Dear Completion Engineers (if you are the boss of one, please stop reading- they are scared of you, but they need to hear this, Volume 1) I like to blame the c-suite for the decisions companies make- but it is the job of technical people to evaluate data and give analysis. Unfortunately, the current paradigm is that fear of unemployment exceeds fear of destroying capital. It’s time to end the cycle of the status quo. Let’s start with coil tubing. Seriously. It’s 2019. That is a...

Gratitude is a hard thing to hold on to. As humans, we are built to move on: move on from death; move on from failure; move on from sadness. We couldn’t function otherwise. But with that incredible ability to pick ourselves up when we are down comes the unintended consequence of the other side of the coin: the ability to move on from joy; from success and from what really matters in life. Ask anyone who has ever won the lottery. It’s easy to forget what...

In part because I think we should be modeling behavior where people can have a discussion without being labeled as a racist, a sexist or a c-suite-ist, but mostly because I have no ability to keep my mouth shut... I’m weighing in. I read a blog on Ms. Hollub that suggested that perhaps “she” wasn’t getting a fair shake because she is a woman. I’m calling BS. In this case, gender has absolutely nothing to do with it. As the unofficial president of the...

I hear a lot of talk about continuous drilling clauses (CDCs) being to blame for the industry’s “requirement” to keep drilling - but this just isn’t the case- which puts the focus solely on the activity in Texas where CDCs are real. In other states - companies are drilling, in part, because they are too afraid to stop (a topic for another day). However, for companies with assets in Texas - it does beg the question - how many millions of dollars are poured...

“What’s the most out of touch thing you heard at EnerCom this week?” #hotquestionoftheweek I must admit - it wasn’t said directly to me (probably for fear of being publicly shamed) but someone said “the industry needed to increase production to meet rising demand.” Dude- are you high?!? The response.... If demand is rising, it is on the back of a massive wealth transfer from producers to consumers in the form of uneconomic wells that industry insists on drilling year after year. It’s like a...

Today - we are going to change pace from the sadness that is oil and gas. Is it just me or is the President the only president in history that doesn’t look way older than he did in 2016?? It could also be that everyone else in the world has aged 12 years since he got elected- so relatively speaking, only he and Keith Richards somehow look younger. Just saying. PS. Every Board should have an immediate audit done of your company’s spacing assumptions. If...

EnerCom Day 3 and let’s be honest, it was a tough week to have an Oil and Gas Investing conference. You could have announced that you had found a leprechaun that manufactured gold laden rainbows and you would have traded down 10%. There are no unicorns. There is no tooth fairy. And the light at the end of the tunnel... that’s a train. I think we can all acknowledge the elephant in the room: this isn’t some climate change, woe...

Day 2 of the EnerCom conference and I actually felt bad for some (most) of the CEOs. You can tell they are up there just saying “please don’t make me do this...” Harold Hamm was the keynote speaker of the day and of course, I’m going to cherry pick his perspective that he sees land rigs falling another 12% from here. That’s funny- so do I!! But let’s not wallow in the difficulty of the market. It’s time for another edition of “press releases...

Day 1 of EnerCom is behind us and you know when seeing Dave Chappelle outside of The Capital Grille was the investing highlight - it’s been a tough day. But seriously... No. Seriously. The most apt description of the presentations I heard was: “It was just sad.” At the coffee station, the most common question was “why are they growing production??” while on the stage, it was clear that some teams weren’t getting the message. It’s no wonder shares continue to...

Did you know that 14.5% of man made carbon emissions are related to food. World wide livestock production creates more carbon emissions than transportation does. How crazy is that? Here’s another fun fact - it takes 9 calories of grains to make 1 calorie of chicken meat. And they are the most efficient animal we eat. What is the carbon footprint of our insatiable appetite for our phones and social media? How about all the data...