No. of Recommendations: 3
Are you aware of other oil and gas companies in the Permian that have a non-investment orientation (or an orientation in favour of 'coupon-clipping', as Pabrai reports Munger to have said?)
Both Oil companies owned by Biglari Holdings pursue a near-zero investment philosophy for exploration and development. These companies are called Southern Oil of Louisiana (wholly owned, not in the Permian - shallow water GoM) and Abraxas Petroleum (90% owned, all operations in the Permian). There is some talk of using JVs to bring in 3rd party capital to fund drilling but that model has not attracted outside capital so far. A 10% stub of Abraxas trades illiquidity but will be going dark, will probably be squeezed out by the parent company, and I would not expect common shareholders of Abraxas to be treated fairly in whatever ultimately happens. Not an investment rec.
