Dear Energy Executives, I would like to introduce you to four letters that you should frame and put on your wall. ROCE. I understand that at this moment you think I misspelled "RICE" but I did not. I am talking about Return on Capital Employed. Let's pretend that you have been living under a rock since I started posting 7 months ago and you don't read many of the helpful morning notes from some of...

My motto is: "write drunk, edit sober". This is why. First Draft: I think that anyone who hasn’t worked in the energy industry should not be advising energy companies. Why? Because they don’t know what the duck they are talking about. That’s why. Second Draft: I really like consultants. They are nice.

Isn’t that sweet??! A joint press release! (Also known as: what happens when the Rice nominees win over the EQT nominees. The existing management at EQT is checking their contracts to understand the phrase “diminution of duties” and book tee times for early August.) But now the real work begins. The asset is still the asset and all the leadership change in the world doesn’t make gas prices $3/mcf. Or even $2.50. At...

I woke up two weeks ago short of breath, out of shape, joints aching and I hadn’t seen my belt buckle in months (this affliction is known as “buckle-do”….. as in “my tummy sticks out further than my buckle do”). It was NOT a good look - or feel. I’m probably not the only 40-something that has been focused on other things while letting their health slide. I’ve tried to assess the reasons why - and honestly...

Big week!! The EQT Annual meeting is Wednesday and the Prom King and Queen will be announced!! Will it be the Rice group or existing management and, truly, does anyone think it will change the course of the company either way? They still produce gas, right?? One thing I do know- I will miss their letters to each other. Talk about some trash talk. But, I do commend the Rice Group for DOING something to encourage...

It’s quiet. Too quiet! For all my begging and pleading to start the consolidation process or companies with clearly no future to declare Chapter 11 already … only two measly mergers happened in Q2. Oxy-APC and Comstock-Covey Park. Oh. And 1 merger of equals … Midstates and Amplify. Nonetheless, it’s becoming hard to be “an energy commentator” when there is nothing to provide commentary on. Here’s hoping for some fireworks...

It’s Saturday and therefore time for #hotquestionoftheweek. I don’t usually like to play favorites - but this week I have to give the question to my mom: “Please tell the painting story!” (You’ll notice it’s not really phrased as a question but like “Do you want to load the dishwasher?” I find that phrasing from your Mom doesn’t always follow the standard conventions!) My first job ever was as the Manager of one of those student painting franchises. ...

Ya-hoooo! The annual family drive from Denver to Calgary afforded me lots of time for thinking and for listening to my favorite podcasts and movies. While 17 hours is a long time in a car, it’s one of my favorite family traditions. Some things I thought about: I think “The Big Short” is the best, most educational movie I know. If you haven’t watched it- you must. Whenever I feel too optimistic, I...

Imagine for a moment that the Saudi’s and the Russian’s, as the leaders of OPEC+, had computers, followed the US stock market and thought strategically about the value of their most valuable resource (oil). What could they be thinking?! One could surmise that they would see all the ESG, anti-frac, anti-development rhetoric in the US; see the incredibly bad capital efficiency of most of the industry and realize that from 2014-2016 when they flooded the market with oil to kill...

I let myself be talked into doing an exercise class with a whole bunch of fit millennials today. It involves some sort of climbing torture machine and people who look the way I did 15 years ago. If I were doing odds…. I should probably say my goodbyes to everyone.