Chaparral Resources (CHAR) is a play on Russia (actually Kazakhstan).
It is an oil and gas exploration company, with a major bet on the Karakuduk
Field in the Republic of Kazakhstan (100 miles south of the Tengiz Field
where Chevron is currently producing and exporting over 180,000 barrels of
crude per day).
The company has a long and colorful history. It began in the early 1970's
as a penny stock (originally priced at 10 cents a share, I believe).
It eventually had a large reverse stock split; then soared on a deep
natural gas play in the Wind River Basin in Wyoming.
Then, as things were going well, there were two stock splits (totalling 8 for
1), and the stock ended up in the $10 to $20 range, roughly.
Later, as the price of natural gas declined (and the difficulties of
drilling and maintaining 20,000 foot deep wells became apparent), CHAR slid
from the $10 to $20 price range to the $0 to $1 range.
Then, new management came in, did a reverse stock split of 1 for 60, and
re-positioned the company as a Kazakhstan oil play.
The company has an informative website : chaparralresources.com
The number of shares outstanding is quite low, and the bid/ask spreads are
sometimes wide.
Allen & Co. has been involved recently as an investment banker / adviser.
Also, I think CHAR was added to the Russell 2000 some time in 1999. |
