FORTUNE NATURAL RESOURCES CORP
7 story beats from 2001 to 2006
The story so far
The events that changed the company's story, in plain English, each written against everything known about the company at the time. The dot shows whether it was good, bad or neutral for shareholders.
2006
- 1 June
FORTUNE NATURAL RESOURCES CORP deregistered its securities, ending its obligation to file reports with the SEC.
listing compliance notice
- 1 June
The end. After nearly two years in Chapter 11 the court confirmed Fortune's plan on 10 April 2006, effective 21 April: every share and every other ownership interest in the company was cancelled outright, and Fortune deregistered and stopped filing with the SEC. Shareholders recovered nothing.
bankruptcy or receivership
2004
- 13 Aug
Fortune filed for Chapter 11 in the Eastern District of Louisiana on 1 June 2004 (case 04-14112), staying in control of its own assets with no trustee appointed. Its first monthly report to the court showed how little was left: $5.9 million of assets against $6.1 million of debts, and $31.6 million of money raised from shareholders over the company's life set against a $32.2 million accumulated deficit.
bankruptcy or receivership
2003
- 9 May
The moment Fortune's condition became undeniable. Grant Thornton resigned on 2 May 2003, a day after Fortune disclosed it could not afford an audit of its 2002 accounts and had chosen to spend the money on exploration instead. Both sides confirmed there was no accounting dispute - the company simply did not have the cash to be audited, and said it hoped to re-hire Grant Thornton later. It never did.
auditor change
2002
- 1 July
A discovery at La Rosa C-8 - 22 feet of pay flowing about 400 Mcf a day - for a Fortune share of just $26,000 on a 10% interest. The bigger news was the Texas onshore program Fortune bought into in February 2002: a 25% interest and co-operator role in reprocessing a major oil company's 48,000-mile seismic library, which had already turned 20% of the data into 150 leads and 50 prospects. It was a large idea for a company this small to fund.
drilling progress report
2001
- 29 June
Fortune's best result of the period: the Dill #13-9, its first exploratory well at the West Pointe prospect in Clay County, Mississippi, logged 161 feet of apparent pay across three separate sands and was cased for completion. Fortune held 20% of it for a total cost of about $150,000. Meanwhile the reprocessed La Rosa 3-D seismic yielded five new prospects, with three wells due to spud from mid-July.
drilling progress report
- 18 Apr
An exploration update showing what Fortune actually was: a passive minority participant. The Brooks #3 well on the Cadiz prospect in Bee County, Texas logged about 55 feet of net pay in the Slick sand and up to 160 feet of prospective Luling sand - but Fortune held only 6.5625% of it and its whole share of the cost was about $53,000. It also flagged recompletion work at La Rosa in Refugio County and a sidetrack at Gamble Gully in Live Oak County targeting up to 36 Bcf.
drilling progress report