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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sportsman who wrote (81072)	12/8/2000 1:59:31 PM
From: excardog	Respond to of 95453

kind of a cute story: Press Release Scope Industries' Chairman Sees Bright Year for Oil, Gas DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2000--McKinney-Young entrepreneur oil and gas maverick Jeff Johnson, 35, has his Scope Industries firm sitting on top of the energy business right now, but he's quick to point out that it hasn't always been like it is with today's $30 bucks a barrel. Anyone who follows the oil business knows it's a roller-coaster ride - at least history proves it is. Johnson, who remembers when ``black gold'' sold for $8 a barrel, is a Texas entrepreneur who has built up Scope, sold it once, rode out the hard times and then got back into the business in a big way. In l992, Johnson formed Scope when times were good. ``We hit some oil wells and did real good. About three years later, we hit a gas well. Then we slammed in 30 in a row and I said, 'turn out the lights, the party's over.''' Johnson's Scope Operating Company was suddenly a hot item. A large independent in Ft. Worth made him a very generous offer and Johnson sold. ``As they say in the good old days, they made us an offer that we could not refuse. We decided to pull back a little and see what would happen. We had made a good deal and as it turned out, it was just in the nick of time.'' Johnson's vision was perfect. ``We were really concerned about oil prices dropping and boy, we were right,'' he recalled. Oil suddenly dropped from a respectable $22 a barrel to $16. Then it hit rock bottom at a notch below eight bucks. ``It was the beginning of hard times.'' At this time in l998, Johnson's partner and second generation geologist Dwight Brehm moved his family to McKinney from Scope's St. Louis office and the two began to take the company ``into a survival stage real fast.'' Just about everyone - particularly the small oil and gas firms - began to feel the pinch. But because he was a good athlete who played both high school and college football, Johnson was taught how to deal with adversity. ``We're firm believers in what doesn't kill you will make you stronger,'' said the affable Johnson. Today, Scope Industries, Inc., is a public traded company by reverse merger. Johnson makes sure his firm ``keeps a hands-on'' approach to the business. When he is not on the phone telling potential investors about Scope, he travels to various parts of the country seeking funds and keeping his investors up-to-date. Johnson is quick to recall that the oil and gas business lost 100,000 jobs and shut down or plugged 150,000 wells just three years or so ago. ``We could have folded, but we chose to stick it out. We made it by hard work and never giving up,'' he adds. Johnson hopes to sell Scope while gas and oil is king of the hill. ``From where we sit, we see it only getting stronger. During those hard times, we took what cash we had left and gambled. We bought some companies who were losing their leases due to non-production and in the long run, this kept us in business. It's an exciting game and we're winning and this is what makes it worthwhile,'' he concludes.