We had a fantastic session today about a topic we have been curious about for some time: the ties between the energy and farming/food sectors. To help us dig in, we had the pleasure of hosting Greg Horstmeier, Editor-in-Chief, and Russ Quinn, Staff Reporter, with The Progressive Farmer magazine. Greg has an extensive career in agricultural journalism with a focus on crops, chemicals, and technology. Russ's areas of focus are fertilizer and equipment which we concentrate on in our session (Russ has been writing a weekly fertilizer update since 2008). It was fascinating to hear their perspectives from the heart of America's farmland. 

The Progressive Farmer is based in Omaha, Nebraska and was founded with a mission of providing farmers with the instant information they need to run successful businesses. A few of the items we discussed include fertilizer prices and availability, broader farming economics, crop prices, diesel prices, long term farming outlook, the pressure for farmers to consolidate, how farming is impacted by the rise in natural gas prices, the effects of the war in Ukraine, and the challenges farming will face in the years to come. As we learned, the number one focus for farming is land and farmers are now competing for land with investment firms, urban sprawl, and wind and solar expansion. Russ also provided an overview of fertilizer prices and what has happened since the price last shot up in 2008. It was an eye-opener to the world of farming and we learned a lot in one hour. We are huge fans of Greg and Russ and appreciate them shedding light on these topics and look forward to staying connected with them. As you will hear, we are already discussing a potential additional show with Progressive Farmer's weather experts. 

To start the show, Mike Bradley highlighted a few notable events from the past week including Aramco's rise to the largest market cap in the world, beating Apple. He then teed us up for our discussion with a look at agriculture-related stock performance. Colin Fenton shared a few insights on inflation and risk and the likelihood that the US coastal states are most at risk of recession vs. mid-continent states. 

Thanks to you all. We hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for a Special Edition with Associated Electric Cooperative Incorporated later this week. 

We had a global discussion today centered around China with Gabe Collins, Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Gabe has a fascinating background and is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and also the Co-Founder of China SignPost. He is a Permian Basin native, an expert in Chinese and Russian relations, speaks Mandarin and Russian, and has served as a researcher and China analyst at the Department of Defense. It was a fantastic session and we can't thank Gabe enough for joining us.

Our discussion spanned China's zero-Covid policy, Russian / Ukraine insights, US and European energy policy, potential bumps in the road and instability for the next five years, food security concerns, Taiwan, and other geopolitical possibilities. Gabe was a trooper with our rapid-fire questions and we really enjoyed his insights.

Mike Bradley kicked us off with a look at the markets and a few charts on high yield debt markets and recent OPEC headlines. Colin Fenton discussed the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia and the new inflation regime.

We were honored and delighted to host Doug Terreson today. Doug is the Chief Investment Officer of Jubilee Investments and a Board Member of Phillips 66. While difficult to summarize Doug's distinguished career in Wall Street research, he has served as the Head of Global Research for over 25 years between Evercore ISI, ISI, and Morgan Stanley. During this time, he made several big calls which signaled a change in the direction the world was going. His dynamic perspective and enthusiastic attitude were energizing. We had a wonderful visit!

In our discussion, we looked at how the industry has evolved throughout Doug's career and how we may be able to predict the sector's performance in the next ten years. One of the major themes in our discussion was capital discipline and the link to strong market performance. We touch on everything from consolidation in the 90s compared to consolidation today, regulatory risk, energy private equity's explosion, the era of the super major, outside influences including OPEC+ and China, and more. It was an engaging and insightful discussion and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

We had a quick lead-in to kick us off: Mike Bradley provided a timely earnings update and had an interesting tidbit about LNG and IG mentions in last week's earning calls. Colin Fenton reported live from Stanford University, where he is attending their Energy Solutions Week conference, and shared tidbits and a few interesting panel topics from the event.

Huge thank you to Doug for sharing his time and expertise with us and thanks to you all for your support and friendship!

Dr. Andrew Latham, Vice Present Global Exploration at Wood Mackenzie, joined us today to talk through recent happenings in the global upstream oil & gas exploration market. The punchline is there is more happening than you might think.

Andrew has more than 25 years of experience in technical and commercial aspects of exploration including assisting majors and independent companies in strategy development and portfolio planning. In recent years, exploration has arguably been undervalued with a push for the energy transition and with an overall restraint on spending. Andrew's recent report catalyzed today's discussion by pointing out some really interesting things are happening in this classic art of "finding more." It was so fun to be talking about exploration again!

A few themes we touch on include recent industry successes/results, how dynamics around gas discoveries might be changing in the current world, and how exploration success and subsequent development actually improves the ESG profile of those operators. Today's exploration activity also gives a window into what those participants think about long-term oil market fundamentals given the extended cycle time to positive project cash flow. Thank you to Andrew for joining!

Mike Bradley kicked us off with discussion around what to watch outside of energy, given we are entering the heart of earnings season along with refining margin observations. He throws in a fun takeaway from a recent shareholder proposal to Citibank. Colin Fenton and Mike both hit different aspects of European natural gas market dynamics before Colin relays observations on various asset classes relative to commodity markets and how that is influencing a number of institutional investor discussions. He also alerted us all that BP has published their Energy Outlook for 2022.

We are always delighted to hear from young people in energy and today's COBT session was a fantastic experience. This week's primary speaker is a longstanding friend and former COBT guest, Dr. Steven Koonin. Dr. Koonin is a Professor at the Stern School of Business at NYU, Nonresident Senior Fellow at AEI and the Author of "Unsettled." Prior to joining NYU, he served as the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy under the Obama Administration and was formerly the Chief Scientist at BP. Today we had the pleasure of joining not only Dr. Koonin, but also a few of his students (Matt Mayeski, Alice Nuz, and Beniamin Strzelecki) for an engaging discussion around energy, climate, and the future.

In our discussion with Dr. Koonin, we cover his course, the reception of "Unsettled" since its publication almost one year ago, and high-level takeaways from the IPCC's 2022 Report. Dr. Koonin's energy course is a "soup to nuts" analysis of the technology, economics, markets, regulation, public perception, and other forces shaping the future of energy. We discuss ideas, observations, and thoughts on solutions with his students and get their unique opinions on what the energy world may look like in ten years.

Mike Bradley started the show with a look at equity and commodity performance from the past week as well as an analysis on the US natural gas curve, the European natural gas curve, and the potential interactions of the coal and gas markets. Colin Fenton expanded on the IMF Global Financial Stability Report from April with a handful of key takeaway points.

Thank you to Dr. Koonin for arranging today's discussion at NYU and a special thank you to Matt, Alice, and Beniamin for joining the conversation! We hope you enjoy.

Today we welcomed an old friend, Adam Waterous, to COBT and had a sweeping energy conversation reflective of his 30+ years in energy transactions, financings, investing, and strategy. Adam founded Waterous in 1991, stayed through 2017, and then began Waterous Energy Fund. As you will hear in the discussion, Adam has phenomenal historical perspective, a unique framework for the world from here, and is direct in his candor about what's working and what's not in today's world. It was a fantastic session and we can't thank Adam enough for joining us.

Colin Fenton's inflation commentary added meat to the topic that is the front and center macro driver of current commodity, equity and debt markets... and drives home the point that the current inflation issues are not a post-Ukraine event. Mike Bradley kicked us off with comments leading into Q1 earnings season and observations on energy stocks' relative and absolute performance.

Today’s discussion with Ryan Panchadsaram (senior technical advisor to John Doerr, Chair of Kleiner Perkins) explored a range of topics spanning from VC investing, the tech VC world partnering with the existing energy community to achieve scaled energy solutions, and the climate action plan that was the focus of "Speed and Scale" (which Ryan co-authored).  Ryan's technical background and his perspective expressed in the book hit a number of themes that resonate with us – including the topic of a “green” premium and those solutions needing a path to compete on a cost basis, how difficult scaled solutions are to achieve, the innovation opportunities availed by the energy transition movement, and the need for collaboration to arrive at impactful energy market solutions. We have a hope of building more bridges between the tech community and energy industry and were excited to converse with this powerful Silicon Valley investor. Thanks for joining, Ryan! 
 
Mike Bradley kicked us off with observations on both energy equity prices and domestic natural gas prices followed by views on the announced SPR release and potential re-fill (or not) of the inventories. Colin Fenton opened our horizons to the volatility and price action in a number of non-oil and gas commodity markets and drives home the point that extreme price movements are not just captive to our energy markets.

Today we took on the challenge of unpacking the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules and their potential implications. To help us do so, we had a panel of experienced leaders in the space join for a lively discussion that we hope will provide clarity and understanding. Our panel today includes Travis Wofford, Chair of the Corporate Department in Houston and Vice Chair of the Global M&A Practice and Scott Janoe, Chair of the Environmental, Safety & Incident Response Section from Baker Botts, and Dan Romito, Consulting Partner with Pickering Energy Partners.

The framework of our discussion included an overview of the proposed requirements and background on the buildup to the SEC's new proposals, the key SEC players involved (with some particular focus on the dissenting view from Commissioner Peirce), the likelihood of the proposed rules becoming final, what the disclosures would cost and the potential liabilities for public companies, the potential unintended consequences of these new regulations, whether the SEC should be the governing body addressing these disclosures, implications for small to large companies, the importance of materiality, and the "climate industrial complex," just to hit a few. We greatly appreciate Travis, Scott, and Dan sharing their perspectives and are hopeful these proposed SEC changes can be improved before they are ultimately implemented.

For further reading, Baker Botts has published a thought leadership piece. Statements are also available from SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, Commissioner Hester Peirce, and Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw.

Mike Bradley kicked us off with a look at equity and commodity performance for the week, noting US natural gas and Euro natural gas and commodity curves for natural gas vs. WTI crude oil. Colin Fenton helped us all make sense of the complex inflation situation with the Fed and talked about the recent inversion of the yield curve and how to interpret it.

We are amped up for this week's feature session on power with ERCOT. With us today is Brad Jones, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, and our good friend and former COBT guest Bill Flores, Vice-Chair and Independent Board Member. As a brief introduction, Brad has a 30+ year career in the electricity industry optimizing electricity businesses as well as designing electricity markets and operating electricity grids across North America. Bill previously served as a U.S. Congressman for ten years and has also served in board governance and senior leadership positions for public and private entities. Our conversation had massive scope and depth and it was a pleasure to host them both.

As you may or may not know, Brad stepped up to serve as Interim CEO in 2021 and has since helped to make significant strides in several initiatives for ERCOT. In our discussion, we touch on the changes Brad and the team have made in the past year, background on ERCOT and correlated legislation, the challenge of managing multiple power sources, transitioning priorities from "C.A.R.E" to "R.A.C.E.," transmission planning, the benefits of running a business in Texas, managing electricity in Texas versus other states or countries (today we learned "Dunkelflaute" is the German word for dark and calm, meaning no sun and no wind), and what the next ten years might look like for power. You can find ERCOT's current 60-step road map to improving grid reliability. 

The Veriten team had a brief lead-in to start the show: Mike Bradley pointed out a few OFS announcements regarding Russia over the weekend and shared tidbits from Aramco's year-end presentation and conference call. Colin Fenton touched on a few regulatory news items including the SEC's climate disclosure proposal and letters from Congress to the CEOs of energy companies. Todd Scruggs presented background data on ERCOT (courtesy of Orennia) to prepare us for our power discussion.

It was fantastic to visit with Brad and Bill. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! Thanks to you all.

We have a stellar dynamic duo for this week's session. Our good friends Mark Viviano, Head of Public Equities, and Megan Hays, Managing Director, with Kimmeridge Energy visited us for an engaging and insightful discussion. Mark's investing career has spanned over 17+ years in portfolio management and research analysis on companies in the energy sector, primarily focused on E&Ps and natural resources. Megan has 15+ years of experience in investor relations, strategic communications, M&A, capital markets and ESG. With such a deep wealth of knowledge and expertise, we had lots to cover.

As you will hear in the discussion, our topics ranged from background on Kimmeridge and their strategies and approach to the portfolio, what differentiates good and bad M&A, ESG, E&P performance in the next few years, the global oil and gas markets, and more. We also discussed some of Mark's white papers and touched on the overarching themes including resource transparency, executive compensation, and the potential for a carbon offset price to name a few. 

Mike Bradley started us off with an overview of equity and commodity performance over the past week and his thoughts on traditional and clean energy current events. He also touched on key highlights from CERAWeek. Colin Fenton joined us from sunny California (where gas prices are currently nearing $6/gallon) with three items about perception including an update on the energy inverse bubble.