Kodiak Oil and Gas Corp - Thesis Example

?Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 2.Introduction 3 3.Brief Overview of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp 5 4.Internal Analysis of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp 6 5.United States and Oil and Gas Industry 9 6.Opportunities and Challenges in Alternative & renewable Fuels 12 7.Role of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp in Alternative & Renewable Fuels 15 8.SWOT Analysis 16 8.1.Strengths 17 8.2.Weaknesses 18 8.3.Opportunities 18 8.4.Threats 19 9.Recommendation and Conclusion 19 10.Cost Benefit Analysis 20 11.Reference 22 1. Executive Summary United States is one of the most powerful economies and rapid industrialization is the major reason behind its success. In spite of huge reserves of oil and gas, the country is dependent on the foreign suppliers and multinational companies for importing fuel. However, in United States, there are some domestic and independent companies having great potentials for reducing United States’ dependency for foreign fuels. Besides, there are greater opportunities in alternative and renewable fuels and the domestic companies like Kodiak Oil and Gas Corp are having enough experiences and quality to explore such opportunities. There are certain major issues associated with alternative and renewable fuels like lack of awareness, availability of raw materials and lower profitability. However, necessity of alternative oil and gas are very high for the future success and environmental protection. Besides, the demand of alternative and renewable fuels is rising but at a slower pace. Fossil fuels ate exhaustible and have a negative impact on society, environment and on economy as well. Therefore, Kodiak must identify the future benefits of alternative fuels and must diversify its business by showing entrepreneurial and innovative skills. In this process, the company will require huge amount of investments which can be generated by issuing shares, bonds and long & short term loans. 2. Introduction Globalization is the most prominent occurrence that brought significant changes in human life and in their thought process. Human activities have not remained limited in terms of geographical boundary. Technological advancements have led to enhance the communication and transportation systems. Due to such rapid improvements, the trade and business has been the most benefited area. The importance of trade and business for the growth and development of human civilization is very necessary, and after this globalization, business activities has expanded and extended geographically. Besides, with economic development, people’s demands and purchasing power keep growing and business organisation have been able to identify this opportunities for their business growth. Multinational enterprises have established their business in foreign lands, and international trade among the world economies have increased dramatically. Therefore, the utilization of resources has also been multiplied extensively. In this respect, natural oil and gas is the most essential resources for growth of business. Most of the first world countries like USA, Japan, and UK etc are economically developed due to rapid growth of industrialization, and consumptions of oil and gas in these economies are very high. However, most of these economies do not have huge storage of natural oil and gas, and hence, they are dependent on countries having huge mineral resources for importing necessary resources especially for natural oil and gas. Middle East African countries and the Gulf countries are major exporters of oil and gas to other economies but rising fuel prices is major challenges for business growth. Besides, the storage of natural oil and gas is exhausting at a faster rate and higher usage of fossil fuels has been impacting the environment negatively. These issues are major challenges for the global trade and business and hence, the governments must take necessary steps by encouraging the use and production of alternative & renewable fuels. This paper will attempt to present the role of domestic oil and natural gas organization in countering the issues relating to natural oil and gas by incorporating innovations showing true entrepreneurial skills. In this respect, alternative & renewable fuel is the only way-out and hence, organizations must focus on increasing the production of alternative fuels. This paper will present the role of an US based oil and gas company, called Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp in resolving fuel related issues. It will also present analysis of the company and market to offer a set of plausible and actionable recommendations for future directions. 3. Brief Overview of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp is a renowned oil and gas company in United States. It is a Denver-based corporation and listed in New York Stock Exchange where its stock symbol is ‘KOG’. The company was established on March 17, 1972, and it is engaged in exploitation, exploration, production and acquisition of natural oil and gas in United State. The company is one of the major contributors in the growth of trade and business in United States as it provides necessary oil and gas for energy and transportations. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp has acquired major areas in United States enriched in oil and gas. Primarily, its operations are concentrated in two major Rocky Mountain basins i.e. the Green River Basin of Wyoming and Colorado, and the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. These two basins reserve a huge amount of natural oil and gas and to acquire these areas, the company has developed its technological expertise. “Kodiak's corporate strategy is to internally identify prospects, acquire lands encompassing those prospects and evaluate those prospects using subsurface geology and geophysical data and exploratory drilling. Using this strategy” (Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-a, n.d.). The company has gained sufficient experience in oil and gas industry and its skilled employees are major strength for its business. Currently, the company has acquired geologist and petroleum technical staffs and engineers and it “strives to retain operations on its lands wherever possible in order to control the timing of the development of its leasehold” (Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-a, n.d.) 4. Internal Analysis of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp The above section has presented a brief corporate overview of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp pointing out its major area of operations. However, in order to assess the company’s major strengths and weaknesses, an extensive internal analysis is must. In this respect, value chain analysis is the most suitable process. Value chain model represents an organization’s internal activities that lead to enhance the overall value of a firm for achieving the long term growth. The following figure portrays an ideal value chain model. Figure 1: Value Chain Model (Source: Hax, 2009, p.212) As per the above value chain model, each organization should maintain its primary and supporting activities. Based on above value chain model, multiple activities are discussed below in respect of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. Kodiak is in oil and gas industry and this industry requires high technological expertise with better infrastructure. Therefore, in order to establish a growth oriented business structure, it has incorporated necessary supporting activities for business improvements. The company has invested huge capital for infrastructural improvements. The following table shows its expenditure for infrastructure in its major projects during 2009 and 2010. Table 1: Kodiak’s Infrastructural Expenditures (Source: Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-b, 2009, p.16) In order to cater the market needs, the company has developed necessary pipelines for oil and gas which has increased its efficiency level. Besides, the company has realized importance of constant technological improvements. Oil and gas exploration and production requires better technology for cost efficiency and product quality. The company mainly relies on its employees’ skills for technological improvements. The primary weakness of the company is that it has not invested for its research and development department in last three years and hence, it has not incorporated any kind of research and development programs (Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-b, 2009, p.54). Skilled human resource is one of the most vital requirements for Kodiak for its exploration and production of oil and gas. Kodiak recruited a large number of qualified employees for its technical tasks and these employees are from technical backgrounds like geologist, engineering etc. In order to increase its employees’ value, the company has launched a compensation plan in 2007 for reviewing and approving “the Company's compensation guidelines and structure” (Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-c, 2009). Besides, there are some benefit plans for its employees. Under 2007 compensation plan, it has issued 8000,000 common stocks to its employees. Unlike other manufacturing firms, Kodiak’s primary and supporting activities are closely linked. Its primary activities are oil exploration and in this respect, acquisitions of enriched lands are its primary objective. Besides, pipeline access is another important task for Kodiak. By the end of June 30, 2010, the company has already acquired 90,720 acres which is supposed to be highly enriched with natural oil and gas. “Kodiak has significantly improved their North Dakota project economics by securing pipeline access” (Energy Prospect Group, 2010). The company is also concerned with the ecological and environmental welfare. The company has realized the negative impact on nature due to its operational activities. The management has able to make educate its employees regarding environmental awareness. Its primary operational region is Rocky Mountain region and hence, it is responsible for preserving ecological aspects of this region. “On an on-going basis, it participates in Environmental Assessment submissions to the Bureau of Land Management” (Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-d, n.d.). While assessing a project, the company also determines the environmental viability and impact. Kodiak develops its strategy primarily for its operational activities i.e. for exploration, exploitation and acquisition. The company has identified that due to very high demand of oil and gas, the market competition is lower. However, relevant strategy is needed to land acquisition and company evaluates prospects of the lands using geophysical data, subsurface geology and exploratory drilling. Therefore, technology plays very vital role in its strategic planning process. The financial statements of the company do not seem to be attractive as it has been experiencing losses since last five years. However, due to huge demand of oil and gas in United States, the company is able to sustain and it also receives governments support for its business activities. The flowing table represents the income statement of company for last five years. Table 2: Consolidated Income Statement (Source: Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-b, 2009, p.45) 5. United States and Oil and Gas Industry United States is one of the most powerful economies in the world in terms of economy strength and political power. Rapid industrialization has caused significant development in trade and business. GDP as per purchasing power parity of United States was around $14.72 trillion in 2010 which is second highest in the world. Per capita GDP was recorded nearly $47,400 in 2010. Nearly 22.2% and 76.7%of total GDP is contributed by the industry and services sector. Most of the services sectors like financial sectors are highly dependent on the growth of industrialization. Hence, the government always tries to boost the industrialization. Large availability of skilled and unskilled labors is one of the vital resources for this economy. Total labor force was recorded 153.9 million during 2010 (CIA, 2011). United States is the third largest country in terms of areas and population, and the country owns a large numbers of industries. This has made this economy the highest consumer of natural oil and gas in the world. During 2009, the country oil and gas consumption of the country was recorded “18.69 million bbl/day” and “646.6 billion cu m” respectively (CIA, 2011). It is also in first position in terms of oil (11.31 million bbl per day) and gas (106.1 billion cu m) imports during 2009. However, United States also has huge reserves of oil and gas. Its oil and gas production during 2009 were 9.056 million bbl/day and 593.4 billion cu m respectively. Therefore, it is also a major exporter of oil and gas to other world economies. Its oil exports were 1.704 million bbl per day and gas exports were 30.35 billion cu m during 2009. In spite of high consumption and export of oil and gas, the country still has huge proved reserves of oil (19.12 billion bbl) and gas (6.928 trillion cu m) (CIA, 2011). The following tables show the major suppliers countries who imports oil and gas to United States. Table 3: Estimated Crude and Products Imports to the U.S. from Leading Supplier Countries (Source: The American Petroleum Institute, 2010) As per the above table, United States is highly dependent on Canada, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela for oil and gas import as these countries are responsible for more than 50% imports. In December 2010, total imports “as a percentage of total domestic petroleum deliveries” was 54.4 percent (The American Petroleum Institute-a, 2011). These data have disclosed that in spite of huge domestic production, United States has to depend on many oil and gas producing countries. During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the entire economy was affected due to financial crunch and industrial growth was diminished drastically. Besides, the increasing oil and gas prices lead to raise burden of trade and business of United States. The following figure presents the movement of oil and gas prices graphically. Figure 2: Crude and Regular Gasoline Prices (Source: The American Petroleum Institute-b, 2010) 6. Opportunities and Challenges in Alternative & renewable Fuels The above section has presented vital statistics that discloses the United States’ higher dependency on other countries for oil and gas consumption. The country strives to maintain and develop its economic strength by encouraging industrialization. In this process, it needs huge amount of gas and oil. However, the country must try to focus on alternative & renewable fuel for better future directions. There are three major reasons for which every country including United States must incorporate better technology and systems for encouraging the production of alternative & renewable fuels. Firstly, world has limited reserves of oil and gas and due to increasing consumption, the reserves are exhausting rapidly. Secondly, high consumption of fuels is causing very high pollution in environment and hence, global warming has become one of the major issues for the world. Therefore, energy conservation has become inevitable task in reducing the negative effects of global warming. Lastly, higher demand and lower supply causes dramatic increase in fuel prices that makes industrial production more expensive. Christopher A. Simon has identified that alternative energies are feasible for society, economy and for environment and therefore, he suggests that proper government policies, technological improvements and corporation of public and private sectors are very necessary for production of alternative & renewable fuels (Simon, 2007, p.4). The Government of United States has realized the potential importance of alternative & renewable fuels and it tries to encourage its production by offering multiple benefits to oil and gas producing companies. Besides the consumers are being more environmentally conscious and they hence, the consumption of alternative and renewable fuels is increasing gradually. Following figure shows the share of renewable fuels comparing to other fossil fuels. Figure 3: Renewable Energy as Share of Total Primary Energy Consumption, 2009 (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2009) Currently, merely 8% of total fuel usage is renewable energy comparing to petroleum (25%) and gas (25%). However, the demand of alternative fuels is increasing as per the graph given below. Figure 4: Renewable Energy Total Consumption and Major Sources, 1949-2009 (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2009) Biodiesel is a major alternative and renewable fuel and its consumption is increasing significantly, since 2004. Following figure shows biodiesel consumption since 2001. Figure 5: Biodiesel Consumption, 2001-2009 (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2009) However, there are also certain challenges in alternative and renewable fuels which are great barriers for its development. Firstly, lack of awareness regarding benefits of alternatives fuel among potential manufacturers and consumers is major challenge. Secondly, better infrastructure and technology is not available for producing alternative fuels. Thirdly, alternative fuels are less productive and more expensive that natural fuels. Besides, lack of commercialization, and less availability of raw materials and lower return on investment in alternative fuel production are prominent challenges. 7. Role of Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp in Alternative & Renewable Fuels The above discussion has focused on major opportunities and challenges for alternative and renewable fuel. These fuels are very important for long term benefit of society, environment and economy. The underlying challenges are not major issues if government, people and business organizations can understand its long term benefits and essential requirements for increasing alternative & renewable fuel productions. In this respect, Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp and other similar companies can play very significant role. As per internal analysis of Kodiak, it has been revealed that the company has great potentials as it has long and valuable experience in oil and gas industry. The company has played a crucial role in domestic production of natural oil and gas. However, it must identify the underlying opportunities in alternative fuels production. Besides, it has necessary technical expertise and proper organizational culture that encourages innovation in its operational activities. Moreover, the company has also realized the importance of sound and safe environment for healthy social improvements. Oil and gas companies like Kodiak are very important for growth and development of United States as these companies are domestic and independent offering indigenous fuel at cheaper price. However, considering the future necessities and long term success, these companies must introduce their entrepreneurial skill by incorporating innovations. In this respect, these companies must diversify their business into alternative and renewable fuels like biogas and biodiesel production. 8. SWOT Analysis The above sections have focused on the internal position of Kodiak Oil and Gas Corp and external environment of the United States’ oil and gas. Primary objective of this paper is to offer a set of actionable and plausible recommendations for Kodiak for entering into alternative and renewable fuel production. However, before drafting recommendations, it is necessary to identify the underlying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat for Kodiak. These are explained below based on above analyses. 8.1. Strengths Kodiak has been a major domestic oil and gas exploration company in United States since last 38 years and within this span of its operational period, the company has established itself as one of the leading domestic oil and gas exploration and producing company. Therefore, it has a very good knowledge and experience regarding the oil and gas market of Untied States. Besides, the company has also gained an upper hand position in market as one of the leading domestic oil company. The following table shows a comparison between its major key competitors and Kodiak based on the industry average performance. Table 4: Kodiak and Competitors (Source: Yahoo Finance, 2011) As per the above table, Kodiak is in better position comparing to its major competitors and industry performance. Besides, Kodiak’s skilled employees and infrastructural access is quite strong and developed as it is constantly investing for infrastructural developments. 8.2. Weaknesses The primary weakness for the company is that the management has not considered the research and development programs as important area for future development. The company has developed better strategies for land acquisition and for land evaluation process. The available skilled workforce and their technical expertise are seemed to be sufficient for Kodiak but for better future direction, the company must encourage new technologies for betterment of its business. In order to diversify its business into the alternative and renewable fuel, Kodiak must need new and innovative technologies, and the company lacks in this area. The major reason for not investing in research and development programs is its continuous net loss since last five years. Therefore, the company has been losing its financial capabilities. 8.3. Opportunities The alternative and renewable fuel has a long term benefits and American governments is also trying to encourage companies for producing renewable fuels like biogas and biodiesel. The market demands for these fuels are increasing and major automobile companies are also now trying to introduce vehicles which can run using alternative fuels. Therefore, the demand is expected to increase at a higher rate in coming years. Due to high demand and low supply, fuel price increasing and United Stated is also trying to focus more on domestic fossil fuels and alternative fuels. 8.4. Threats The major threat for the company is increasing market competition. The foreign fuel suppliers are the major threat for Kodiak as at present, United States is more dependent on importing fossil fuels. On the other hand, in alternative and renewable fuel segments, the market is not matured due to lower consumer awareness and slower growth rate. Besides, the leading multinational oil and gas companies have already started their R&D programs for producing efficient and low cost alternative fuels. Therefore, when market for alternative fuel will mature, higher portion of market share will be captured by these multinational companies. 9. Recommendation and Conclusion This paper has presented very crucial areas regarding the United States’ unnecessary dependency on foreign oil and gas in spite of having huge oil and gas reserves. Moreover, the domestic oil and gas exploration companies like Kodiak have great potentials in providing instrumental support to economy of United States. Kodiak’s internal analysis has disclosed its internal strengths and weaknesses. Kodiak is in oil and gas industry since last 38 years and hence, it is popular for its innovative business operations. However, the analysis on United States’ fuel consumption and its import indicate that it is unnecessarily dependent on foreign fuel. On the other hand, renewable fuel has greater opportunities that are instrumental for growth and development of United States. Therefore, Kodiak must indentify future benefits and show its entrepreneurial skills through innovations. As per the above analyses and findings, some plausible and actionable recommendations have given below. Kodiak must invest in research and development for better innovations In also needs to restructure its business model for diversifying its business into alternative and renewable fuels. It also needs to develop its organizational culture that encourages innovation for alternative and renewable fuel. Alternative fuels are not as profitable as fossil fuels but Kodiak must identify the long term needs for better future directions. Lack of consumers’ awareness is another major issue in alternative fuels and hence, Kodiak must develop awareness programs to educate consumers regarding long term benefits of alternative and renewable fuel. 10. Cost Benefit Analysis In order to execute the above stated recommendations, Kodiak needs to analyze its financial viability through planning. Besides, for better future directions, Kodiak must invest for diversifying its business into alternative and renewable fuel sector and hence, it will require huge amount of investments. The major costs for this development include costs for capital, project development, operational, maintenance and for trainings. However, before, considering and planning for these costs, the company must invest in its R&D to understand better technologies for producing alternative and renewable fuel. In this respect, the primary focus should be on generating innovative techniques for cost-effective and high quality production, and for this company must allocate $10 million. Besides for capital investments, it needs to acquire machineries and IT applications and for these, the company will need nearly $15 million. For project developments, it will require more $5 million and for working and operational capital, nearly, $5 million of liquid money will be essential. Moreover, Kodiak has to invest for organization development like training and business development cost that will costs around $5 million. The total projected cost for diversifying into alternative fuel is nearly $40 million. In this respect, Kodiak must generate $25 million by issuing common shares and preference shares. For working and operational capital, the company can borrow short term loans of $5 million and for rest $10 million, it can issue bonds or debenture and/or it can borrow long term loans. Kodiak also needs to allocate funds for marketing and promotional which are very necessary to spread awareness regarding long term benefits of alternative fuels. Initially, the total revenue is expected to be low due to lower market demand and hence, return on investment will be negative. Within next three to five years, market demand is expected to grow at higher rate and Kodiak can gain higher ROI and higher market share. 11. Reference CIA. (January 20, 2011). The World Factbook: United States. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html. Energy Prospect Group. (June 06, 2010). Kodiak Oil & Gas: Company Profile. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://energyprospectus.com/sweet16info/archive/10/0710/06/KOG%20Company%20Profile%20July%206%202010.pdf. Hax, A. C. (2009). The Delta Model: Reinventing Your Business Strategy. Springer. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-a. (No date). Corporate Overview. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.kodiakog.com/corporate/overview.html. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-b. (2009). Annual Report. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.kodiakog.com/pdf/KOG-2009Form10-K.pdf. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-c. (November 12, 2009). Compensation and Nominating Committee Charter. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.kodiakog.com/pdf/compensationcharter.pdf. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp-d. (No date). Environmental Statement. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.kodiakog.com/corporate/environmental.html. Simon, C. A. (2007). Alternative energy: political, economic, and social feasibility. Rowman & Littlefield. The American Petroleum Institute. (October 2010). Monthly Import Statistics for October 2010. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.api.org/Newsroom/upload/10_Oct_Imports.pdf. The American Petroleum Institute-a. (January 2011). Petroleum Facts at a Glance. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.api.org/Newsroom/upload/January_11_Petroleum_Facts_at_Glance.pdf. The American Petroleum Institute-b. (February 9, 2011). U.S. Pump Price Update. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. http://www.api.org/aboutoilgas/gasoline/upload/PumpPriceUpdate.pdf. Yahoo Finance. (February 18, 2011). Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (KOG). February 18, 2011. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=KOG+Competitors. Read More