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OKC-Based Beard Co. Opens China Fertilizer Plant

Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Beard Co. of Oklahoma City has opened a fertilizer manufacturing facility in the People's Republic of China.

The plant is expected to produce about 550 metric tons of fertilizer this month and increase output to 2,667 metric tons by December. At full capacity, the plant should deliver 32,000 metric tons per year, said Herb Mee Jr., president of Beard Co.

We have looked forward to this day since announcing the financing of the facility seven months ago, Mee said. The opening of this plant represents a significant step forward for the company as we continue our efforts to achieve a major turnaround in our financial and operating results.

W.M. Beard, chairman of Beard Co., and Riza Murteza, chairman of Beard Environmental Engineering, attended the grand opening ceremony.

Beard Environmental Engineering formed a limited liability company, BEE/ 7HBF, which will own the fertilizer operations in China. BEE/7HBF is a 50 percent-owned subsidiary of Beard Environmental.

BEE/7HBF formed Xianghe BH Fertilizer Co., a wholly owned foreign enterprise that will serve as the marketing arm for the fertilizer.

The new plant stands 37 miles southeast of Beijing. Its organic chemical compound fertilizer uses up to 62 percent less chemicals compared with chemical fertilizers now used in China.

In trading over-the-counter bulletin board trading Wednesday, Beard closed unchanged at $2.40.

The plant's opening was Beard's second major announcement this month. Last week, Beard said its oil and gas properties in Colorado are now fully developed.

Vista Resources of Pittsburgh completed two additional wells on acreage in Yuma County, Colo., farmed out by Beard, which has a 22.5 percent working interest in the wells.

The first six wells drilled by Vista on the acreage were placed in production at an initial rate of 100,000 cubic feet per day per well.

With the drilling of these two additional wells the Vista acreage is now fully developed, Mee said. We are pleased that all eight of the wells drilled have been successful and appear to be good wells. The Vista wells should be a source of meaningful income to us for a number of years.

In January Beard reported the start of production from the first two wells on its lease, marking the firm's re-entry in the oil and gas business after a 12-year absence. Beard formed a seismic option- farm-out agreement with Vista.

Beard was a major independent energy company before selling the last of its oil and gas assets in 1993.

Source: Journal Record - Oklahoma City

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