Shlachter, Perotin, Fuquay & Co.

Apparently there’s a little disagreement about the true size of Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale. And apparently it’s gotten a little personal between XTO Energy Chairman Bob Simpson and Chesapeake Energy Chairman Aubrey McClendon.

It started with Simpson’s remarks during a July 22 conference call with financial analysts, when he said falling natural gas prices had been exacerbated by "hype artists in our industry."

Simpson got more speci- fic when a financial analyst asked whether XTO’s engineers concurred with an estimate of 250 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Haynesville — five times the Barnett Shale.

"That, at this moment, has a tremendous amount of hype in it," Simpson said. "Now it may come true, but certainly there is no one in their right mind that has the foggiest idea that you’ll recover 250 T’s [trillion cubic feet]. That’s ridi- culous."

Turns out McClendon was the source of that Haynesville estimate, made during a July 2 conference call with analysts. So when Chesapeake’s earnings call rolled around Friday, McClendon was primed. Just five sentences into his presentation, he launched into a detailed defense of the estimate.

"Let’s begin with a review of some recent negative comments about the Haynesville Shale from a friend and colleague of mine at another company," McClendon said. An extended monologue on the company’s experiences in the Barnett and Haynesville shales followed.

"As to recently expressed doubts about our calculation of Haynesville gas in place, if you’d studied the 100 existing Haynesville logs and taken Haynesville shale cores from your first four vertical Haynesville wells and had been able to evaluate them in your own proprietary shale-core laboratory, then maybe you might have been able to do the same math on gas in place and recoverable gas that we have," he said. He did the math, and sure enough it came to 245 trillion cubic feet.

"So rather than this number being hype," McClendon said, "it is instead an entirely reasonable number based on thorough scientific examination reinforced by actual drilling results to date."

Former S-T publisher courting Maine papers

Richard Connor, former Star-Telegram publisher and former owner of the Fort Worth Business Press, is leading a group of prominent sons of Maine trying to buy a small newspaper group in that state.

Connor, who now owns the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader, was in Portland on Wednesday to meet with employees of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, the largest unit of the Blethen Maine Newspaper group.

The principals in Maine Media Investments, the group with which Connor is working, include William Cohen, a former Maine senator and U.S. defense secretary; businessman Robert Baldacci, brother of Maine Gov. John Baldacci; and developer Michael Liberty.

Connor said he and his colleagues are Maine natives with deep ties to the state. "Our families have known each other for 50 or 60 years or more." Another former Maine senator, George Mitchell, is advising the group.

"I put this group together, and all we’ve done is negotiate a letter of intent."

Connor said the group hopes to buy the papers through an employee-stock-ownership plan (ESOP).

The Blethen papers are owned by the Seattle Times Co., which is partly owned by McClatchy Co., parent company of the Star-Telegram.

Connor said the group has an exclusive agreement with the Blethen group to negotiate to buy the papers.

The Blethen papers in Maine have been for sale since March, when the parent company said declining revenue and outstanding debt made such a move necessary. Since then, the Portland paper has undergone two rounds of layoffs and cuts, with another round scheduled for mid-August.

Connor said an ESOP was contemplated as a way of signaling to employees the group’s long-term commitment to the newspaper business. If culminated, a deal would also include the smaller Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the Web site MaineToday.com, one weekly newspaper and several other small publications.

Connor said smaller papers are faring much better in the current economic climate than larger ones.

"We think we can make it work in a smaller market."

Incubator sees another baby leave the nest

TECH Fort Worth, a nonprofit incubator that works with technology startup companies, has its second "launch."

Office Authority, a Web-based, just-in-time office-supply company for small to midsize clients, has left the incubator and opened an office at 3320 S. Jones St.

John Elliott started Office Authority with the idea that less warehoused inventory would mean lower overhead and lower prices. It has run operations out of TECH Fort Worth’s facility while enrolled in its Acceleration Program.

A TECH "launch" happens when a client has reached a significant milestone, such as positive cash flow, increased revenue, investments and job creation, the group said. TECH Fort Worth, though, will continue to work with Office Authority on networking, coaching and educational opportunities.

"TECH Fort Worth gave me the perfect platform from which to begin interacting with other businesses in the area," Elliott said in statement. "Office Authority is continuing to grow every month."

TECH Fort Worth is a public-private partnership of the city of Fort Worth, the University of North Texas Health Science Center and the local business community. It is in the former school gym at the Guinn complex, near Interstate 35W and East Rosedale Street.

Office Authority features Offi-scan, a bar-code reader that clients use for reordering and inventory control. The company has more than 30,000 brand-name products for next-day delivery, TECH Fort Worth said.