Lucas continually seeks investment opportunities in its chosen industry sectors where the company's industry knowledge, technology and expertise can potentially increase shareholder value and deliver significant returns.
This is most evident in the coal seam gas sector where Lucas has acquired, developed and successfully divested a number of assets, detailed in past investments. As a provider of drilling and other services to the coal and coal seam gas industries Lucas has built a detailed knowledge of coal structures and developed a range of gas extraction techniques tailored to the unique geology of each prospect.
Cuadrilla Resources
Cuadrilla was formed in September 2007 as a privately held exploration and production company focused on bringing together leading unconventional oil and gas explorers, developers and technologists to unlock untapped unconventional resource plays in selected parts of Europe, in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner.
The philosophy behind the establishment of Cuadrilla was to combine a proven management team with proprietary exploration, operational and extraction IP to select plays in established hydrocarbon provinces in carefully identified European countries and to have a vertically integrated business model in terms of drilling and extraction capability.
Lucas was a founding shareholder in Cuadrilla and has supported the management team since the company’s inception.
Cuadrilla has applied for, and in some cases been granted, exploration licences totalling in excess of 1.5 million acres in the UK, Holland, Spain and Poland. In addition, Cuadrilla has designed, overseen the manufacture of and delivered state of the art cementing and fracture stimulation equipment and is soon to take delivery of a DrillMec HH220 top drive rig.
Cuadrilla’s management is a proven operational management team with global experience and technical leadership in finding unconventional hydrocarbons. It is lead by Dr Chris Cornelius and Mr Dennis Carlton, (both ex Evergreen Resources) and includes Dr Peter Turner and Prof Marc Bustin from the technology side and Messrs Mark Miller and Eric Vaughan from the operational side. Cuadrilla is based in Lichfield, Staffordshire in the UK.
In February 2010, private equity fund Riverstone LLC invested US$58 million in Cuadrilla to fund the next stage of its development.
Cuadrilla intends to continue to assemble acreage in Europe in areas which have been identified during the past three years and, at the same time, to commence fraccing and drilling activities in the UK. Drilling activities in the Bowland Basin (PEDL165) are scheduled to commence in April 2010.
Water Group
The Water Group supports our belief that infrastructure fundamentals will continue to be a worthwhile investment. It fulfils two key functions in Lucas: providing expert support by career water professionals to our pipeline and construction divisions. Secondly, it is the vehicle for investing in water projects and technologies we believe will be valuable to our clients, and in their own right.
It's also acquired the Australasian licence for Beijing Origin Water, innovative manufacturers of a diverse range of water treatment systems.