About Republic Energy

Our Mission is to be a highly successful, respected investor and developer of natural gas reserves in strategically selected core areas

A. Company Overview

Republic, founded in 1984, is a privately held, independent oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The executive management team is made up of John D. Swanson, (President and Chief Executive Officer), Jerald T. Baldridge (Founder and Chairman), Robert S. Douglas (Director), Frank-Paul King (Director), Brad Curtis (Vice-President – Geosciences), Nicholas (Nick) Steinsberger (Vice President – Engineering), and Mike George (Field Manager). The executive management team owns 100% of the company and collectively has more than 200 years experience in the oil and gas industry. Republic maintains its own geological, engineering, operations, land, and accounting staff. As a whole, Republic's professional staff has more than 300 years experience in the oil and gas industry.

Traditionally Republic has engaged in lower risk development drilling programs in known producing regions of the United States. While, as described below, its principal focus has been in North Texas, it has also operated in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, and North Dakota and is currently focused on a Marcellus Shale development program.

Republic has been active in North Texas since the company’s formation. Initially, Republic focused its efforts on the shallower Bend Conglomerate objectives primarily in the Boonsville Field, which overlies and overlaps the Newark East Field and extends westward into Jack County. Over the years, drilling activities expanded to other basins, primarily in western and northern Oklahoma, and West Texas, but has always remained an active player in North Texas.

Based on Mitchell Energy’s (now Devon Energy) drilling success in the Barnett Shale, Republic began increasing its accumulation of leasehold in the Newark East Field in 1998. Since that time, Devon, Republic, and other area operators have developed increasingly effective fracture stimulation techniques to improve production results and well economics. Republic is now utilizing this experience to successfully develop other unconventional plays such as the Marcellus Shale.

B. Senior Management – Technical Team:

Republic’s senior management and technical team have over 200 years experience in the oil and gas industry.

Jerald Baldridge, Chairman, earned a Stanford MBA (1959) following an Oklahoma State University degree in Economics with honors (1954), and three years as a pilot in the USAF. Baldridge has experience as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company (1961-64), as an investment banker in corporate finance, mergers, and acquisitions with Laird and Co. (NYSE) (1965-67), as founder and Chief Executive Officer of General Recreation, Inc., formally an American Stock Exchange listed company (1968-77), and as founder of Sportpages, a mail order catalog (1977-83). He started Republic Energy Inc. in 1984.

Robert Douglas, Director, received a B.B.A. degree in Accounting from Baylor University in 1977. Douglas has a total of 26 years of oil and gas accounting and finance experience beginning with Coopers and Lybrand (1977-80) where he earned his CPA certificate. After working as Controller of Ozark Exploration (1981-85), which drilled and operated wells in North Texas and the Permian Basin, Douglas joined Cenergy Corporation (NYSE) as Accounting Manager and later Controller prior to its sale in 1987. He then joined Republic and worked as Chief Operating Officer until 2003.

John Swanson, President and Chief Executive Officer, received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1981. Swanson worked for ARCO Oil and Gas Company, a Division of Atlantic Richfield Company from 1981-90 in various engineering positions in Houston, Denver, Midland, and Dallas. From 1991-94, after graduating with honors with a M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Dallas, he continued working with ARCO in several managerial positions in the finance and strategic planning groups in Midland and Dallas. Swanson left the oil and gas industry from 1994-2001, working as the Chief Financial Officer for TIG Insurance (NYSE) and the Chief Financial Officer for Kemper Employers Group, a subsidiary of Kemper Insurance, prior to joining Republic in the spring of 2001.

Frank-Paul King, Director, received a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Management from Montana State University in Bozeman in 1985. King worked for Unisys Corporation from 1985-89 in various financial analysis positions. From 1991-94, after graduating as a Fuqua Scholar, Connally Scholar and Fuqua Fellow with a M.B.A. from the Duke University, he worked in corporate finance with Chase Manhattan Bank. From 1994 to mid 1998, King worked for Hoak Breedlove & Wesneski as vice president of corporate finance. From mid 1998-2000, King worked as a managing partner of Windrock Capital until starting King/Strategic Finance in 2000. King has successfully executed over $1 billion worth of transactions in the oil and gas sector.

William (Brad) Curtis, Vice President - Geosciences, received a B.S. in Petroleum Geology from Midwestern State University in 1982. He spent eight years with Expando Oil Company (formerly Fain & McGaha), a mid-sized independent in Wichita Falls, Texas generating exploration, development, and secondary recovery projects in the Fort Worth and Hardeman Basins of North Texas, East Texas, and Southern Oklahoma. Curtis joined Republic Energy Inc. in 1990 as the company accelerated its exploratory drilling. In 2003, he was included as an owner and partner in Republic Energy. Curtis served as Vice President of the North Texas Geological Society in 1987 and has been a member of the Dallas Geological Society since 1990 and a member of AAPG since 1981.

Nicholas (Nick) Steinsberger, Vice President - Engineering, received a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from University of Texas in 1987. Steinsberger spent fifteen years with Mitchell Energy Corporation (acquired by Devon Energy in 2002). During his tenure with Mitchell Energy he focused on Barnett Shale drilling and completion operations. From 1996-2003, he served as the Head of Completion Operations for North Texas. In 1997, Steinsberger was the first to recommend and attempt water fracs in the Barnett Shale. He was also the first to add the upper Barnett Shale to the completions and recommend the refracs of the previous gel stimulations. Steinsberger was instrumental in the completions of horizontal wells in the Barnett Shale and other unconventional plays. As Horizontal Team Leader for Devon he was responsible for the completions of the first twenty five horizontal wells in the Barnett Shale. Steinsberger is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) and has co-authored five SPE papers and lectured at numerous technical events.

Mike George, Operations Manager – Started working in the Oil and Gas industry while attending Midwestern State University. George then accepted a position with Dresser Atlas Wire line Services were he worked onshore and offshore as a Senior Operator for open and cased hole operations. In 1988 he joined S. A. Holditch and Associates as a Senior Engineering Technologist working on hydraulic fracturing techniques in non-conventional reservoirs for a Gas Research Institute project. George joined Republic Energy Inc. in 2001 overseeing all aspects of regulatory and field operations. He was promoted to his current position early in 2003.

Dan Steward, Geologist, received a B.S. in Geology from the University of Houston in 1972. With 32 years of petroleum experience and 22 years working the North Texas area, Steward joined Republic Energy Inc. in 2002. Prior to joining Republic, Steward was Vice President of Geology at Mitchell Energy (later acquired by Devon Energy) where he worked on the Barnett Shale development since its inception in 1981. In 2005, he was asked by George Mitchell to write a history of Mitchell's exploration and development efforts that ultimately led to proving the Barnett's potential and gaining for it the title of the most active gas play in the United States. Recently, Steward was honored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists as the 2007 recipient of their Outstanding Explorer Award for his work in the Barnett Shale.

C. Long Term Vision / Strategy:

Republic's current business plan is to aggressively look for new areas in the U.S. where it can utilize its knowledge and expertise to develop potential unconventional shale plays to ultimately create value for its stakeholders. Republic will work to rebuild its leasehold position in areas it believes offer significant development opportunity. Republic evaluates new acreage opportunities under conventional structure terms or creative participatory deals, where lease owners can share in Republic's success.

As with its previous property portfolios, Republic's management believes that significant technological advancement will continue to occur with respect to the ongoing development of these unconventional plays, including the Barnett Shale. For this reason, Republic continuosly monitors development activity throughout the active basins in the U.S. Republic believes that an ongoing reassessment and reengineering of a drilling-completion program over the development of a play is critical to its overall success. Additionally, Republic is certain continued evaluation and prudent application of new technology will continually improve overall production efficiency in old and new areas alike.  

Republic’s strategy for long-term growth and success is as follows:

• Assemble and maintain an experienced, recognized Technical TEAM,
• Prudently utilize technology to optimize asset development,
• Expand and diversify asset portfolio using internal knowledge/expertise and innovative deal-making capabilities to gain competitive advantage,
• Treat ALL stakeholders with Fairness and Integrity.