Forward Looking Statements. The statements contained in all parts of this document, (including any portion attached hereto) including, but not limited to, those relating to our schedule, targets, estimates or results of future drilling, including the number, timing and results of wells, budgeted wells, increases in wells, the timing and risk involved in drilling follow-up wells, expected working or net revenue interests, planned expenditures, prospects budgeted and other future capital expenditures, risk profile of oil and gas exploration, acquisition of 3-D seismic data (including number, timing and size of projects), planned evaluation of prospects, probability of prospects having oil and natural gas, expected production or reserves, increases in reserves, acreage, working capital requirements, hedging activities, the ability of expected sources of liquidity to implement our business strategy, future hiring, future exploration activity, production rates, potential drilling locations targeting coal seams, the outcome of legal challenges to new coalbed methane drilling permits in Montana, a mezzanine project facility to finance a majority of the February 2004 acquisition costs in the Barnett Shale trend and the exploration and development expenditures in that trend, all and any other statements regarding future operations, financial results, business plans and cash needs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward looking statements. When used in this document, the words "anticipate," "budgeted," "targeted," "potential," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those relating to our dependence on our exploratory drilling activities, the volatility of oil and natural gas prices, the need to replace reserves depleted by production, operating risks of oil and natural gas operations, our dependence on our key personnel, factors that affect our ability to manage our growth and achieve our business strategy, risks relating to our limited operating history, technological changes, our significant capital requirements, the potential impact of government regulations, adverse regulatory determinations, including those related to coalbed methane drilling in Montana, litigation, competition, the uncertainty of reserve information and future net revenue estimates, property acquisition risks, industry partner issues, availability of equipment, weather and other factors detailed herein and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements are described under "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Risk Factors" and in other sections of this report. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to these risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND              RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read this discussion together with the consolidated financial statements and other financial information included in this Form 10-K.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

For the year ended December 31, 2003, we achieved record annual drilling success rates, levels of production, natural gas and oil revenues and our proved oil and gas reserves at the end of 2003 also reached a record level.

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