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TWST: Please give us a brief historical sketch of the company.
Mr. Rattie: Questar is a natural gas-focused energy company. We find, develop,
produce, gather, process, transport, and distribute natural gas. We're one of
the few companies that operate across the entire natural gas value chain. Our
roots go back to the 1920s when a small exploration company looking for oil
instead found natural gas near Rock Springs, Wyoming. Lacking a local market,
they undertook what some at the time considered folly & they built a high-
pressure pipeline across the Wasatch Mountains to bring natural gas to Salt Lake
City in Utah. They overcame enormous obstacles, including construction during
one of the harshest winters on record, to put that pipeline into service in
1929.
Today, Questar has returned to its roots & we're predominantly an exploration
and production company. Questar E&P is one of America's fastest growing
independent gas and oil producers. But we're also in the gathering and
processing (G&P), pipeline and utility businesses. Gas Management, our G&P
company, and Questar Pipeline, our interstate pipeline business operate
primarily in our core Rockies producing basins, the Greater Green River Basin
and the Uinta Basin. Our utility Questar Gas serves 840,000 homes and
businesses, primarily in the Greater Salt Lake area. TWST: I believe that we're seeing a major shift from conventional to
unconventional natural gas?
Mr. Rattie: Yes, as the saying goes, the future is unconventional. A decade ago
less than 10% of total US natural gas production came from so called
unconventional reservoirs & tight sandstones, shale, and coal. But that share
will grow to more than 50% over the next five to 10 years. Much of that growth
will come from the Rockies, a region with vast unconventional gas resources.
Advances in technology have helped the industry Òcrack the code.Ó Today, most of
the major new plays in the onshore US are targeting reservoirs that decades ago
were considered uneconomic. If you own Questar shares, you're investing in this
important trend. Over 80% of Questar production today is from unconventional
reservoirs. The Rockies is our home turf, but we're also investing for growth in
our Midcontinent E&P business.
Tickers included in this excerpt: STR
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
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