Berry Petroleum Company History, continued
Looking Ahead...
The mid-nineteen nineties saw Berry grow through acquisitions and the development of the properties that CJ had purchased earlier. Production from the existing California assets continued to climb and acquisitions added growth as well. The success enjoyed by C. J. Berry and Ethel D. Bush continued and Berry grew.
Berry began a transformation in 2003 which continues today. Berry expanded its presence in areas outside of California as opportunities to acquire light oil and natural gas production became available. In August 2003, Berry acquired property in the Uinta Basin in Utah, and now both producing acreage and through joint ventures, acreage for exploration and development opportunities in the Rockies and Mid-Continent regions.
In 2006 Berry purchased assets in Colorado's prolific Piceance basin as an opportunity for Berry to diversify the asset portfolio with long-lived, low geologic risk natural gas assets. In 2008 Berry purchased additional natural gas assets in East Texas in the Haynesville shale area. This acquisition offered entry into the East Texas Basin with a concentrated asset base, identified drilling inventory with attractive economics and upside potential including the Haynesville and Bossier Shale. In late of 2009, Berry began looking for an oil acquisition in a scalable play that the Company could accelerate when oil prices are strong, to compliment its heavy oil assets in California. Berry chose to enter the Wolfberry play in the Permian basin. In early 2010, Berry purchased 11.2 million BOE of proved reserves primarily in the Wolfberry for $126 million. In 2010 we also recognized Berry's 100th anniversary with a commemorative booklet that chronicled the history of Berry Petroleum.
Berry's strong fundamentals and financial strength should enable Berry to grow at a reasonable and manageable pace. Adding solid producing assets and building an inventory of prospects is the focus. Berry's employees are concentrating their efforts on increasing shareholder value and believe that greater success in the future will come from the continued transformation of the Company.
Berry Petroleum Company supports education and offers tours and informational presentations for most school age groups. Send a request here.
The Legacy of Ethel D. — 100 Years Later
(The following is an excerpt from our 2009 annual report remembering our founding lease and its namesake.)
If you mention Ethel D. in the offices of Berry Petroleum today, chances are someone will ask how the latest steamflood is going or if oil production is still climbing on that Berry property in Kern County, California. But the namesake behind Berry's Ethel D. property was a tough young lady from central California who knew a good thing when she saw it. Ethel, her four sisters and a brother lived on a farm near the Berry family in Selma, California. Having met C.J. Berry, the founder of today's Berry Petroleum in the early 1890s, she was taken with him. They were married on March 10, 1896, in her mother's front parlor. Shortly thereafter, Ethel and Clarence set out on a "honeymoon" to Alaska to search for gold. After 18 months in the North, Clarence and Ethel came home having great success with their gold claims.
"Clarence went to the Yukon every year until 1902 when things started winding down in the Klondike," according to Bill Berry, grand-nephew of C.J. and former Berry Petroleum board member who retired in 2006. "When gold was discovered in the Fairbanks and Circle districts of Alaska, Clarence bought claims there which they operated until 1914."
The Berrys took a million and a half dollars from their claims on Bonanza and Eldorado alone. But the winding down of one adventure was just the beginning of another. Not satisfied with Klondike gold, C.J. set his sights on another kind - "Black Gold." Clarence founded many oil operations during his lifetime such as Berry Holding Company, known now as Berry Petroleum Company. One early well drilled in 1909 was located on a property named for his wife, Ethel D.
100 years later the Ethel D. property is not only still producing oil in paying quantities, but it has been the focus of quite a bit of development over the past five years. In fact, some of the South Midway-Sunset's upside comes from improved recovery through steam optimization and development of Ethel D.
C. J. died unexpectedly in 1930 of a burst appendix. Ethel lived out her days as a wealthy widow in Beverly Hills, California, until her death in 1948. The oil property which bears her name continues her legacy 100 years later, and with the proved reserves associated with that property, there is a good chance that the legacy will continue for many years to come.
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