the second well we've drilled looks looks very similar, if not identical, to the H1A, the first well, and the third well, which is the H three A, looks better. well above both of those wells. We really got into some great pay on that well. And of course we're drilling our our project to the north, which is offset to a producer to the north. And then we're drilling another well offset to the H3A as well. So, you know, we've got about ten to fifteen more horizontal locations out here. And we believe that we could have anywhere from 12 to 17 locations in total. And all of those are PUD locations. Every well we drill is going to be offset to another producer. So, you know, we've really been able to de-risk the area. And with the tax benefits, you know, it's becoming, it's getting ready to be the fourth quarter. And everybody that's Mark Workman: Right. Steve: in the In the investment world for oil and natural gas, they're looking for those tax advantages. And you know, with with Encore, I'll just come out and say it. We have the best. Ours are better than everyone else. And the reason why is there are no middlemen. You're you're investing operator direct. Your money goes direct to the wellhead. There's no intermediaries. investment companies or broker dealers or anything like that. Mark Workman: Which which is really unheard of, really. Steve: Right, exactly. And so it's it's operator direct. And then also with horizontal drilling and fracking, the multi-stage fracking is a huge part of what we do and it's very it's 100% intangible in nature. So Mark Workman: Right. Steve: our first year Intangible drilling cost deduction calculates at like eighty seven point two, which is higher Mark Workman: Right. Steve: across the industry than you know, ninety percent of the operators. And so in the first year, especially in in states where you have both a pretty significant state income tax alongside the federal tax, you could see thirty to forty percent tax savings. And maybe, you know, to where when you make let's say a hundred thousand dollars or more investment, but let's just say on a hundred thousand dollars, you're looking at risk of sixty-eight to seventy-four thousand, you know. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: And and then that makes the cash flow, when you start cash flowing these wells, and you know, right now all indications are is we're gonna be approaching In the range of a hundred thousand dollars of gross revenue per well per month. That's kind of our baseline target. Okay. Mark Workman: Isn't that amazing? It's just staggering how you know how well you've led this because, you know, I know you're the foundational person to kind of lead the charge on all the research because you've taught me quite a bit about that and the amount of time you put into discovering these things in terms of your research on former wells and how they've done and how close you are and all those kind of things, it's a real testament to how hard you work. But you know, really when they call they're talking to the guy that's done all that research that knows. Steve: Right, exactly. And and you know, the the thing is we have investors visiting with us like you have it, you visited with us and they visit with us quite regularly and we love it. And once an investor comes to the field, they start to understand that you know, in the oil and gas industry, most oil and gas investments are structured to meet the needs of the investor. Okay, and that sounds great, but they focus on time to drilling, time to production, and rate, initial rate. Okay. How quickly can you drill? How quickly can you get turned back around and get a check to me? And how much will the well produce? Well, when you're drilling a vertical well and you drill it in 90 days and you have a checkout in six months. Well, that feels good, but the reality is that check is going to be short-lived and you're going to see decline if you even make a well. Okay. And so with horizontal drilling and fracking, we've been able to go into tight oil Appalachia sands where 90% or better are being successful. And not only successful, but delivering a very good return on investment. Okay. And ultimately we're targeting in the 35 to 40 percent range, but we want to do better. We're not out here looking for, you know, locking it in. We're looking for like on the H3 we just drilled, we we don't really know what to expect there, but we expect a lot better than that. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: And you know. on the well that we're getting ready to drill next to the what we call the core well, you know, that well made close to 30,000 barrels in the first year. And if if our well made that at the current at the current price levels and everything, you would be pushing near, you know, a cash return exceeding 50%, maybe approximating much higher. You know, if that's the case. So we're looking, you know, the horizontal wells with multi stage fracking are not only about de risking, they're about providing a higher upside potential. And and I believe investors that have put their money in oil and gas, they want a shot at that upside potential. Okay. And there are wells out here. in this in these sands that are doing to the equivalent of you know payouts in less than a year. And Mark Workman: wow. Steve: I'm not saying that you're gonna get that all the time. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: But that exists. That exists. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: And the downside is the 25-30% targets, you know. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: But there's a lot of There's a lot of companies that are promoting, you know, maybe initially you get a 20% return, and then in every subsequent year you get 10% for many years. Well, that's not a reason to do oil and gas, you know. And then Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: we we're focused on the future and potentially delivering an exit strategy in seven years or something like that through big oil that really provides a lot better upside to the investor. Okay. Mark Workman: So you're creating you're creating an attractive environment to get noticed as well, not just not just on the initial investment, getting a nice return, but long term you're trying to get noticed as well to get pu you know, maybe maybe purchased. Steve: Well, you know, I heard an ad over a year or so ago saying invest in a piece of your own oil field, and that's what we do. Okay. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: You're not investing in a project. You're investing in an oil field. You're investing in a resource, you're investing in a reservoir, and that's what we're doing. Okay. Wells do not really produce oil. The reservoir produces oil. Okay. Wells Mark Workman: Right. Steve: are just conduits. Okay. So if you drill in the right area and you're getting the right pay and you're getting in the right areas of the reservoir, you're more likely to make the higher volume returns. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Yeah, that's interesting. You know, and Steve: Love that. Mark Workman: you know, the the oil fields in obviously such a dicey thing and you you love it because you if I get you going, all gotta do is say one comment and you you can go for a long time. You know, you really Steve: Right, right. Mark Workman: love what you do and I know you do. you know, what is what's the biggest risk for an investor other than maybe you know the well doesn't work out, but you know, what's something they need to know going in? you know you know, so they're Steve: Well well. Mark Workman: not you know, not creating false expectations. Steve: Well, you know, the the investors that we're typically looking for are you know, you have to be an accredited investor. And I would say the majority of our investors are well above five million net worth. A lot of them are in the twenty to thirty or higher. Okay. And we have some, Mark Workman: So they're yeah. Steve: you know, and their objective is to diversify in multiple horizontal wells. As we develop a field. And as we develop a field, every time we drill, we have more data and we learn more. Okay? Now that doesn't mean that every well is going to get better and better and better. That's what we hope for. But as we progress, we start making better wells based on better information. And Mark Workman: Right. Steve: as we progress, Encore's investors are putting up more money with the with the expectation of a better return and lower risk. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Mm-hmm. Steve: And that's because of data. Okay? Collective data. As you drill this well, you learn a lot more about the well you're about to drill. When you drill that well, you learn a lot more about the wells you've already drilled and the next one you're going to drill. All right. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: And so yeah, you know, ultimately I am looking for investors that have not only a need for the tax benefit and want good monthly income, but they want a value creation, an appreciating asset that has a long term strategic plan. Okay. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: It keeps things exciting, you know. Mark Workman: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: they wanna own an oil field. They wanna own part of an entire oil field and not just one well. Yeah. Mark Workman: You know, I've never thought of it that way. as an investor, I my plan has always been to be very, you know, pretty level and pretty consistent. You probably see that in me, is that I kinda, you know, i i every project you have come up, I pretty much sew some money into it. But I I don't go crazy and I don't, you know, it's go the low side. I just kind of keep it pretty even. That's kind of my plan. That's the way I think, I guess. but at the same time. well I can't forget what my point was gonna be, but basically You know, for me, the consistency is what helps, but you know, I having the direct contact you has been a big deal. I think the idea of having ownership is a big deal to me. That I don't tell people that I'm a part owner in an oil field. I don't talk that way. I don't even tell people what I'm doing, actually. I'm pretty quiet about it. But I Steve: Right, right. Mark Workman: think I think you just hit on something there, is that we're actually doing a buy-in as a with you. It's not just us vesting in a project. You mentioned that earlier. not investing in a project, it's actually you're getting into an ownership position that you know, you get skin in the game at that point. You start th you start thinking differently when you have skin Steve: Right, right, right. Right. Mark Workman: when you have skin in the game. Wouldn't that be true? Steve: Yeah. And so like these wells out here, I mean, you know, they they may have a hundred thousand barrels of oil, maybe more in the ground. And, you know, in the first first five years, you may produce, you know, half of that Mark Workman: Right. Steve: or or something, and you still have maybe fifty, seventy-five thousand barrels left in the ground. in five to seven years, that's a lot of money. Okay. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: And so, you know, we try to produce the wells to where we we can achieve a desirable rate of return, but we don't pull on them too hard, so that we still got a lot of good reserves in the ground for many years. All right, maybe for 20 years, you know. Yeah. Mark Workman: Right. Right. Twenty years. That's that's just astounding, isn't it? Steve: Yeah. And you know, big oil, they like almost exactly opposite of what an investor wants. Okay. The big the investor wants big checks, big tax benefits, fast, fast, fast. And what big oil wants is they want years of an annuity of revenue. And it doesn't have to be knocking knocking it out of the park. You know, it just has to be. Solid revenue that justifies and validates their reserve studies. Okay. Because their reserve studies and their reserve reports, that's what really moves a publicly traded EMP company. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: Yes, production is important, but really not as important as their reserves. All right. So, you know, with Encore, we're trying to give the investor. The great tax benefit, the the great return on investment, and then a long-term strategy. Now, what is the downside to horizontal drilling? It takes a little longer. Okay. And when you're developing a horizontal oil field, it takes longer and produces a lot more oil than a conventional vertical field. It's that simple. Mark Workman: Right. Right. Steve: Okay. Mark Workman: So that's probably that's probably the big challenge for the investor side of it and just mentally, you know, I always say I'm trying I'm always learning new skills. And one of the new skills I always I have on my whiteboard is I'm developing the skill of waiting, you know. And Steve: Right. Mark Workman: it it it's hard on investors when they've maybe written a check, got the process going. you're updating, you're amazing that way, but the time frame to develop these projects can be probably hard on the investor in their mental state, I would say. And I imagine you're doing a little bit of counseling all the time, I would think, with that, but maybe not. Steve: Well, the thing what what what I tell people is when you make write a check and you get involved in this, it's a long term investment. Okay. Mark Workman: It is. Steve: You gotta you gotta remember ninety percent of what you hear about the oil and gas business from all legitimate sources is not true. Okay. It's made up. All right. big oil paints this beautiful picture of how much oil we have and All that, and that's not true, okay. it's not that we're gonna run out of oil, we're gonna run out of cheap oil, and that's Mark Workman: Right. Steve: not something that might happen, that's something that's going to happen, okay? And that's because oil and gas reservoirs are pressure depleted, we're not drilling anymore. Okay, or we're not drilling anywhere near the rate that we need to. All right. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: And you know, you think about it like this, we've we've drilled in so many areas across the globe. When you start looking again, it's harder because you already looked here, you've already looked here. It's just the way it is. And so Mark Workman: Right. Steve: we have to go deeper. Deeper means more money to explore. We have to go Mark Workman: Right. Steve: longer laterals, more money. Okay? Mark Workman: Yeah, you you've described it as we've taken all the low hanging fruit fruit in previous Steve: We we Mark Workman: podcasts. You talk about we've gotten kind of the easy stuff and now we have to you know, there's still oil. We just gotta work harder to get it. Steve: Right, we gotta work harder to get it, and all that work hard work will be reflected in the price. Mark Workman: Sure. Steve: You know? So, but ultimately, you know, I feel fantastic where we're at right now. We've we've drilled three great wells in a row, with our best well being the last well. We've drilled, we're getting ready to drill what we consider our best drilling prospect on paper and Our best drilling prospect offset volume, which means we're drilling in an area where this is the largest well we've ever drilled in close proximity to. Does that make sense? Mark Workman: Okay. Yeah. Steve: Yeah. And so we're we feel really great about that project. And you know, right there at the H1A, we made a discovery well there. What was it two years ago? And now we're planting eight wells there. And we've Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: drilled three so far, you know? And so mm-hmm. Mark Workman: Right. Right. And and you got you got that doesn't include the Caperton and some of those other projects, right? That's just this H one. Steve: Right, right. Those are to the north. Yeah, the Caperdon is our next big well that we're going to be drilling. And that that of course is offset to big oil and offset to big production, you know, so we're pretty excited about that. Mark Workman: I bet. So, can you explain more how the tax deduction works? Yeah, I mean Steve: Okay, so let's and let's use a $100,000 investment example because it's clean and easy. If you invest $100,000, that means $87,000 of your investment, you can deduct the year you write the check. So like in 2026 in the fourth quarter, anytime right now someone invests, they can take the tax benefit for the 26th tax year. Okay. So they could use $87,000 right now as a deduction for 2026. Now, the other thing you can do there, let's say you don't need the 87,000, which most of Encore's clients do need it. Okay. But let's Mark Workman: Yeah, I yeah. Steve: say you don't, you can take a hundred thousand dollar deduction, split over five years, 2020, 20, 20, 20. Okay. We call that the amortization. But the majority of everybody Mark Workman: Yeah, yeah amateur is it out the majority of Steve: takes the first year 87%. Okay. And then the 13% is amortized. You receive those deductions in future years. And then, of course, 15% of the production revenue for the life of the well as a depletion allowance is also tax deductible. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: So Not only is it a hundred percent tax deductible, it's really more than that. Okay, because you Mark Workman: Right. Steve: get to deduct a lot of the revenue from the well. You know. So, but no, we we Mark Workman: Right. And y and and yeah, and I already know this, but y you send out K ones and you know, there's quite a bit of accounting done on your end that we receive and it really makes it quite simple, in Steve: Yes. Yeah. It's it's it's Mark Workman: my opinion. Steve: it's real simple. when when someone first inquires about an investment, we send out an a an example of a prior year K one that was actually sent out showing the eighty seven thousand dollar or 87% IDC. And that really that model that we send out is for them to hand to their CPA. Because Mark Workman: Right. Steve: as soon as he gets that model and the letter from our CPA firm explaining it, they don't have any questions. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: It's easy peasy for tax preparation. Mark Workman: Do you find that most people not, you know, CPAs not involved with the oil field really don't know about the program, or do are they aware of Steve: Well, Mark Workman: it? Steve: here's the thing. If they don't know about the program, when they get this document from R CPA firm and the K one example, they know about it and they agree. Nobody Mark Workman: Sure. Yeah. Steve: calls me up and says, Hey, this isn't legit. You know, it's here it is. This is how it works. Okay. And you know, the Mark Workman: Right. Steve: the thing about it is, this was created in nineteen eighty six, and the intent of the federal government Was to provide incentives to promote domestic drilling. So they Mark Workman: Right. Steve: want you to have this tax benefit. The IRS Mark Workman: Right. Steve: wants you to have it so long as you're investing in a well that's drilled, et cetera, et cetera. You know, if you're doing that. Huh? Mark Workman: Well, it's a national security issue, you know. Steve: Exactly. Mark Workman: You know, energy, you know, as you know, we know what's going on in the world politically, but you know, energy is a national security issue. you you know, and you know, I guess we're depleting our reserves and I don't know if that's true or not, but I mean those are the kind of the reports you get with some of the things going on right now. But you know, those Steve: Right. Mark Workman: oil and gas is not a small thing to be involved with and it's really important for the future of our country, of our families, and you know, those kind of things. So to me that's all that's a big motion. motivator as well because I really care about that. Steve: Right. And you know, we we are shipping directly to the refinery and we get our oil is in the forty degree range, gravity, which is the premium stuff. Okay. Mark Workman: Okay. Yeah, that's the best. Steve: Yeah. If you go to WTI Plains Index and you look, we get the highest price for crude oil. I mean, pretty much in the country, because it's good oil, it's forty degree, it's conventional oil, it's not shell. oil so it's kinda light, medium, and it is what it is what the buyers like because Mark Workman: Right. Steve: it can be used here, it can be used elsewhere, and it's very versatile. And they they really like the oil. That's it's a great product, you know. Yeah. Mark Workman: Right. Well that yeah, and that that matters. You know, obviously you wanna you know, they're if they're yeah, it makes it easier for you to sell. You know, really it's interesting Steve: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Mark Workman: how you've hit these wells and all the work you've done, you know, preparing for this, and then you know, it's it's fortuitous that we do have a higher price structure in place as you're initiating these wells. And I don't know how long that'll last, but it it's it's gotta be a A huge blessing for you in terms of what you've planned and done. Steve: Yeah, I mean it is a blessing, but the reality is we've been living in a lie for a long time with oil prices Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: since 2014. Okay. Mark Workman: Yep. Steve: And look, it's not just me. Everybody in the oil and gas industry believes what I'm about to say. And that is we're headed for a tsunami of much higher prices. Because Mark Workman: Definitely. Without a s yeah. Steve: I mean, it's it doesn't take and when you hear about price analysis. from the news or from analyst. Nobody wants to dive into the real far left of the supply side. Okay? Everybody wants to talk about Iran and disruptions and things like that. Nobody wants to talk about the fact that we're producing records amount of crude oil at the world level at this at the global you know, Maybe a hundred and seven million barrels, a hundred and five a day in that range. But we're doing it at much lower reservoir pressures. We are pushing our wells hard. Okay? And we haven't been drilling. And the fact that we haven't really been drilling is what's going to drive up the price because when when Trump first came into office in his first term, There were quite a few wells drilled, all right, in the, let's call it the the shell play, the US shell play, being both the the national shell play and the Permian Basin, all right? And then as we moved more into the Permian Basin and less into the existing shell plays, under Biden, there was not a lot of drilling. But guess what? There was more fracking under Biden than there was under Trump. That's because it was drill under Trump, frack under Biden, because Mark Workman: Right. Steve: drilling requires permits. Fracking doesn't require permits. They are permitted as a part of the drilling permit process. Mark Workman: Yeah, as a completion process. Steve: Right, as the completion process. So, you know, during the Biden era, we fracked. And now we are coming into about what, on average of three to five years from the Biden era of when the fracking started in in the first, let's say two years of his term. All right. We had a lot of wells awaiting frack. We don't have those wells awaiting frack anymore. And most of that flush production that you're seeing from that period is explaining why we're having 13.7 million barrels a day right now. Okay. But that's getting ready to go down because all of the bat Biden fracking, the flush, which means, as you know. These shell wells come up and start out producing a whole lot, and then they and then they and then they start to decline. All right. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: They start to decline. And right, right. And so Mark Workman: Fast too. Ver very fast. Steve: and so an encore's goal is to make money off that decline because we want to get the tax benefit. We want to get at least three, five years of production. You get the majority of your good production, then when you got your wells down to a what I call more of a stripper rate for fifteen years, that's when they're really valuable from an annuity reserve perspective to large oil companies. Okay. Nobody thinks about that. All right. But what the large oil companies Mark Workman: Well have you you've used you've used the word annuity twice now. I is that for investors in you know who come to this and don't know anything? You you have to do a lot of teaching. Is that a good word to use or not? Steve: No it no the the the big oil the big oil companies like the annuity because see what moves the big oil company publicly traded is reserves. All right. And what what makes your reserves is your production validating the reserves you're claiming in your reports. Okay. So If a big oil can go out and get lots of reserves, lots of resources, and it's steady eddy, they really like that. Okay. Now Mark Workman: Right. Steve: they're gonna have more aggressive things in their portfolio, but if they've got this real steady eddy Appalachia basin stripper horizontal well production that goes for the next fifteen years without changing anything, they like that. Okay? Because it's solid. All right. Mark Workman: Mm-hmm. Steve: And so the bigger oil companies love to come in and buy out existing oil fields that are consolidated, which means they can connect. Okay. They connect assets. And that's what's happened, you know, in the Appalachia Basin. Everything's being balled out. So all of our neighbors want to connect to us at some point in time. All right. Does that make sense? Mark Workman: okay. So so that that that's a growing trend then that merger even in your Steve: Yeah. Mark Workman: area. Steve: Yeah. And you know, that might take years to do, but not that many years. And Mark Workman: No. Steve: because Big Will would like to own your asset as soon as it goes into decline, because then that gives them more, you know, maybe fifteen or twenty years of production where they don't have to worry about anything. Does that make sense? That's their that's Mark Workman: Right. Yeah. Steve: their thought process. Mark Workman: Yeah and and Steve: And like I say, big oil is gonna do other things too, but they really like, you know, this is part of their portfolio. This is the low risk part of their portfolio, is big stripper production. All right. Mark Workman: Yeah. Yeah. Well it's it you know the I always say that like and usually have such a great beat on all these subjects. It's amazing how much you know. I always talk to you about that. I and I'm involved in Ofield with you know with RMI supply and and you know my I I'm Steve: Right. Mark Workman: ac I'm actually devi developing a new product Steve: Right. Mark Workman: though it it's the Rhino HD system, it's for horizontal drilling. So I'm I've I've Steve: Right. Mark Workman: devi I you know, cause those guys buy, you know, jugs, you know, they don't buy truckloads. They buy a you know four boxes of PHPA and you know that kind of thing on for a little product on a site. So I'm developing a product line for both both ends of the spectrum. But I'm just amazed at how much there is to learn about the trends and and how easily you can be tricked into You know, especially with high prices, everyone says, you must be making a killing. And I'm like, What are you talking about? It means nothing, you know? And I don't think people realize how intricate all the little things you've talked about, mergers and acquisitions and fifteen years and you know what I mean, the tax deductions. There's there's a lot to learn in this and you're invest Steve: Well, you know, so many investors come right out of the gate. They want to know how quick you can drill, how quick you can get to production, and what's your rate gonna be. And I know right then and there that guy is headed for disaster. Okay, Mark Workman: Right. Steve: and I hate that. But you know, that's money returns on investment. If you want to be an oil and gas investor, you have to think long term. I'm sorry. Maybe you should go do something else. You know, I mean, and Mark Workman: Yeah. Yeah. No, and I I I'm with you. I I you know, just speaking Steve: And and you know Mark Workman: You know, speaking as speaking as an investor, you know, I I approached it that way when I talked to you from the first go. Is Steve: Right, absolutely. Mark Workman: is I literally am, you know, thinking I'm sixty one now and I'm gonna work probably for a long time. I can't imagine quitting doing anything else. But but the point of it is is the return over fifteen when you say fifteen years or even twenty years, I guess I wasn't even totally aware that that's how long it would go. You know what I mean? On on my investments. That's pretty exciting for me just to hear that today. I I I never thought it would be fifteen to twenty years, but you're saying that's possible. Steve: Right. yeah. I mean, no, these wells, the ultimate goal here is, you know, and a lot of these wells may produce oil for fifteen to twenty years and then go straight to gas and just be gas stripper horizontal wells for another ten or fifteen, you know? And Mark Workman: Wow wow. Steve: so they'll just, you know, you just don't know, you know. Mark Workman: It's it's amazing. Steve: yeah. And so, you know, ultimately I I wanna like, you know, with Encore, I'm I'm very happy with the returns that we're making in the East Field. We're I'm very happy with it. I'm very comfortable with delivering a solid return across the board. And I'm really excited about one of these anomalies. Okay. I Mark Workman: Mm-hmm. Steve: think the H3A is gonna be an anomaly. And Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: what I mean by that is it's gonna go like this. You know, it's gonna go way high. All right. And it's gonna be skewing art. What's that? Yeah. Mark Workman: Y look at your face. Look at your face. You're pretty excited. Steve: And you know, it's gonna it's gonna rock. Okay. Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: And this well that we're drilling right now, you know, the question is, is it or the we're getting ready to, you know, the is it gonna outdo that well? And I've got all these investors asking all these questions. I'm like, what does it matter if you're in all of them? Mark Workman: That's exactly right. Yeah, I I Steve: And so, you know, what what I tell investors is when we hit a good well, if you want to be an oil and gas investor, when we hit a good well, I know who my oil and gas investors are. They call me and they're like, what does the data say? Okay, on this well. And then they plan accordingly. And that's what we Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: do in the oil and gas industry. We drill, we stop, we reallocate. Okay. Mark Workman: Well, I I've been the opposite though. I've never asked you for any data and I just do whatever you tell me. Steve: I know it and that's why I tell ya on this H four I told you that we need to talk. Okay. So Mark Workman: Okay, but I you know Steve: I'm Mark Workman: it you know, it really speaks to how you've handled yourself. You know, you know, I've been over the my career, I've I've always been self-employed. I've never really had a job. I've always created my own future. but Steve: Right. Right. Mark Workman: I I would say I've been robbed probably five or six times by partners, close friends, that kind of thing, to the point where I'm so cautious. Steve: Right, right. Mark Workman: That you know, you probably don't know this about me necessarily. I've never talked to you about this, but I've been burned so bad, like Right right to my face. Like I can't even tell you Steve: Right. Mark Workman: how bad it was. And so it made me so cautious. The human race is terrible. I hate to talk this way, but I just got down pretty bar, you know, where I just not I just pulled back and you know, really kind of got made myself almost isolated in some ways with my work. Steve: Right. Mark Workman: But I can tell you that you have, you know, spending time with you on site, meeting the guys. I encourage everybody to take a visit. You will get a feel for this, like, they're on to something here. You know, and I really Steve: Yeah. Mark Workman: I can honestly tell you that, you know, within me is this huge caution about everything because I think I don't trust anybody, you know, and I'm just being truthful. But at the same time, Steve: Yeah. Mark Workman: as an investor, I I've almost gotten to the point where you might not hear from me for months. I if you if Steve: Right. Mark Workman: you'd know that's true. And that really Steve: Right. Mark Workman: is a testimony to you, you know, on how you've taught, how you encourage, how you you know, you communicate endlessly with emails, photographs. videos, it's it's endless, isn't it? You know, you do a lot. Steve: Yeah. And you know, you know, like I I had some investors out there, I guess we were drilling the H3A and we just finished up. And, you know, we've got roads and locations built out of the mountain, all this infrastructure, horizontal drilling, multi-stage fracking, all this stuff. But I told Dan, you see that little trailer over there offside the drilling rig? That's the mudlogging trailer. That's more important Mark Workman: Mm. Steve: than all of that stuff we just discussed together. Okay. That is the single most important thing out here. If you don't have that, you don't have any of the stuff you see around us. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: The understanding of the rock. Okay. It's not a gamble. I'll say that again. It's not a gamble. It is a calculated Mark Workman: Right. Steve: risk based on lithology. Based on rock analysis, comparative analysis over and over again. All right. And that's why Mark Workman: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: we do strat wells. I like to call it cheating. We drill strat wells out in front of us to get a look at the data, like a biopsy, so we can drill and land right in it. Okay. Yes, Mark Workman: Right. Yeah. Steve: it costs money to do that, but it's a fraction. of the horizontal well cost, I'll tell you that. And it is well, it is Mark Workman: Yeah, and you've you've described Yeah. Steve: one heck of a good insurance policy. Okay. Mark Workman: Yeah, you've described the process of we got within four feet of our target. You know, I mean, Steve: Right. Mark Workman: you know, that's how precise you are at thousands of feet, right? And it's pretty amazing that you're able to do that. But, you know, again, you you've done so much work and so much research. and and visiting the site again, just getting to know you, you know, I I would encourage any investor to reach out if you're interested at all. maybe as we close here, g go ahead. Steve: Absolutely. You know, I I I've got guys that come down in groups. I've got people that come down. I mean, literally it's it's it's gotten to be where 90% of my business comes through referrals. They go to Mark Workman: Yeah. Steve: them and say, This is how much I'm making every month. And I've invested with four other oil and gas companies, and it's more than everybody else put together. Okay. Mark Workman: Right. Right. Steve: And so, you know, in the east field. Okay. And that is where we're drilling, where we're gonna be drilling for a very long time. Mark Workman: Right. Well cool. Well, we've covered a lot of ground and as we close out, is there any pitch you want to make at the end here 'cause you've talked about the tax? Steve: You know, I would just tell everybody, you know, we we hit a really great well. I've got two or three projects available right now that are great PUD locations that are really, really good. And when I mean really, really good, I mean they're in that classification of okay, we got more data, so there's lower risk. We've got more data that warrant higher volume return. Okay. And I've got those right now. All right. Mark Workman: Right. Steve: And I've got those that it can not only be one well, but can you could have some diversification as well. And these investors think that they have to go out and they need to get a tax benefit. So they've got to put 300,000 in one well when they could put a hundred thousand in three different wells. Diversification is very important. All right. Mark Workman: Yeah. That's been my approach, you know, and I believe in it, a hundred percent. You know. So data and diversification. Steve: Absolutely. Yeah. Data and diversification. Mark Workman: Yeah. Well, as we close today, again, Steve, thanks for coming. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate discussing with you. we're gonna, you know, keep doing episodes like this as different projects show up. So you remind you to contact them and reach out. again, in the in the description, there will be ways to contact Steve directly. His phone number, the website. you can refer to the podcast and that you heard it. And you've gotten quite a bit of training today, whether you realize it or not. But he you know, Steve will spend time with you. And help guide you to a decision. it might not be for you, might not be for everybody, but you know there's just some incredible opportunities here, and you know, and I can just openly speak to the character of Encore Energy and how they've approached and handled me as an investor. And I'm a huge supporter, so I'm not even gonna lie about that or try to hide any of that. So anyway, if you would also please subscribe and like the show, it really helps us grow. we're getting more and more. views all the time and you know as we try to grow this impact for the oil and gas industry and other industries that I'm promoting, that's really helping. So it's free to you. If you can subscribe and like, that would be great. Steve, thanks for coming. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate it. we'll d Steve: it, Mark. And hey, I'm gonna be looking for you this fall when we're drilling the next well. Be great time to visit. Mark Workman: Actually I well off off air, we'll talk about it. I've actually mentioned my wife today I need to make another trip. So we we're we'll we'll get down there, both of us probably. Steve: Sounds great. Talk to you soon. All right. Take care. Bye. Mark Workman: See ya buddy. Bye-bye.