Some even speculate that independents may continue to face difficulty in raising capital in the public markets. Given such returns, the capital markets may still not open up entirely to exploration and production companies. In fact, the stocks of exploration and production companies appear to have lagged those of oil service companies lately, even though independents are increasingly showing strong financials. Whatever the case, given the positive industry fundamentals, data show that capital markets have become more confident in the upstream sector during the last few quarters. If commodity prices remain at their current high levels, many expect the resurgence of the equity market for exploration and production companies to continue and even accelerate.
Analysts also remain bullish on the energy sector's fundamentals.
As a result, for the remainder of 2000 and possibly into 2001, independents should be able to gain further access to the capital markets through new issues as well as secondary offerings of equity to sustain their increasingly optimistic exploration, acquisition and development efforts-barring, of course, unforeseen circumstances. Finnegan provides financing services and merger and acquisition advice to his clients with a focus on energy matters. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and an M.B.A. with concentrations in finance and international business from Columbia University's graduate school of business. Rowden has more than 20 years of experience serving clients in the upstream petroleum industry, and has assisted in more than 150 capital raising transactions. He earned a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.