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RENAISSANCE ENERGY LTD. isn't a company. It's a statement of principles given corporate form. It's a way of doing business that advocates a set of principles, then applies them with unrelenting rigor. This doctrinal approach has made Renaissance the most successful E&P company in Canada, some argue North America, over the last decade.
The principles themselves aren't particularly innovative, things like establish and grow core areas, maintain 100% ownership of lands and drilling. Explore only the plains areas of Alberta (and lately Saskatchewan). Drill hundreds or thousands of wells. Process your own gas, own your own facilities, market your own product. Do not acquire other companies. Above all, keep costs low, keep costs low, keep costs low.
Every company in town has a business plan stressing focus, control and low cost. But if Renaissance didn't invent the principles, it surely has elevated them to their highest level. Simply put, Renaissance is better at applying the fundamentals than anybody else.
This isn't meant to be arrogant, but there's a certain way we do things which work for us," says Clayton Woitas, president and chief executive officer of Renaissance. "Other companies are successful using a totally different culture, which is great, but our system works for us" Call it the Renaissance Way.
Woitas is the chief ideologue of the Renaissance Way. He joined the company in 1983, the year it went public, and has moulded the company's remarkable growth since. He is the wise man, the keeper of the orthodoxy. Having refined the principles, his role is keeping the company true.
Everything we do is 100%," he says. "All of our operations are 100%. The focus is getting the dominant position". He says it firmly, not boasting. It is principle, fact, done.
A quiet, church-going man, Woitas doesn't bother with a high profile in Calgary. The Renaissance Way doesn't call for it. "We let our numbers do the talking," he tells journalists. And those numbers indeed tell tales.
The company will drill about 1,650 net wells this year, 150 better than budgeted. It is the most active explorer in North America. Ten years ago, the company drilled 105 net wells. The average working interest is 98%.
Similar dominance shows up for land holdings. The company grew...