Swift plans to keep balance sheet conservative even as conditions improve

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., April 20 - Swift Energy Co. plans to maintain a conservative balance sheet, in line with its low-leverage, high-liquidity model, even as the company begins to emerge from the current downturn, Paul Vincent, Swift's manager of investor relations, said Monday during a presentation at the IPAA Oil & Gas Investment Symposium in New York.

"We are focused very much this year on maintaining the balance sheet, ensuring liquidity for growth for the future and also driving costs down," Vincent said.

With a capital budget based on keeping spending within its cash flow, the company does not expect to need more than $250 million on its bank line at any point during 2009, he said.

Based on anticipated cash flows for 2009, Swift won't be able to drill as much of its inventory of projects as the company would like but believes it will be in a position to enter into partnerships to accelerate development of some of its assets over time, Vincent said.

"First and foremost in this environment is to protect the balance sheet, and we think we've taken the necessary steps to do that," he said.

If pricing or cash flow were to be better than expected later in the year, Swift could quickly increase activity, Vincent added.

Swift Energy is a Houston-based developer, explorer, acquirer and operator of oil and gas properties.

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