Far East Energy Corporation: Shareholder Questions and Concerns

Cabeza Howe Far East Energy Corporation's (FEEC) Operations Update & Investor Q&A Webcast is right around the corner. I encourage my fellow investors and interested parties to call in and ask questions. This is an opportunity for us to help promote the company's shareholder communication, corporate governance, and enhance shareholder value. It is also a window for us to learn from the management, which I think very important for any serious investors.

The following is a list of questions I put together. I encourage you to ask any of the following questions during the webcast, whichever makes sense to you.

1. What was the major motivation for the exploration period extension across all three PSCs? Was this simply because they were unable to fulfill their exploratory obligation by original deadline (June 30, 2007)? Or was there any strategic consideration behind it? For reference purposes, what remains of the original obligation (before PSC amendment) was primarily 6000 more meters of horizontal drilling in Shanxi and completing one horizontal well with two laterals in Yunnan. My belief is there was a fundamental strategic driver behind it. Refer to this post for more information on this. But only the company holds the truth! Whether the exploration period extension is a good or bad thing depends on how fast they are able to produce revenue and make a profit. This is because CUCBM cannot share profit and cost until the development period.

2. How do they plan to fund their exploration with the two year extension? Issuing more stocks? Issuing bonds? Is there any plan to fund operation by tapping their gas reserve?

3. Do they foresee issuing more equity? If yes, when? And will the offering involve warrants?

4. When do they project to have some initial gas revenue, and in what order? Any production plan in place, e.g., building compression facility or gas pipeline? How much advantage can be taken of existing intraprovincial pipeline? How much needs to be built?

5. What are the capital demands of FCC HZ05, and the two vertical wells in Yunnan? What does the well cost look like in general right now, both horizontal and vertical?

6. Is the high gas content, high permeability thesis mainly based on No. 15 coal seam in Shouyang block? How reliable is this assessment? How high is the likelihood of this assessment turning out to be wrong?

7. For FCC HZ01 and HZ03, what is the total accumulated gas volume so far? When will peak gas prodcution rate estimate be available for Shouyang block?

8. When will HZ02 and HZ04 be able to achieve continuous gas flow? Why did it take so long for HZ02 to achieve continuous gas flow? Any technical issues there?

9. Which block (Laochange or Enhong) are the two new Yunnan vertical wells located? After the PSC amendment, do they still need to drill the FCY-LC03 horizontal well (Laochange/Yunnan) reported to be in negotiation late last year?

10. For Qinnan block, they are to drill a horizontal well or equivalent vertical wells. What is the equivalance ratio between these two types of wells, in terms of number, extent/size, and cost? What is their average horizontal and vertical well cost at this point? How much lower can they bring the well cost down?

11. How many wells are planned to be drilled this year? How many of them are horizontal and vertical respectively?

12. Other than providing investment capital, have they brought in any advanced CBM technologies into China? So far they have been contracting Chinese companies to drill the wells.

13. According to their knowledge, what are the newest, most effective and efficient CBM drilling technologies at this moment? Are they planning on using any of these new drilling technologies?

14. How much did Phillips' work help with FEEC's subsequent exploration work? Did Phillips' work reduce their exploration risks significantly, particularly did that make the commercial gas production from HZ wells #1 through #5 more assured in any way?

15. Do they have a roadmap for the long term? The Shanxi PSCs alone likely can sustain 3000 horizontal wells. When the Yunnan PSC is also factored in, they are probably looking at 4000 horizontal wells (or equivalent) altogether. If these wells are to be drilled over a 25-year period, each year the company ought to drill 160 horizontal wells on average. How does the company visualize on getting there?

16. Can they consider awarding bonus to senior management in the form of stock option grants instead of cash? And if a small fraction of the senior management's salary is paid in the form of options as well, investor confidence could be greatly boosted.

And of course, throw in your own questions also.

Disclosure: Author is long FEEC.