.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear C.D.:

As a descendant of the Clan of Malcolm (mother’s side), the family seat of which for 600 years has been Duntrune Castle, my first recognition of SFD is as an abbreviation for Scottish First Division, the highest division of the Scottish Football League. Now I’m chagrined to discover that SFD represents something a tad more exciting.

Today, SFD is an abbreviation for stress field detector, an airborne remote sensing technology (noninvasive) that can explore environmentally sensitive areas (wetlands, tropical forests, national parklands, tundra, offshore regions) for potential hydrocarbon deposits. Using a twin-engine Cheyenne Piper III or a Dornier 628, the SFD is mounted to the aircraft’s seat rails while the plane is flown at an altitude of about 1,000 feet on a grid pattern.

The SFD technology remotely detects subsurface changes caused by hydrocarbon deposits and is not a replacement for the commonly used seismic exploration. SFD rapidly and inexpensively evaluates a grid for its hydrocarbon potential; after a good pinging pattern, the area is surveyed with 3-D seismic for specific drilling locations. The time and cost savings is measured in years and tens of millions of dollars.

A small Canadian company called Energy Exploration Technologies Inc. (ENXTF-$2.45) owns the intellectual property rights to the SFD technology. GLJ Petroleum Consultants of Calgary, Alberta, has published a comprehensive review of SFD exploration activities in several survey areas.

If you are serious about investing $9,000 in this terribly speculative stock, then I urge you to read the GLJ report. Geophysicist Geoff Carrington from Calgary has also written a favorably conclusive report of SFD technology. It seems that both GLJ and Carrington are highly impressed.

And apparently Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGH-$20.49), a multibillion-dollar Canadian oil and gas company, and Black Goose Holdings, a private Canadian oil company, have inked deals with ENXTF. In both instances, ENXTF is paid a consulting fee and will also receive a royalty for each hydrocarbon discovery.

Unfortunately I can’t locate a balance sheet or an income statement for ENXTF. Unlike public American companies, Canadian companies are not held to the same high reporting standards, and I can’t locate any reliable data. But you could ask your broker to ring ENXTF in Canada (403-264-7020), and he can visit with one of the company’s officers.

I can tell you that the company stock was trading in the low $30s way back in June and July of 2000, and a couple of years later the stock was trading at a dime. If your intended gamble of $8,000 is a small portion of your investment funds, I have no objection if you purchase 3,000 shares. Just know that this is a highly speculative gamble (not an investment) and there’s probably a low likelihood that this will be a profitable investment. The concept is intriguing, and I wonder why the shares aren’t trading back in the $30 range. So maybe there’s less here than meets the eye.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@comcast.net. © Copley News Service