Schlumberger raised eyebrows Friday when they named Olivier Le Peuch as the new CEO. This is not because Mr. Le Peuch is good, bad or indifferent but a CEO change like that usually means a disagreement with the Board in the direction of the company. After all, Paal Kibsgaard had the role for 8 years as CEO and 4 years as Chairman. But the eyebrow raiser to me was that at the same time, Mark Papa was named the new Chairman. Mr. Papa is the...

Not that you need my permission, but you have it. You absolutely, positively should not care what others think of you if what you are doing is working. Did you know that Rick Barry, a 10 season NBA Hall of Famer, shot 89.98% on free throws during his career. Underhand. In fact, he’s the number 4 free throw shooter of all time, a feat he accomplished shooting granny style. Can you imagine the $hit he took every game? But- it made his team better...

Why do operators continue to tell the market “don’t worry, we are maintaining double digit production growth?” Are they insane?? - SM #hotquestionoftheweek. Short answer: I have absolutely no idea. Longer answer: I think at the core a lot of management teams are utilizing HOPE as a plan... hope that prices go up and that with higher production, that alone will improve their cash flow enough to make investors love them. But the deeper issue is that I think some companies realize that...

Two interesting developments in the last 24 hours worth talking about. Abraxas gets an activist and Range sells an overriding royalty. Let's start with $AXAS. With EQT and Rice behind us (let's just call that company Rice II), I was worried open love letters to Boards were going to be used sparingly in July with vacation season. However, not to fret!! Saltstone Capital sent a beauty which I encourage readers to have a look at. ...

Capitulation is what happens when the market throws up their hands in disgusted and says “I can’t take any more!!” Then there is what is happening in the energy equity market…. In the last year, only Chevron, Anadarko and Dorchester minerals are up. Large caps are down 34%. Small and mid caps are down 63%. But like the weatherman, saying “it’s hot outside” isn’t particularly insightful. The reality is - I don’t know why...

Last month, when I woke up feeling fat, unhealthy and questioning my reliance on alcohol to write interesting hottakes, I made a life choice: Eat less. Exercise more. I lost 15 lbs, I feel great and I am committed to changing my lifestyle. How neat, who’s excited? I took external feedback - namely I couldn’t button many of my shirts - and I did something about it. It reminds me of energy companies that I am...

Dear Callon, I know that I have been posting a lot of material on LinkedIn and encouraging companies to merge and embrace the synergy. However…. I wasn’t talking about YOU being an acquirer!! You were supposed to be bought by a larger company and ride off into the sunset. As you may have seen from your stock performance yesterday - everyone on earth but your Board agrees with me on that. Hopefully I’m not too pointed when I...

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and it’s Monday - which means…. I get to talk about a merger!! Callon announced it will acquire Carrizo in an all stock transaction which will create a premier, best in class, oil weighted company with scale and scope and range and depth and height…. blah blah blah. All meaningless words. However- lots of real things to talk about. CPE stock will get crushed: the irony...

Life is short. We all have countless examples of friends and loved ones that remind us to be thankful for each day. So sometimes- we need to give ourselves permission to have a fun, totally irresponsible day and enjoy life- or so said a friend of mine yesterday. And boy- did he have himself a day. A morning workout, a coffee/podcast listen, gardening, MASSAGE ENVY massage (not a Patriots massage….), a colonic and a...

“Last year it was increasing GORs and missing production targets. This year; it’s parent-child impacts. The latest Chicken Little scenario or real issues?” #hotquestionoftheweek Issues. 100%. And simplistically - both are symptoms of the same disease. Obsessed with ever increasing inventory, operators were (are) drilling closer while remaining obsessed with increasing proppant. The DATA shows that performance improvements have been coming because operators are drilling LONGER. Normalized for length - well performance is substantially...