PennWell Awarded Dwights Database License; PennWell to Compete Against Petroleum Information/Dwights

Business Wire, Nov 5, 1998

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 1998--PennWell, a diversified media and information company and publisher of the "Oil & Gas Journal," announced today that it has been selected by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to receive the license for Dwights oil and gas well history, production and reservoir data.

The license -- which carries out an earlier FTC order to restore competition in the marketplace following a 1995 merger between Petroleum Information Corp. and Dwights EnergyData Inc. -- positions PennWell to take full advantage of the electronic information medium and significantly expand its services to the energy industry.

"PennWell's move into this area of the database business is as important as anything the company has done in the 29 years I've been with PennWell," said Thomas Terrell, senior vice president of PennWell's petroleum division. "PennWell's goal is to help the energy industry change the way it does business by adding on-time/real-time information to our already extensive library of information sources. We will leverage the industry expertise we have developed over 90 years of bringing information and analysis to the international petroleum industry."

PennWell's award of the Dwights license marks a major new step in the company's ongoing growth and diversification as a global information provider. PennWell, publisher of the "Oil & Gas Journal," "OGJ Online," "Offshore," petroleum maps, directories, statistics and provider of more than 50 other business information products, is well-positioned to expand the usefulness and applicability of the Dwights data into a comprehensive tool for exploration and production research. PennWell's capabilities include Geographic Information Systems, mapping and graphics. The company employs industry experts to integrate a variety of information resources.

PennWell will receive all domestic data and information collected by Dwights since its inception in 1934. In addition, although the Dwights merger with Petroleum Information Corp. occurred in 1995, the FTC has required the continuous update and maintenance of the well, production and reservoir files to ensure that the acquirer would receive the most current information.

"PennWell has many options internally and in developing products with other companies," said Joseph Wolking, PennWell Publishing Company's president and chief executive officer. For example, in January 1998, PennWell acquired MAPSearch, a database company specializing in oil and gas pipeline information, which can be combined with Dwights data.

"PennWell is taking this course of action because the energy industry needs comprehensive, accurate, reliable and timely data," Wolking said. "As the industry relies more on asset teams, more information will need to be shared across an enterprise. Through the database platform, PennWell will be in the leading position to meet industry's needs."

"PennWell will continue to find ways to serve the energy industry and cut information costs. If information can be made easier to gather and use, more resources can be spent managing the business. PennWell will be there with the data and the answers," said Wolking.

PennWell has already made significant investments in its energy database platform. It has selected a state-of-the-art Oracle platform and engaged a leading technology company to develop a highly functional relational database for the Dwights data. PennWell has established a product headquarters in Houston and is building a staff infrastructure to include programming, product development, sales, support and data acquisition departments.

With its vast amount of energy information, PennWell is well positioned to offer the industry's most data rich product. With its own and Dwights data forming a solid base, PennWell will continue to expand its data offerings and the software's capabilities through additional acquisitions and strategic alliances with information providers and software developers. In the future, PennWell's vision is to expand the energy database platform to multiple energy sources, especially as the convergence of electricity and natural gas progresses and to leverage PennWell's equally strong information presence in the electric utility industry.

"Our advantage in creating a new database and a related information infrastructure is our foundation of providing editorial quality, independence and integrity to the energy industry ever since PennWell purchased the 'Oil & Gas Journal' in 1910," said Terrell. "Our energy database will be just as important as 'Oil & Gas Journal' Vol. 1 No.1. The platform will be state of the art and PennWell will have the people and systems to keep it serving our customers' needs well into the next century."

Founded in 1910, PennWell provides authoritative publications, conferences and exhibitions, information products and Internet-based services to a number of global industries. While maintaining its roots in the oil and gas industry, PennWell now serves the electric power, electronics, communications, information technology, water, manufacturing, fire, environmental, and dental health markets. The company is headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., and has major offices in Houston, the Boston area, New Jersey, California, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.