A Dynamic Team
The company’s senior management team is led by Lambert, who was a founder of Midnight, as well as the vice president of operations at Ulster Petroleums.

A professional engineer, Hanbury was previously the chief operating officer of Sequoia Oil & Gas Trust. Nielsen was treasurer and corporate secretary for Ulster Petroleums Ltd.

“The core to a company’s success, though, is in the staff,”  Lambert says. “We continuously strive to find the best people and put them in a team environment where they can be successful, both for the unitholders and for themselves.”

Well Prepared
The Canadian government has announced that trusts will become taxable entities in 2011. However, Nielsen says Daylight Resources Trust is well prepared for that transition when it comes.

“We have generated, and continue to generate, some very good tax pools in the $800 million range,” he explains. “That is going to allow us significant cash tax protection beyond the 2011 time frame.”

Although the trust has seen a rebound from declines in the price of natural gas over the last two years, its balanced portfolio allowed it to shift more of its focus to oil.

“[We’re] able to turn these negatives into positives,” Hanbury says. “We’re starting to gain more traction and see better results as we go forward.

“With the recent increase in natural gas prices, the diversity of our asset base is allowing us to focus on deep tight gas and shallower, lower productivity wells favored by the new Alberta Royalty program,” he adds.

Often, Nielsen says, the trust model is used as an exit strategy for exploration and production companies. However, as Daylight enters its fourth year, the trust’s management plans for an exciting future.

“We’re designing this trust to move forward and be a consolidator,” Hanbury asserts, noting that Daylight believes it is well positioned to take advantage of the challenging times.

Young, Experienced Team
In addition, Hanbury says, Daylight has a young but experienced team. “A lot of us do not see ourselves as near the end-point of our careers,” he asserts. “We are pretty excited about the new technologies coming out and the value they will unlock within our assets.

“We don’t necessarily know what the future’s going to bring,” Hanbury admits.

“[But] I think the trust model is a good one, especially in these more mature oil and gas basins,” he continues. “It’s really reverting into something, I think, truly sustainable.”