Richard Lorentz, Founding Director, KrisEnergy

What are your strategic priorities and growth targets for the next 12-24 months?

KrisEnergy has put on stream two greenfield oil projects in 2015 in the Gulf of Thailand, one of those was our first as the operator, so this has been a big year in our evolution as a relatively young start-up company (2009). Looking ahead, we have two gas developments in Indonesia and one oil development in each of Thailand and Cambodia all planned to go into production in late 2017/early 2018. That should keep us very busy over the next couple of years.

Where do you see the greatest opportunity in the O&G market and how are you positioned to capture this opportunity?

Since we were established in September 2009, we have been mindful to position the portfolio to mitigate as much risk as possible and also to ensure the right capital structure to suit our plans. I think we are in pretty good shape at the moment but these are definitely challenging times. Historically downturns do provide opportunity but they can often be more difficult to capture. I would say we need to maintain as much flexibility as possible in our plans and continue to look at all opportunities.

What do you foresee as the greatest challenge to our industry's future growth?

Right now, in this price environment, I would say it is survival of the fittest. Those companies that are overleveraged are going to struggle and some will fail as we are already seeing in North America.

These are tough market conditions with depressed oil prices and global reductions in capex and workforce, what measures and practices are you putting in place to adapt to this new (but not unknown) working environment?

Costs have reduced, in some cases by big margins say for rigs and support services, and we have cut G&A in all parts of the business where we can. I mentioned flexibility earlier and we have a lot of flexibility in our portfolio as we have minimal commitment work in our licences over the next couple of years. Therefore we want to focus on our current four developments and, of course, we continuously review opportunities to reduce costs but without any compromise to HSSE.

If you could wave a magic wand over the global industry, what would you change and why?

Prices are a huge black cloud hanging over the industry right now but on the other side I think US$100 plus is on the high side and not good for economic growth. The best would be to find that middle ground and stability.

How would you describe your company in once sentence to a new investor/client?

An entrepreneurial, fast-growth E&P company with a strong track record in exploration, development and raising funds, and full of people with expertise and passion.

You are attending our 2016 Asia Pacific Assembly, what is your goal at this event and what take-away(s) do you want attendees to go home with regarding your company and your work in Asia Pacific?

It’s always fun for networking and catching up with old friends, and, if we are lucky, maybe a deal can be struck. As a takeaway impression, I would like people to think that KrisEnergy has proven in the last six years that we are successful in exploring, development execution and raising the financing to support all our activities for growth.

How did you come to be in the O&G industry?

I was born in Florida but developed wandering feet early, moving to North Carolina and Alabama before graduating from high school in Oklahoma. It was there that my career in oil and gas took root when I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelors in Geology. I was drawn to Southeast Asia and took my Masters in Geology at the University of the Philippines where my thesis focused on field mapping of north-central Luzon. Quite simply, I like rocks.