Oil Rush Lures Small Investors
Partnerships Offer Stakes in Wells,
But Output Declines Limit Profit,
And Regulators Say Fraud Is Rife
DALLAS -- In 1930, thousands of investors earned windfalls when a smooth-talking wildcat driller named Columbus "Dad" Joiner discovered the enormous East Texas oil field. Enticed by family lore, Mr. Joiner's great-granddaughter, Cindy Skeeters, recently invested about $80,000 in wildcat wells.
Today, Mrs. Skeeters and husband Bill own production rights to small shares in some seven dozen oil and natural-gas wells in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. They bought their stakes from Oil2 Holdings Inc., run by Charles Couch, 57 years old, and his son Robert, 33.
Whether the Skeeters will profit is far from certain. Royalty checks have plunged along with oil and natural-gas prices since summer, and it could take six years just to recover their investment. Even if they do earn a real return, the amount could be much reduced by high expenses and by the steep production declines typical in the energy industry.
Millions of Americans, Europeans, Australians and others are trying to get in on the current version of the 1930s oil boom, this one driven by high prices. Most invest in big companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. or energy-focused mutual funds. But others buy stakes in actual wells through much riskier partnerships.
Regulators say fraud in such partnerships is rife. Some firms offer talk of certain production, but many investors have lost 90% or more of their money. Many partnerships don't register as brokers, even though regulators say they are selling securities and should be licensed and required to abide by securities laws. According to a Dallas federal civil court complaint filed in June, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Larry Stiles of Carrollton, Texas, of spending a quarter of $1.1 million collected from 52 oil-well investors on personal expenses. Mr. Stiles's lawyer couldn't be reached.
It's a global problem that's only now coming to the surface because of a lag time between the sale and when an investor "realizes he's got a problem," says Bill McDonald, a former California regulator who now testifies as an expert in oil-fraud cases.
The Couches both are former football players, the father in a semi-pro league and the son in preseason stints with the Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis Rams.
The senior Mr. Couch started their Dallas-based firm in the early 1990s after three decades of personally investing in wells. Then called Couch Oil & Gas, it found clients via sales seminars, telephone solicitations and word of mouth. It wasn't licensed as a securities broker and, the Couches now acknowledge, essentially skirted the law.
Between 1999 and last year, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin regulators ordered the elder Mr. Couch and his firm to cease-and-desist selling shares in wells in those states without a license. In 2001, his son Robert joined the firm with an eye toward licensing the company.
"It freaked me out," Robert Couch says. "I didn't want to do my career if we were breaking security laws."
He persuaded his father to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyer fees to register with the National Association of Securities Dealers as a broker-dealer. He then set up Oil2 Holdings to take over sales, leaving his father to find oil prospects.
Robert Couch soon realized that many of the firm's investors were losing money, mainly because they had invested in a limited number of fields. A bet on only, say, two exploratory wells can be a big loser if both end up being dry holes. The Couches now counsel clients to put a little money in a lot of wells -- at least 20 a year -- and warn them that profit is not guaranteed.
"What differentiates us from everyone else is the effort to be transparent, our integrity," says Robert Couch.
Still, the senior Mr. Couch acknowledges that the lure of hitting a big strike hasn't changed since the 19th century. "They're going to exercise their riverboat gambler gene," he says.
Others say such partnerships remain a questionable investment. Glen Jarboe is one such skeptic. A retired marketing professor at the University of Texas in Arlington, Mr. Jarboe compiled production statistics on the Couches' wells for their Web site until a few months ago and invested in their partnerships himself. Mr. Jarboe says the deck is stacked against people who buy into such deals.
As is typical in the industry, Oil2 Holdings charges a fee of 30% for each dollar invested, reducing how much is spent on exploration and production. Companies actually drilling wells for Oil2's partnerships usually take 25% of each well's output -- also standard. Moreover, production in Texas natural-gas wells falls to about 15% of their original output on average after four years, says Gary Swindell, a Dallas-based energy expert. Oil depletion is more difficult to track.
Robert Couch disagrees with Mr. Jarboe. He says tax benefits for oil investments juice returns. He adds that Mr. Jarboe himself has earned about $16,000 annually on his $100,000 investment, or about 16% a year for two years.
Mr. Jarboe says oil field production is too erratic to judge returns based on early performance. "In six years, every well could be dry," he says. Though initially hopeful, he now doubts he'll earn money in the end.
Mr. and Mrs. Skeeters decided to invest last November. Driving home from a 75th anniversary celebration of Mrs. Skeeters's great-grandfather's big find in Kilgore, east of Dallas, Mr. Skeeters said he wanted to start investing their own money in wells. "Don't lose it," Mrs. Skeeters recalls responding.
A friend recommended the Couches, who sell mostly natural-gas wells. Following the firm's advice, the couple so far has paid about $30,000 for 20 exploratory oil and natural-gas wells, plus $50,000 for a package of 63 mostly active wells.
They received their first royalties on the 63 wells in May -- $1,036.38. The four monthly checks since then have averaged about $660, as natural-gas prices plummeted. At that rate, it would take almost six years for the couple to earn back their $50,000.
There's no way of knowing how much the Skeeters will make from the 20 exploratory wells. A look at the decline rates on their 63 wells -- published on Oil2's Web site -- shows why it could be hard to turn a profit. Some of the wells have been steady producers this year, and output from a few rose after upgrading. But production from most has dropped. One well declined to 103 barrels of oil and 19,940 thousand cubic feet of gas a day in August, from 203 barrels and 24,765 thousand cubic feet in January.
Mr. Skeeters says he sees the wells as a 20-year investment and isn't put off by the results. "I don't look at it as sexy, romantic or exotic. I've covered most of the other bases" with other investments, he says. "These aren't home runs."
油价飙升引得小投资者跃跃欲试
1930年，当一位名叫哥伦布?“老爹”?乔尼尔(Columbus 'Dad' Joiner)的嘴把式歪打正着地发现了储量巨大的东得克萨斯油田时，成千上万的投资者大发了一笔意外横财。在家传胆识的鼓舞下，乔尼尔的曾孙女辛迪?斯科特斯(Cindy Skeeters)最近也向游击式钻探业投资了8万美元。
现如今，辛迪和她的丈夫比尔拥有得克萨斯、路易斯安那和俄克拉荷马八十多口石油和天然气井的少量股份，他们是从Oil2 Holdings Inc.手中买下这些股份的，这家公司由57岁的查尔斯?考奇(Charles Couch)和他33岁的儿子罗伯特共同经营。
斯科特斯夫妇能否赚钱还远是个未知数。自今年夏天以来，他们的投资收益随着油气价格一路暴跌，现在仅仅收回投资就有可能要花上6年。即使他们真能赚到钱，高昂的开采费用以及油井产量的逐年骤减都有可能使他们的利润大打折扣。
在高油价的驱动下，成百上千万美国人、欧洲人、澳大利亚人以及其他许多地方的人都正打算重温上世纪30年代石油业大繁荣的美梦。他们大多选择了投资埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil Corp.)等能源业巨头或购买专门投资能源业的共同基金。也有人决定合伙购买油井，但他们的这种合作关系是充满风险的。
政府监管部门称，这类合伙企业的商业欺诈行为屡见不鲜。一些公司向投资者承诺具体的产量水平，但人们往往最终发现自己的投资十不存一。许多这类企业并未登记为经纪商，尽管监管部门一再表示，既然它们向投资者出售证券，那么就应该领取证券业从业牌照，并且遵守证券法的有关规定。达拉斯联邦民事法庭今年6月接获的一份起诉书显示，美国证券交易委员会(SEC)对得克萨斯州的拉里?斯蒂尔斯(Larry Stiles)提出了起诉，罪名是他把从52位油井投资者那里募集来的110万美元私自挪用了四分之一。记者未能联系到斯蒂尔斯的律师就此置评。
加利福尼亚州的前政府监管官员比尔?麦克唐纳(Bill McDonald)说，这是一个全球性问题，之所以现在才浮出水面，是因为它有一个发展的过程。麦克唐纳目前经常在这类采油欺诈案中以专家的身份出庭作证。
上文提到的考奇父子都曾是橄榄球运动员，父亲曾是一家半职业联盟的球员，而儿子则参加过亚特兰大猎鹰队和圣路易斯公羊队的季前赛。
在老考奇于上世纪90年代初创办Oil2 Holdings Inc.的前身Couch Oil & Gas之前，他在个人投资油井方面已经有30多年的历史。这家公司通过举办销售研讨会、电话邀请和口头推介的方式来寻找客户。它并未取得证券经纪商的经营牌照，考奇父子现在承认，他们那是在钻法律的空子。
从1999年到去年，宾夕法尼亚州和威斯康星州的监管机构不断给老考奇和他的公司下达命令，告知其在未获得相应牌照的情况下不得在这些州出售油井的股份。2001年罗伯特?考奇加盟了他父亲的公司，他这时已考虑要为公司取得一份证券业经营牌照。
罗伯特?考奇说：“我可不想在违反证券法的情况下开始我的商业生涯。”
他劝说父亲花费数十万美元律师费将公司在全美证券交易商协会(NASD)登记注册为经纪-交易商。随后他成立了Oil2 Holdings来负责公司的销售业务，而找油的事则全权交给他父亲去办了。
罗伯特?考奇很快就意识到，自己公司的许多投资者都在赔钱，这主要是因为他们的投资都集中在数量有限的几口油井上。比如说，如果你只投资了两口油井，如果它们没能打出油，那你的损失可就大了。考奇遂和客户们商量，看他们愿不愿意将少量的钱投资于众多油井──一年至少投资20口油井──同时也提醒他们这样做并不保证能挣到钱。
罗伯特?考奇说：“我们的与众不同之处在于我们的操作手法是透明的，我们看重自己的人格。”
但老考奇承认，那种大发一笔的诱惑与19世纪时并无什么不同。他说，与他签约的客户都有赌徒心理。
有人说考奇父子建立的这种合伙投资关系也存在问题。格兰?嘉宝(Glen Jarboe)就持这种看法。身为得克萨斯大学营销学退休教授的嘉宝一直负责为考奇父子所办公司的网站编制油井产量统计报告，并且也在这种合伙关系中进行了投资，不过他几个月前辞去了统计工作。嘉宝说，有证据显示这种合伙关系对投资客户是不利的。
按照业内的通常做法，Oil2 Holdings也将客户投资的30%收作管理费，这样就减少了实际可用于勘探和生产的资金。而那些实际负责为Oil2的客户钻探油井的公司又会按业内惯例将油井产量的25%收为己有。而据达拉斯的能源专家加里?斯文达尔(Gary Swindell)说，得克萨斯州的天然气井开采4年后的产量平均会降到最初产量的15%左右。油井的产量下降幅度则更难以预料。
罗伯特?考奇不同意嘉宝的说法。他说，投资采油业所享受的税收减免能增加人们的投资回报。他还说，嘉宝本人在这方面的10万美元投资每年能给他带来约16,000美元的收益，这意味着他两年来的投资回报率都达到了16%。
而嘉宝则说，油田产量太过捉摸不定，因此无法根据早期的投资业绩来判断投资回报。他说：“所有的油井在6年内都会采光。”虽然初看起来不错，但嘉宝怀疑他最终能否挣到钱。
斯科特斯夫妇是去年11月作出投资决定的。在参加完庆祝辛迪的曾祖父发现大油田75周年的活动驱车回家的路上，比尔?斯科特斯决定也要把自己的钱投在油井上。辛迪记得她当时对丈夫说：“别错过这个机会。”
一位朋友建议他们去找考奇父子，后者主要出售天然气井的股份。在考奇父子的建议下，斯科特斯夫妇迄今已向20口正处于勘探阶段的石油和天然气井投资了约3万美元，他们还向63口已投产油气井投资了5万美元。
斯科特斯夫妇今年5月获得了投资那63口油气井的第一笔收益──1,036.38美元。以后的四个月中他们的月均投资收益为660美元，原因是天然气价格出现了暴跌。按照现在的行情，斯科特斯夫妇几乎要花上6年才能收回其5万美元投资。
而他们从那20口探井中能赚到多少还是个未知数。从那63口已投产油井的产量递减情况看(具体数据在Oil2的网站上有公布)，这对夫妇要赚到钱并非易事。虽然这些油井中的一些今年产量一直很稳定，一些油井的产量甚至还有提高，但多数油井的产量却是下降的。其中一口井今年8月份的原油日产量从1月份时的203桶下降至103桶，天然气日产量从1月份时的2,476.5万立方英尺下降到1,994万立方英尺。
比尔?斯科特斯说，他将这些油井视为可持续20年的投资项目，上述结果不会令他却步。他说，自己不会对这笔投资抱不切实际的幻想。
Steve Levine
