Subject: Experienced Writer for Business Assignments
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 2/5/09, 17:08
To: info@elmoreltd.com
Sirs-
I understand that you need a writer to handle fifty pages of business topic summaries over the next few weeks, and I'd like to be considered for the job. I've done equivalent work for a variety of firms and my other freelance work has appeared in dozens of publications covering a wide range of subjects.
I've pasted two relevant samples below; the first is a corporate resume I composed recently for S.K. Oil & Gas, an energy investment firm based in Texas. This is followed by a bio I wrote for one of the firm's principals.
Thanks,
Barrett Brown Brooklyn, NY 512-560-2302
***
Investment Strategy
S.K. Oil and Gas is in the business of capitalizing on the current global energy situation while also avoiding many of the sort of risks
that were once universal within the energy financing industry, and which still plague many other firms even in the midst of unprecedented oil prices. By structuring developmental drilling programs which are themselves based around high-risk exploratory efforts that have
already been undertaken by third parties, we are thus capable of operating with little or no real risk to our own investors, who are not asked to invest in anything unproven but are rather called upon to finance the drilling of wells in areas that have already been shown to
be profitable. Coupled with recent advances in drilling technology, our particularly deliberate approach to energy financial services tends to result in absolute success with few surprises.
Source of Prospects
Effective deal flow within the industry at large is necessarily dependent on the establishment of a working relationship between geologists, engineers, and operators. Like all firms of the sort, S.K. Oil and Gas is dependent upon this dynamic for our ongoing projects;
but unlike many other firms, most of our prospects derive from operators who have already proven the viability of the sites at their disposal and who wish to put the development of such sites under our management and financial structuring. Generally, these operators tend
to stay on with the project as coordinators so that they might continue to benefit from risks taken previously.
We also routinely take on prospects from those lending institutions which are understandably anxious to shift their capital into oil and
gas in light of the ongoing crisis in other sectors but which would prefer to provide loans for projects only on the condition that additional equity can be provided, a condition that we are able to meet by way of our strong working relationship with investors who are
similarly interested in shifting their capital into energy. Such a form of Mezzazine Financing allows us to establish favorable equity positions while also benefiting from the availability of lender recourse.
Selecting Projects
Before taking on a given project, S.K. Oil and Gas engages in a multi-level investigation of its relative merits in the context of other potential projects. This inquiry begins with a review of both
known facts and probable outcomes on the part of our geologists, all of whom have a strong familiarity with the regions in which we operate. If the project in question receives a green light from our geologists, we proceed to weigh its potential value relative to the
entirety of the Texas oil and gas industry, taking into account every operation ongoing in the state at any given time. Such a seemingly complex undertaking is made easier by way of the state's policy of monitoring any and oil production that falls under its purview, making
public the records of such production, and applying taxes accordingly. By utilizing this information, we are in a better position to determine whether or not a particular field has the high level of potential that we seek from each of the projects we undertake.
After having made the determination that a given project meets our criteria, we next follow through with the perfecting of lease interests, title reviews, pipeline and crude sales contracts, and engineering and drilling arrangements. Funds are released as necessary
against invoices in support of an audit trail.
Sources and Minimization of Risk
Though our deliberative approach to the structuring of oil and gas projects goes a long way towards minimizing risk and maximizing
return, even such a uniquely cautious operation as ours faces some degree of risk based on the decisions made by our management team. Because even a largely surefire project can come up short if not properly executed, we have assembled what we believe to be among the
most talented and tested assembly of oil production and financing professionals in the region. Between our patience in the pursuit of new projects and the capabilities of those who manage them, we have established an enterprise in which unavoidable risks are unlikely to
result in outright failure, but simply higher costs and thus lower returns. It should be remembered, though, that we are not in the business of exploration, the stage in which most risks manifest themselves; rather, our emphasis is on developmental drilling, a
sector in which 100 percent success is no longer uncommon.
***
Michael Bevins is a financier, entrepreneur, and consultant who has served in a variety of capacities within a diverse range of industries, including not only oil and gas but also securities, investment banking, health care, information technology, and fine art.
Bevins began to develop into a fixture of the Dallas business world in 1980 as a registered commodities broker for First National Monetary, where he ranked first in sales for three of the five years he was employed there, opening up over $50 million in new accounts over the duration. He had similar success as an oil and gas consultant at Continental Western Energy before moving to San Francisco to serve as vice president of corporate finance and investment banking at Westock Securities, where he dealt with subjects ranging from mergers and acquisitions to evaluation analyses. In 1993, Bevins moved to Los Angeles to co-found Century Trust, a medical PPO at which he served as general partner. At the same time, Bevins also acted as conceptual advisor for fine art distributor Curators Collection, Inc., a role he held from 1990 to 1996, at which point he founded the pioneering information technology holding company Web Solutions in order to raise start-up capital for SuperMarket of the Internet, an early e-commerce website which would go on to contract with such more traditional firms as Colgate-Palmolive, Avon Cosmetics, and Readers Digest. But his continued interest in art led him to found Virtual Art Solutions in 2001, a tech firm of which the chief purpose was to develop a unique retail application for use in the fine art industry which itself drew upon bleeding-edge kiosk and printing technology and which eventually engaged in a test implementation partnership with Home Depot. Finally, Bevins made the move to Florida, where he served as vice president of corporate development for Club & Community Corp, a Boca Raton-based firm specializing in consultation, sales, and marketing on behalf of its clients in the leisure resort and private country club industries.
Bevins now brings his astonishing array of talents to S.K. Oil & Gas.