Executive Summary: Midland Energy Resources, Inc. is a global energy company with a broad array of products and services. The company operates within three different operations including oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), refining and marketing (R&M), and petrochemicals. Midland has proven to be a very profitable company, with reported operating revenue of $248.5 billion and operating income of $42.2 billion. The company has been in business for over 120 years and employed more than 80,000 individuals. Janet Mortensen, the senior vice president of project finance for Midland Energy Resources, has been asked to calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for the company as a whole, as well as each of its three divisions as part of an annual budgeting process. Midland’s Three Divisions: Exploration & Production Oil exploration and production (E&P) is Midland’s most profitable business, and its net margin over the previous five years was among the highest in the industry. With oil prices at historic highs in early 2007, Midland anticipated heavy investment in acquisitions of promising properties, in development of its proved undeveloped reserves, and in expanding production. They also needed to account for competition from areas such as the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, and West Africa. Refining and Marketing Midland had ownership interests in forty refineries around the world with distillation capacity of five million barrels a day. Measured by revenue, this side of the business was Midland’s largest. The relatively small margin was consistent with a long-term trend in the industry. Margins had declined steadily over the previous twenty years. Petrochemicals Petrochemicals is Midland’s smallest but most promising and undervalued division. Midland owned twenty-five manufacturing facilities and five research centers in eight countries around the