The new millennium really is here. In the first two weeks of the new year, nearly every meeting I attended, whether in-house or elsewhere, concerned the Internet and web-based business opportunities. These will change how oil and gas companies drill a well and interact with one another. Apparently, many huge projects were waiting in the wings, and as soon as everyone knew that the Y2K bug was nonexistent, they rushed to announce their latest online business models-all within days of each other. "It's a mania," says Zeke Zeringue, CEO of one of the new companies. And with good reason. Market researchers now say that business-to-business e-commerce-in Internet lingo, it's called B-to-B-will soar to at least $1.3 trillion by 2003. This all harkens back to what Landmark Graphics' CEO Robert Peebler frequently says: we have entered the "golden era of the Information Age." From 2000 to 2020, companies and people will begin to reap significant benefits from the computer and the Internet. E-commerce in the energy industry is moving beyond catalogs online to include multiple vendors and multiple buyers, along with aggregation of best-practices information and industry trends. A number of well-known industry names from the E&P and finance sides have joined to form NetworkOil, which should have gone live with its new e-commerce service by the time you read this. Developed by and for independents who have analyzed their procurement processes, it is founded by an independent with 20 years experience, Chris O'Sullivan. The enterprise's board of directors includes people from Petrie Parkman & Co., Howard Weil and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, among others. EOG Resources and Ocean Energy, among several other independents, are start-up equity investors, and users, of this system. It allows operators and equipment and service providers to buy, sell, trade and exchange information about best practices. Members can initiate the process by sealed or open bid, auctions or reverse auctions. No special software or hardware is required-just access to the Internet. Similarly, eNersection, also based in Houston, is headed by John Chisolm and Zeringue, two well-known industry players. Texaco's Claire Farley and Shell Deepwater's Rich Pattarozzi are on the board. ENersection will offer similar features, and posting of anonymous industry data-such as what most people have been doing in South Texas frac jobs lately, based on buying or bidding data. Finally, Shell Oil and Commerce One, a California-based Internet B-to-B provider, announced in early January their joint venture to develop an Internet marketplace for the oil, gas and chemicals industries. Their electronic exchange will link buyers and sellers for energy companies, their suppliers and their customers. It is supposed to go live in the second quarter. These newer ventures join Wellbid Inc., a Denver company that, during the same week, announced an upgrade to its existing e-commerce service by adding online catalog support and a consultant finder function. Information on consultants is organized geographically-if your question concerns a well in the Powder River Basin, only those who specialize in that region will appear on the list of choices. Users may request bids for multiwell programs. Wellbid.com covers Internet-based procurement of well construction and repair, perforating and casing, management of proposals, bids and bid requests. Landmark's Peebler has written of economies of scale evolving into a new idea: economies of knowledge. This will separate the best in class from the also-rans. That's why knowledge from seasoned veterans must be "downloaded" into the heads-or the computers-of younger employees everywhere. To that end, these B-to-B sites pledge to go well beyond providing mere equipment and services procurement. For example, an operator posting an AFE for a Lobo well in South Texas will be able to solicit bids, yes, but also, ask colleagues in other companies for advice on what works best in that formation. Or, an anonymous aggregation of best practices in that type of well can be posted by the online service, by tracking what the last 10 operators ordered from the service companies for that type of well. On a separate note, let me alert you to another new possibility for doing business and managing opportunities. It's PPX-the Producing Property Exchange, which will take place in Houston this coming August 15 and 16. We're excited to be co-founders and sponsors of this new networking event, along with co-founders: Madison Energy Advisors Inc., EnCap Investments LC and John S. Herold Inc. Millions of dollars of producing properties will be displayed in sellers' booths to hundreds of qualified buyers. You'll be able to meet active sellers and buyers, intermediaries, environmental assessment firms, and acquisition and divestiture service providers. Private meeting rooms will be available for confidential dealmaking. For details, see our ad elsewhere in this issue, or contact conference coordinator Janet Allen at jallen@phillips.com.