In perhaps the most anti climatic takeover battle this year, QEP is back in the news. With all the love letters between Kimmeridge and PDC, Elliott and QEP act more like ex-high school sweethearts, only following each other on LinkedIn. But! Bloomberg scooped that Blackstone, Callon and Whiting are all looking. As a Callon shareholder expressly for the purpose of it being bought - I forbid them to bid (I’m not sure they will listen, even though it makes 0 sense). Whiting on...

On behalf of all companies who’s stock is down more than 65%, I am announcing a strategic alternatives process for you.... you’re for sale, put up the sign. I know, I know ... “How can you accept an offer when you are trading more than 65% below where you were last year??” Because investors have woken up and realized - asset quality matters, basins matter, balance sheets matter... and that’s why you are down 65%+. Roan Resources is the latest to “officially” announce it saying they...

In a stroke of truly politically correct and reactionary genius - the SAT’s have added an “Environmental Context Dashboard” to assess a students “resourcefulness to overcome adversity”. It measures things like crime rate and poverty levels in a community and adds the score for universities to see and help make better diversity decisions. Ironically, administrators are missing the point. With tuition rising at 7% a year, and many private colleges costing more than $60,000/year - a college degree is going to become less of a screen...

How does the private equity model evolve to address the fact that the great resource play land grab is over? Bakken. Eagleford. Permian. All extensively drilled with the limits of the fields pretty much known and understood. So returns are generated through drilling, rather than “lease and flipping” which means much bigger capital and much bigger teams required. How to cope? Teams have started resorting to “drill fund” structures where investors invest in a basket of wells and earn a guaranteed return with a tail. Ultimately...

A help wanted ad I see coming in the very near future... WANTED: Debt investors need deeply experienced workout group to help us not lose all the money we invested in horrible companies with tragic balance sheets. Oh, and did we mention the assets aren’t good so you can’t drill or sell your way out of the problem. Required skills: must be able to take a beating all day every day; must take the blame for our horrible investment so we can blame you when...

A little misconception I’d like to clarify: It takes one woman 9 months to make a baby. 9 women can’t make one baby in one month. Translation: throwing people at a problem doesn’t always solve it faster. Some things just take time. You’re welcome.

Saudi Arabian...what are we calling it...sabotage? Iranian sanctions. Venezuelan supply falling off a cliff. In the good old days, these events would have driven oil up 10% but with tariff concerns, prices remain in the low 60’s. With so much noise in China-US trade, quietly and unnoticed, energy companies are being given a second lease on life (well, some of them). Budgets were set at $50 oil and activity was front end loaded. Excess cash is being used for stock buybacks and debt management and...

Now that the OXY-APC-CVX drama has run its course, I find myself compelled to watch the massively entertaining “letter war” between Kimmeridge and PDC and Rice and EQT. To me- the most amusing part is that the companies instigating the fight are the companies that sold their assets in the first place (Kimmeridge and Rice both got wonderfully ... attractive prices in 2016 and 2017 when they sold). Both took stock in the acquiring companies and now that stock has got beat up because EVERY ENERGY...

UBER is public and after the debut of LYFT it’s no surprise that it’s down 15% from the IPO price. The company has a $70b market cap, hasn’t ever turned a profit and is burning cash like an oil and gas company in 2014! I’m not convinced it should have a larger market cap than EOG - but what do I know about tech company valuations?? I do love UBER as a service though - I really do. The convenience and low cost have been...

I am going to be totally without controversy today and say “Happy Mothers Day” to all the moms out there. You are all amazing. Ok.... most of you are. Some of you raised little a-holes but we can talk more about that on Father’s Day. I kid. Let’s talk climate change for a second. Carbon free is a cool concept but I ask, what changes are we willing to make to make it happen? Everyone has a plan but no one is talking about...