What To Know About Oil And Gas Investments

By Olive Pate


This is a project which is very risky but with satisfactory returns, these two products are currently the most demanded commodity in the world. This is because of their industrial use. Prices of these products are too high creating a lot of interest to investors to undertake such ventures. Irrespective of it being a lucrative business, security regulators have warned potential investors of possible oil and gas investments dangers and scam that exist.

There are few methods of evaluating the period in which a project will take to give returns, one of them include payback period. Payback period takes into account initial cash outlay used by investor and the accruing cash inflow, it is the time taken for cash inflows to march the amount of money used. In this technique an investors chooses a project that a shortest time possible.

To realize this goals such companies can undertake this ventures. If a firm is not financially stable it can undertake short term investment and also if it is financially sound it can try long term projects. Criteria for decision making can vary from company to another depending on their evaluation techniques. Some of techniques that can be used include payback periods, net present value and rate of return.

Some of risk facing this industry are reserve risk, this risk involve not striking a big enough reservoir to meet your demands. Before starting drilling process first carry out a series of tests on the soil to determine or predict with reasonable accuracy the size of reservoir to expect. Another challenge is price risk, the prices of gas and oil are state controlled or sometimes left to market demand and supply forces to set prices.

Entrepreneurs in these sectors should first answer this primary question, why did such deal or project come their way. This is critical as it concerns capital intensive venture, it matches capital with project on hand. Appropriate capital will be generated by educated investors who know one or two things on such projects, they understand the technical issue and legal issues involved.

Direct participation may be lucrative due to heavy capital required. They should take caution not to drill in areas not tested and approved to have oil reserves else they risk undertaking a venture which will result to huge losses. There are risks involved in this venture, and one of them includes mechanical risk. The risks here range from human injuries as the drilling process involves a lot of mechanization to delays due to mechanical failures.

This venture may take any of following forms, partnership with limited liability, buying some shares in lease contracts and hence becoming a shareholder who is entitled to interest and lastly general partnership. Each category has different tax consequences and share liabilities differently too. General partnership lack limited liability and therefore the partners are personally liable, this means their properties can be used to recover any debt by the partner.

These people should practice honesty, exercise integrity all the time and have experience in the sector. Experience is needed the most, have the people you are engaging worked on such or similar projects before, do they have enough exposure and are they licensed to carry out such projects, these are some of the things one should look at before working or engaging third parties




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