A year ago, when I found a nice little spot on my river to take a break, the world looked a lot different than it does today.  If I'm honest (and I feel that's where we are in our relationship), each October going back to 2011 has been one where I would make predictions for the coming year and by April, everything had gone to absolute sh*t.  I only recognize this in hindsight. But last summer, I was on a...

Crisis. Of. Balance. Sheets. I get tired of saying it and I am quite sure you are tired of hearing it. Coronavirus might be a blessing to get everyone’s head out of the collective clouds but this is where we are at as an industry and the reason every time I read a 2020 announcement I ask...are you kidding me?? Do you know nothing, Jon Snow? Yes. When production declines in a flat price environment, your debt: EBITDA goes up....

Show Notes: Welcome to the hottakeoftheday podcast.  I’m your host David Ramsden-Wood.  Got to tell you, I’m excited about this and not just because of that intro music.  The support of everyone in 2019 and the growth of the hottakeoftheday- it just felt like there was a lot to explore in more than in 1300 characters a day on LinkedIn. Today is the first podcast, we are recording January 1st 2020 and we are saying hello to a new decade. In the show...

It's time for the last Technical Tuesday of the year, and where else to finish but the same spot we started: looking at DUCs in the key oil basins (drawing from ShaleProfile Analytics and EIA data). First, let's start with the definition of a DUC. It is drilled, uncompleted well. Lots of people question the EIA data but don't provide a better number. Importantly- it's a consistent methodology and that tabulates 3 things: 1) # wells were drilled in a basin 2) # wells completed 3)...

With only 2 days left in 2019 (and the last merger Monday of the year), it’s worth looking back on the year that was, starting with a post from February live from the Four Seasons bar at NAPE where all the action happens. “The model will shift to drill your returns.” Absolutely. All the rock in the U.S. worth owning is now owned and all there is left to do is turn it to cashflow. The lack of cash acquisitions...

Ah, the Balance Sheet! The topic I’ve been waiting 11 months to really dive into. Ok. Not really. But it is extremely important to an oil and gas company. Let’s start with the most important point and work backwards. Don’t use a balance sheet to value a company as many economic assets ARE NOT accounting assets. For example, the largest single asset (most likely) on a balance sheet is the Property, Plant and Equipment. Broadly, this is the AT COST price of wells, plants and...

My speeches and writing over the past two months have focused on ‘The Crisis of Balance Sheets’ that exists in our industry today. Low commodity prices don’t help, but it’s the structural capitalization that is and will remain the core issue that dominates the landscape in 2020. Some may have been surprised by the $HK, $SN, $EPE and $AMR chapter 11 filings this year- but that just meant you weren’t looking and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. So this week,...

The whipsaw action in energy equities makes for quite the rollercoaster.  It’s not enough for the sector to be hated and void the long only, generalist investors but it has become a haven for long/short strategies and traders.  What’s the average investor to do? As you know, RBCRichardsonBarr.com is my go to website for E&P news, commodity prices and stock performance.  So I’ll ask my favorite website hosts for a favor: please add a quote for the most current debt maturity instrument for each stock. Sure- an equity may LOOK...