Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To

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Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To episodes

January 26 How Chemicals Prevent Billion Dollar Well Failures
Brandon Wamsley from Flatirons Chemicals joins the show to explain how the $100 billion oil and gas chemical industry actually works - from killing bacteria that sours wells to keeping pipelines from corroding in minus 58 degree North Dakota winters. He shares his journey from laying tile in construction to becoming a field technician in Williston during the Bakken boom, where people literally camped in tents chasing oil field opportunities. The conversation breaks down why chemicals are cheap insurance for producers, how bacteria creates hydrogen sulfide downhole, what H2S scavengers actually do, and why the industry churns through chemical providers every 2-3 years in an expensive honeymoon cycle that Flatirons is trying to disrupt with AI-powered solutions.
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00:00 Why chemicals are essential to oil and gas production
03:45 Brandon's construction background and move to North Dakota
08:01 Williston during the Bakken boom and tent cities
11:19 Learning the chemical industry from the ground up
14:08 Meeting mentor Ed and his 40 years in midstream
18:01 Frack chemicals and evolving completion designs
22:03 How bacteria contaminates wells and creates H2S
27:11 The stream analogy for disrupting formations
31:24 Turning wells on to production and artificial lift
36:03 Midstream chemicals and H2S scavengers explained
40:12 Innovating the chemical procurement process with AI
45:09 Houston meetings and vertical integration strategy
48:16 Life back in Colorado after two years in Williston
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50 min
January 20 Inside America's First 100% Renewable Diesel Program
Joe Natale from Knight-Chemstar joins the show fresh off pulling off something pretty remarkable in Massachusetts - successfully running the first 100% renewable diesel pilot program for commuter rail locomotives in the country. He breaks down the wild logistics of moving renewable diesel from Midwest producers to New England, why heating oil is basically diesel's cousin, the bacon grease problem that happens when biodiesel gets cold, and why drop-in fuels make way more sense than ripping out all our infrastructure for electrification.
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00:00 Joe's background from terminal operator to renewables
08:08 Development of Providence biodiesel rail terminal
14:06 Winning and executing the MBTA renewable diesel pilot
20:21 Sustainable aviation fuel distribution strategy
25:04 Breaking down fuel types: ethanol, diesel, heating oil
33:00 Northeast heating oil versus natural gas infrastructure
38:15 Renewable diesel logistics and clean heat standards
43:35 Drop-in fuels versus full electrification
51:05 Cloud point and the biodiesel gelling problem
55:33 Future of sustainable aviation fuel and incentives
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1 hr 1 min
January 12 Why Small Teams Beat Big Companies
Building startups turns into a rapid fire philosophy session on founders, culture, money, and why velocity beats speed when Jacob asks the dumb questions we all think about. Collin McLelland of Collide breaks down how real companies get built, why talent density matters more than headcount, how power, AI, and energy collide, and what actually keeps teams motivated when the grind gets real.
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00:00 Cold open and founder mindset
03:00 Why founders matter more than CEOs
06:00 Startup ideas and power generation
10:00 Storytelling and clarity over time
15:00 Culture, motivation, and communication
19:00 Building a high velocity company
25:00 Hiring, pay, and talent density
31:00 Remote work and office culture
38:00 Work ethic, burnout, and holidays
44:00 Money, capital, and long term bets
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53 min
January 06 The Forgotten Science That Made Shale Possible
Trying to make geophysics cool again, and honestly Peter Duncan from MicroSeismic, Inc. makes it easy. We bounce from a bear encounter in Newfoundland to why geophysicists are basically treasure hunters with pricey toys, then land on the simple difference between seismic and microseismic, why sound travels so freakishly well through rock, and how listening to tiny underground pops helps fracking and now geothermal get smarter without wrecking nearby wells.
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https://www.microseismic.com/2026-forum/
00:00 Panel shoutout and event mention
00:23 Peter’s back, making geophysics cool
02:12 How he became a geophysicist
07:18 Bear story in the field
11:34 Geophysics shows up everywhere
14:22 Geologist vs geophysicist basics
23:13 Sound waves, earthquakes, and why seismic works
26:05 Seismic vs microseismic explained
28:11 Microseismic and geothermal’s comeback
40:57 What MicroSeismic actually does in the field
45:34 Frac hits and protecting neighboring wells
48:52 Wrap-up and round three tease
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51 min
December 29, 2025 The Insurance Industry That Quietly Runs Energy
Growing up in New Zealand somehow turned into mud logging the Aussie desert, rigging up deepwater tech in the Gulf of Mexico, geosteering off Scotland, helping figure out nuclear waste storage in Swiss clay, and finally landing in subsurface risk and insurance where “nothing moves without coverage” starts to make way more sense. Jacob asks the dumb questions, Rodney Garrard from Arch Insurance International answers with real world stories, and the conversation ends on a pretty grounded idea: energy realism beats wishful thinking.
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0:00 Zurich check in + quick disclaimer
01:10 Rodney’s origin story in New Zealand geology
03:55 Mud logging in the Cooper Basin desert days
08:00 Houston and early deepwater Gulf of Mexico work
10:30 UK offshore, Rosebank, and geosteering life
14:20 Rotations, family life, and Norway years
17:00 Switzerland nuclear waste storage in clay, granite, salt
24:00 Pivot into insurance and subsurface risk work
27:00 What “energy insurance” actually does, CCS examples
37:10 Europe’s energy realism and the grid wake up call
40:50 Writing, energy density, and “Energy Transition 2.0”
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44 min
December 22, 2025 This Tiny Detail Costs Oil Companies Millions
Tyler Wilson at Altor Solution breaks down why corrosion quietly eats wells alive and how his team fights back by lining production tubing with stainless steel, plus a wild path from ski instructor dreams to Australia farming to freezing roughneck days in Alberta and eventually running North America ops at Tesco. We get a clean, plain English walkthrough of tubing vs casing, annular flow, why joints are 32 feet, and a few oilfield stories that make you thankful for modern safety.
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00:00 Intro and why Tyler’s on
00:22 Altor Solution and the corrosion problem
01:06 Tyler’s early path and Australia
02:20 Roughnecking in Alberta
03:51 Tesco years and moving up
06:05 Finding Altor Solution
07:18 Becoming CEO
08:23 How the liner works
09:27 Handling corrosion before
10:41 Stopping production and planning
12:24 Early results and lifespan gains
14:19 Running tubing basics
17:00 Safety then vs now
20:19 Pipe length and reuse
23:03 Why 32 foot joints
24:19 Casing vs tubing
27:36 Inside vs outside flow
31:03 Stainless grades and chemistry
33:01 The shop and automation
35:21 Why Houston
36:49 Basins and customers
38:52 Field stories and wrap up
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41 min
December 15, 2025 How Geophysicists Turn Noise Into a Map
Seismic data is basically ultrasound for the Earth, and once you hear how it works, you can’t unsee it. Colton Dudley from richroc consultants breaks down how sound waves travel underground, bounce off rock layers, and come back with clues about what’s hiding below, oil, gas, faults, and everything in between. From thumper trucks and geophones to how geophysicists turn squiggly lines into real decisions, this conversation keeps things simple, visual, and occasionally funny. It’s a plain-English look at the science beneath our feet and how modern tools (including AI) are changing the way we explore and understand the subsurface.
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Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
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Click here to view the episode transcript.

00:00 - Intro
00:55 - What is Seismic Data?
04:21 - 2D vs 3D Seismic Imaging
09:16 - Seismic Data Collection Methods
14:33 - Visualizing Seismic Data
17:49 - Interpreting Seismic Data
20:54 - Processing Seismic Data
24:07 - Applications of Seismic Data
27:46 - Seismic vs Coring Techniques
30:40 - Future of Seismic Technology
33:26 - Offshore Seismic Exploration
36:05 - Seismic Data Under Ocean Floor
37:40 - Depth Capabilities of Seismic Data
39:30 - AI in Seismic Analysis
44:05 - Time-Depth Conversion Explained
45:27 - Fault Interpretation Techniques
47:30 - Velocity Modeling in Geophysics
49:00 - Post-Stack Inversion Process
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52 min
December 08, 2025 The Lawyers Who Decide Where Energy Gets Built
Lawyers are the behind-the-scenes operators who make energy projects actually happen, and Kerry McGrath broke down what that world really looks like. She’s spent more than 15 years helping companies get pipelines, wind farms, mines, nuclear plants, pretty much anything that produces or moves energy, through the maze of permits, regulations, and agency sign-offs. We talked about everything from negotiating with federal regulators to dealing with endangered species rules to how legal teams keep up with new tech like carbon capture. It’s a side of the industry most people never see, but it’s the difference between a project idea and a project that actually gets built.
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00:00 - Intro
02:16 - First Step in Project Management
06:41 - Initial Steps in Drilling Process
10:02 - Offshore Project Initiation
11:48 - Overview of Offshore Wind Energy
15:24 - Nihilism in Energy Discussions
18:53 - Political Landscape of Energy Policy
23:30 - Reasons for Delays in Energy Projects
26:09 - High Performance Computing in Energy
28:45 - Insights on Nuclear Energy
30:28 - Current Developments in Energy Sector
35:16 - Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) Explained
39:24 - Learning About Emerging Energy Industries
42:15 - Importance of Rare Earth Minerals
44:45 - Blunt Nosed Leopard Lizard in Energy Context
47:10 - Houston as the Energy Capital of the World
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49 min
December 01, 2025 The Battery Recycling Revolution No One’s Talking About
Rare earths, battery tech, and global supply chains sound intimidating, but Dr. Robert Miles somehow makes all of it feel like story time, with the occasional plot twist involving AI, robotics, and why China basically owns the rare earths game. We got into the headaches of lithium-ion batteries, the promise of modular recycling, and what the future of critical minerals really looks like, all while Jacob and Julie asked the wonderfully dumb questions the rest of us are too afraid to say out loud. It’s nerdy, funny, and surprisingly easy to follow, exactly the kind of energy talk that actually keeps you listening.
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00:00 - Intro
04:47 - Rare Earth Minerals Overview
10:25 - Momentum Technologies Explained
12:28 - Lithium's Role in Energy
18:21 - Mining Processes and Challenges
22:15 - Geopolitical Importance of Rare Minerals
26:17 - Will We Run Out of Rare Minerals?
27:45 - Importance of Recycling Rare Materials
34:28 - Energy Transition vs. Petroleum Era
40:00 - Tesla Cybertruck's Impact on Auto Industry
44:40 - Deep Sea Mining Exploration
49:28 - Molten Salt Reactors Explained
54:08 - Wrapping Up the Discussion
55:51 - Outro
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57 min
November 28, 2025 Why This Engineer Said No to Houston and Yes to California
Diana Elizabeth Lima Sagui’s story takes you across borders and industries, starting in Mexico, winding through Germany, and landing in North America with a perspective you don’t hear every day. She breaks down what it’s really like building a career in the chemical world, finding her footing in oil and gas, and navigating culture shock while proving herself in STEM. It’s a mix of grit, curiosity, and those “figure it out as you go” moments that shape a career more than any degree ever could. Her path is full of leadership lessons, cross-cultural surprises, and a refreshingly honest take on what success actually looks like when you stop chasing titles and start trusting your own direction.
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00:00 - Intro
00:57 - Diana’s Background
03:17 - Vink Chemicals - The Beginning
05:09 - What are Chemicals?
12:40 - Advantage of Speaking Spanish in Germany
13:35 - First Job Experience
19:30 - Working Internationally and Multilingualism
23:52 - Career Path Overview
28:10 - Mergers and Acquisitions in Business
29:15 - Moving to the US for Work
34:53 - Why Choose Houston?
39:34 - Defining Success in Business
41:18 - Importance of Personal Branding
45:18 - Understanding Success
51:00 - Insights from Women’s Conference
52:52 - The Rude German Experience
56:25 - Women in the Energy Industry
58:47 - Perceptions of Houston Before and After
01:03:11 - Enjoying Conversations
01:04:56 - Paying It Forward in Business
01:05:19 - Mexican Food: LA vs Houston
01:06:30 - Outro
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1 hr 7 min