Dear C-Suite

Well, here we are. In the last 2 weeks, I have laid some pretty good beatings on your people- and the least surprising part is that nothing I said was a surprise to anyone. It’s almost as though they are talking and you aren’t listening. You say “people are our most important asset” but think “unless they tell me something I don’t want to hear”.

Maybe it’s middle MGMT that is filtering the message but you’ve got to realize that it isn’t 2014 and oil isn’t $147 (or even $90): the game has changed since you were a worker bee. Cost management matters. There are no more “1st wells in a section” and investors HATE us. Rightly so. Energy stocks are up less than having owned a 10 year t-bill. But all that is in the past. What matters now- is what’s next.

Completion engineers using flowback equipment; facilities built for IPs when slowbacks give the same results at lower cost; ESPs to accelerate production; trucking water (ever) and spacing wells at distances that make no sense – it needs to stop. Your staff knows it but you need to approve it.

Finally- can you explain why is only 22% of industry production is hedged in 2020? Your job is not to bet on commodity price- it’s to guarantee returns. Hedge already.

2020 is your chance. Can you be better?