My mother pointed out that I like to use the word “stud” and that historically, this has been a gender specific term. I want to make clear my definition of the word “stud” is as follows: a person who is amazing and impressive. Gender has 0 relevance to me. Only competence. Speaking of.... How about CNX?! They announced that they will have flat production in 2021 (good); will spend 37% less capital in 2020 vs 2019 (better) and have dropped from 5 rigs at the...

This is the hottest/coldest/wettest/driest summer/winter/fall of my life! We like to attach this “xyz ever” label to a narrative of events that often isn’t “the worst ever”. But what then, pray tell, do we make of the current down cycle in oil and gas? Is it actually the worst ever? It certainly feels like it. Any day the market is open is another day for energy stocks to fall. More directly, energy has underperformed the S&P in any duration of time you select. It’s so...

We don’t spend enough time thinking about unintended consequences. Let’s take a simple example like plastic straws. Seems like a simple thing to eliminate. Lots of plastic in the ocean - not to mention sewage- and really who needs a straw anyway? So we have moved to metal ones. Unfortunately, a 60 year old woman in England tripped, impaled herself on one and that was that. It’s pretty clear that production growth has had the unintended consequence of making the US Energy company its own worst...

A number of years ago, I was asked what I thought of a dress code for work. My response: if you bring your brain, you can wear your pajamas. At OneEnergy Partners, we put that (and other concepts) to the test. Our office was virtual (we worked in 4 different cities and the “office” was an all day video chat room/screen share); we replaced all meetings with a CRM tool that auto emailed summaries of every external interaction the moment it happened; and at least...

It’s time for the #hotquestionoftheweek and this week, I’m paraphrasing a rather long message: why are you calling the industry out? (IE. He who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones) I love this industry. I love what we do for the world in terms of providing clean, inexpensive fuel that powers every part of our lives. To take the example of food- the machines, transport, packaging, heating/cooling of the store where we buy it - none of it is possible without...

With Q2 reporting kicking off in earnest next week, I fear we are going to see “this” far too often. Please, someone, prove me wrong. Houston/Denver/Midland- We (xyz company) are pleased to report our Q2 earnings. Well, they weren’t really earnings because of one time non recurring (but recurring) charges, depreciation and S,G&A so can we will pivot to EBITDA please? Great. In the quarter, we came in 1% below capital guidance because we stopped fracing for the last 18 days of June but you...

In this week’s edition of “press releases that make me laugh” we have the two runners up - First - a company cut its annual budget by $2 mm (1.5%) while cutting its drilled wells from 50 to 32 (36%). Ummmm... walk me through that math? Second - an OFS company that apparently doesn’t read my hottakes: “Our expectation of seeing the bottom of the Company’s rig count during the quarter turned out to be premature...” and now isn’t forecasting a bottom. I am!! 700 Hz...

As many of you know from reading my hottakes, I love me some Vicki Hollub. Forget her bidding for (and winning) Anadarko; or selling assets to Total before the deal closed; or even raising money from Buffet. She gave a town hall to Anadarko employees to explain the vision and the future that got 5 stars across the board on Yelp. We need more CEOs like her. The $APC merger will be her legacy; whether it succeeds or fails. And so will go her time...

Ding Ding Ding! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a heavyweight bout! In the corner to my left, Vicki Hollub, my personal Industry hero and super stud. To my right, the man, the myth, the legend - Carl Icahn. Aggressive CEO vs. Activist investor. FINALLY!! I was driving when Mr.Icahn released his letter but I was so excited to read it, I convinced my family to do a dramatic reading. And it was worth it! Mr. Icahn went right to the core of...

https://www.enercominc.com/podcast-episode-10-a-guest-interview-with-david-ramsden-wood-of-hottakeoftheday/