In the oil and gas business, risk just comes with the territory. But Pogo Producing Co.'s chairman and chief executive, Paul G. Van Wagenen, attributes part of the company's success to dodging that risk whenever possible. "At Pogo we avoid risks where they are manageable and controllable," Van Wagenen said at an IPAA/Tipro meeting in Houston recently. "And getting along with everyone in this industry is important-you have to do business with these people." Pogo has been in business for about 36 years and Van Wagenen has been a long-time part of that history. "I'm the dictionary definition of dead wood. I haven't been promoted in 15 years," he quipped. Pogo's profile has been far from stagnant. In 2005 alone it divested its Thailand assets, increased its senior subordinated notes, upped its capex by $180 million, launched a stock buyback program and accelerated its onshore exploration activities. Quoting one of his favorite baseball players, Van Wagenen said, "We swung as hard as we could [in 2005], just in case we hit the ball." The company has never had any reserve write-downs or reserve deficiencies of any kind, a fact Van Wagenen attributes to hiring the most conservative people he can find. "We can be bold at times, but we never take unnecessary risk...We're very proud of that." Pogo also stays out of areas laden with drilling or political uncertainties. "That leaves us out of places like the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, along with the hostile governments of California and Florida," he joked. "It's very important to know who you are-[for example,] the Appalachia is not what we do." What Pogo does do, it aims to do well. In Thailand (pre-divestitures) it had drilled some 462 wells with a 97% success rate. It drilled 170 wells in the Permian Basin in 2005 and some 50 wells in the Rockies. It has budgeted up to 200 wells in Canada in 2006. It also has claim to more than 600 Gulf of Mexico leases and has produced a net 2 trillion cubic feet of gas and 2 million barrels of oil. Last year, it acquired Northrock Resources Ltd., a Canadian subsidiary of the former Unocal Corp., for US$1.8 billion in cash. The deal increased Pogo's total proven oil and gas reserves 45% to 2,081 billion cubic feet equivalent; increased its worldwide net leasehold acreage from about 1.73 million net acres to 3.15 million; added more than 900 identified drilling opportunities to its inventory; and extended its reserve life to 9.3 years.