SL Advisors Talks Markets

Performance in the pipeline sector remains strong – closing in on its fourth straight year beating the S&P500 and ahead overall for the past five. But for the past six months the Alerian MLP Infrastructure ETF (AMLP) has increasingly lagged the sector, as defined by the American Energy Independence Index. AMLP is more or less […]

An axiom of capitalism is that a business must earn a Return On Invested Capital (ROIC) in excess of its Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). It’s just as true for a lemonade stand as for a conglomerate. I should note here that fifteen years ago our younger daughter (then about nine years old) set […]

The pause in issuing new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) permits is among the least defensible energy policies of this Administration. It has been widely criticized. Jamie Dimon called it naive, and the International Energy Agency worries that it will impede the supply of natural gas on global markets. The US Department of Energy (DOE), which […]

The long term demand outlook for natural gas continues to improve. India is likely to double its consumption by 2040, and much of that will rely on imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). This will offset coal consumption, lowering local pollution as well as CO2 emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA), normally a tireless promoter […]

A couple of weeks ago South Bow Corporation (SOBO) began trading on Nasdaq. It’s a spin-off from TC Energy (TRP) which decided to split its liquids business off from its core natural gas pipeline activities. SOBO operates the Keystone pipeline that moves crude oil from Hardisty in Alberta south via Cushing, OK to Houston and […]

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released their 2024 World Energy Outlook last week. The IEA has become a renewables cheerleader in recent years, issuing projections of energy consumption that are frequently implausible. However, they still produce a Stated Policies Scenario (“STEPS”) which omits their more fanciful projections. Electricity demand from data centers has been a […]

Politicians from both parties long ago learned that fiscal prudence leads to electoral oblivion. Therefore, the absence of the deficit as a topic of conversation should surprise no-one. Publicly owned Federal debt is 99% of GDP and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is forecasting that this will reach 166% over the next three decades. Trump […]

We received a few comments from readers in response to last Sunday’s Heat Pumps Need Natural Gas. While EVs are widely criticized for the issues with charging, where heat pumps are installed, they seem to operate with little controversy. Defenders were quick to point out the benefits. One client in California uses solar power + […]

Some may find irony in BP dropping its goal of reduced oil and gas output by 2030 at the same time as Hurricane Milton is barreling towards southwest Florida – the second hurricane in two weeks. Four years ago, BP pledged to cut hydrocarbon output by 40% within a decade. Two years ago they scaled […]

I was surprised to read the other day that sales of heat pumps across Europe dropped 47% in 1H24 versus a year earlier. The EU has adopted more aggressive policies to combat climate change than any other region. Residential adoption of heat pumps is part of their green agenda. We recently replaced an oil furnace […]