Unquestionably, the best part of doing my MBA was learning accounting, reading financial statements, and in particular, doing so with the case study method where you knew there was a smoking gun, you just had to find it.  And so, with Xcel Energy's announcement last week that they had spend $1.2 BILLION in incremental fuel charges to generate power during the 5 day storm that impacted Texas, I had a lot of questions.  Today, we answer some of them. ...

When everything looks like a nail, you have a tendency to be called a hammer... but Nikola sure looks like a nail to me! If you want to understand the absurdity of what's going on in the market, look no further than this company. The company itself has a vision (which is important when you have no revenue): "Our vision is to be the zero-emissions transportation industry leader. We plan to realize this vision through world-class partnerships, groundbreaking research and...

* * * UPDATE * * *  Never let a crisis go to waste, Part II I’m rarely saddened by a piece I leave out of an eye raising take but I missed something in Moderna’s quarterly today... because it was waaaaay down at the bottom.  As a result, I must do a part 2. At the end of the financials and description of amazing work the company is doing, Moderna announced that the Chief Medical Officer will be leaving the company...

The island of Kauai is, for many reasons, a glorious place to live. The temperature ranges from the low 70s to the mid 80s, and with a population of 72,000, the island lifestyle is truly a tropical paradise. With such a moderate climate, there is no need for heat or air conditioning and there is virtually no industry beyond tourism. Power use is approximately 6000 kWh/year for the average household which is almost 50% less than PER PERSON consumption on...

By Ellen Wald Ahmed Zaki Yamani died this week at age 90. He was a pivotal character in creating the modern oil market and modern oil industry. His actions were also vital to turning Saudi Arabia into the wealthy kingdom we know today. He was the Saudi minister of petroleum from 1962 to 1986, and he was the main actor behind the Saudi government’s rise to become the most influential player in global energy. Yet, he fell out of favor...

I’ve know Jerry McHugh for a number of years and in our chats at various industry events, I always put myself in his shoes. A true entrepreneur. San Juan Resources is a Private Capital, private oil gas producer in the San Juan basin. We talk about when he started it, the last 40 years in the business and what’s next. Our industry is full of great people doing amazing things. It’s a cool story. I hope you enjoy!   Podcast Audio   https://youtu.be/HYzXNF__0IM   About...

This week, we add a new feature for the #hottakeoftheday newsletter we are calling "Around the Horn."  Mark Rossano, Ellen Wald, Ryan Ray and I tackle issues from last week that will have a longer lasting impact in the next month.  Get involved, propose questions, make comments and we will plan on doing a webinar with subscribers as we get further into this.  Subscribe today! 1) With the reduction of production in the US and refineries going off line for...

In the days and weeks ahead, investigations, yelling, chastising and the blame game will play a prominent role in the dissection of the ERCOT grid failure. It’s easy to want heads to roll, and maybe some should but I’ll recount a story from one of my favorite bosses when I started at Anadarko in 2000. He was a brand new engineer and had been asked to run the calculation for cement volume on a well they were drilling. He...

Are you tired of being lied to? #metoo. I remember when I first heard the term ‘fake news’ and I thought it was ridiculous. It was weaponized - like ‘conspiracy theorist’ or ‘white supremacists'’ - and used to discredit something someone didn’t like. It was childish but it wasn’t wrong. The nuanced way to say it is “You’re just pushing your narrative.” Always. News is a business and it has to compete with social media. Social media is an echo chamber because...

I am reluctant to point to “a tweet” and spend the time to refute it... but it’s AOC. I’ll use small words. 1) Spot prices have surged for roughly 4 days. There is a shortage of supply at points (natural gas) and therefore the marginal MCF at times sold for significantly more than the run rate. That’s what a free market looks like. Remember buying toilet paper in March? 2) Fossil fuel billionaires? Ok. Bezos. Zuckerburg. Musk. Dorsey. Those are billionaires....