Blog Elements
You can display blog posts in various ways with the “Blog Post” element/shortcode. You can see one example here and even more at the blog main menu item of this demo.

The Enemy Of My Enemy: Big Oil Befriends Big Corn
UncategorizedThis story reminds me of the tax reform act of 1986. I remember during the middle of it when we all thought we were gonna lose all of our tax provisions having the flash of insight that our country is made up of thousands of special interest…

Personal Recollections of Dr. Tom Coburn
UncategorizedDr. Tom Coburn died last Friday after a long bout with Cancer. There really are very few truly great men. But I consider Senator Dr. Tom Coburn right up there with the founding fathers in selfless service to his country.
I first met Dr. Coburn…

Survival Strategies in Tough Times
Uncategorized
The Small Business oil and gas producer in America has always faced the challenge of falling product prices from time to time.
This particular time is doubly challenging. Last week Russia refused to go along with cuts in production…

The Many Lives of the American Shale Drilling Industry
UncategorizedThe challenges facing the American horizontal drilling and fracking industry, also known as the shale drilling industry, have been documented extensively over the past several years. The article linked below calls them “casualties.”…

Truth and Transparency
UncategorizedI have been in the oil and gas business for over forty years and in the communications space for about that long as well. I think that gives me a unique perspective. Reflecting on our public image, I’m afraid we got it the old fashioned way…

Obama's Energy Policy: Death By A Thousand Cuts
UncategorizedChristopher Helman Forbes Staff
Contributor Group Energy
This is a guest editorial by Mike Cantrell, president of the Domestic Energy Producers' Alliance
What sounds like the title of an Alfred Hitchcock movie is actually…
Is US Shale Oil Production Profitable?
UncategorizedMy answer to a recent Forbes article: How Is U.S. Shale Oil Production Performing So Well?
This is a decent analysis of the current state of affairs of U.S. shale production. The author’s assertion that “shale oil and gas have been spectacularly successful, only dropping (in aggregate) when prices declined “sharply” is questionable.
Why? The shale industry has been very successful if production is the primary barometer of success. The relevant question is “but are they profitable?” Looking back, the answer is “not very.” A survey by the WSJ in 2019 asserted that 90% of the shale wells drilled were not profitable stating that the investment in shale drilling was 80 billion dollars in the hole.
Of course, that was just a snapshot in time.
The simple answer is, the shale drilling industry can be profitable if the price of oil and gas is high enough and companies can keep costs low enough. What is the price of profitability and have costs been cut enough? That’s the question the investment community should be asking.
We shall see if the investment community has a long or a short term memory. We will need oil and gas for another half-century at least. Or, as my ole Daddy would say “those baby calves always come home to the milk”. Every modern industrialized country on earth has built their respective economies on using more fossil fuels, not less.
This segment of the industry will recover and prosper as long as they and OPEC don’t overproduce and prices stay high enough. As more oil and gas companies commit to zero emissions by a certain date (2035 and or 2050 seem to be the popular targets) investors should hope they are merely talking the talk.
Walking the walk is just too expensive.
~Mike Cantrell