Podcast
C.O.B. Tuesday
Hosted by Veriten · EN
C.O.B. Tuesday is a weekly one-hour talk show that serves as a knowledge pipeline for the energy industry and the energy curious. We host honest, timely, conversations with people we believe can improve the discussion, can provide new perspectives, can share unique insights into key energy issues, and can discuss inventive, pragmatic solutions for a stronger energy future. Produced by Veriten.
46episodes
Episodes
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"Manufacturing Thrives On Certainty" Featuring Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers
Feb 2701:01:25Tap to summarizeWe are pleased to share this Special Edition with Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Jay has led NAM since 2011 and first joined the organization in 2005 as Executive Vice President. As the leading voice for U.S. manufacturers, NAM sits at the center of policy, economic, and workforce issues shaping American industry today. The NAM team is currently in Houston as part of its State of Manufacturing Tour, traveling across New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, and Arizona, to spotlight the policies and conditions needed for the U.S. to compete and win in a global economy. We were thrilled to host Jay and hear his perspective on domestic manufacturing, the evolving regulatory and trade landscape, supply chain resilience, energy policy, and the future of U.S. competitiveness in an increasingly complex global environment. In our conversation, Jay outlines what he’s hearing from manufacturers on NAM’s State of Manufacturing Tour, starting with energy. Manufacturers consume roughly 30% of U.S. energy, and Jay emphasizes why affordable, reliable supply and delivery infrastructure are foundational to competitiveness. We discuss tax policy and why Jay views the 2017 reforms as “rocket fuel” for manufacturing investment, hiring, and wage growth, along with the importance of durable, codified provisions that give companies the certainty to deploy long-cycle capital. We cover the workforce gap (~433,000 open manufacturing jobs today and a projected 2 million by 2033), digging into what’s working on the ground, from community college partnerships to the modern return of shop class and continuous upskilling. Jay makes the case for bipartisan, skills-oriented immigration reform to support economic growth. We explore permitting and legal reform, where he emphasizes that manufacturing thrives on certainty and calls for a coordinated federal process that delivers faster “yes or no” decisions with guardrails to prevent endless litigation. On trade, we touch on tariff uncertainty, the importance of renewing and strengthening USMCA (particularly addressing transshipment), and the strategic value of North American supply chains, especially given the sizeable percent of manufacturers’ customers reside outside U.S. borders. We discuss AI and supply chain realities, why Jay sees AI as additive and a multiplier for productivity, and how even running at full capacity, the U.S. can only produce about 84% of what it needs today, driving NAM’s proposal for a “speed pass” to import critical inputs duty-free as domestic capacity scales. We also examine the broader manufacturing multiplier effect, the U.S.-China competitive dynamic, and why policy stability ultimately determines whether the U.S. can compete and win. It was a wide-ranging and insightful discussion and we’re grateful to Jay and his team for carving out time to stop by during a busy tour. For further reading, NAM’s AI & Energy Dominance Roadmap is linked here. Mike Bradley kicked off the show with a quick update, noting that broader equity markets were down modestly on the day as all eyes were focused on NVIDIA’s quarterly results. NVIDIA surpassed expectations and delivered solid forward guidance, but the stock was underperforming given that investors are growing wary it can sustain this explosive revenue growth beyond the next couple of years. Thank you to Leslie Beyer for connecting us with Jay and his team. And thanks to you all for your support and friendship!
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"We’re Going To Have To Pay The Resilience Premium" Featuring Dr. Fiona Murray, MIT
Feb 2500:53:20Tap to summarizeToday we had the very exciting and interesting opportunity to visit with Dr. Fiona Murray, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Co-Director of the Innovation Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fiona is an internationally recognized policy expert on innovation ecosystems and the transformation of investments in science and technology into deep-tech startup ventures that address global challenges. In addition to her roles at MIT, where she previously served as an Associate Dean for Innovation, she is Chair of the NATO Innovation Fund and an Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. She was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to innovation and entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom. Fiona also serves on the UK Ministry of Defence Innovation Advisory Panel and the European Innovation Council Joint Expert Group and sits on a number of boards. We were thrilled to host Fiona to explore global markets, innovation ecosystems, and the shifting geopolitical landscape shaping technology and capital flows. In our conversation, Fiona shares her perspective on the intersection of geopolitics and innovation and how geopolitical shocks increasingly shape technology development and commercialization. She outlines the post-2016 shift toward framing priority technologies through the lens of national and economic security, and the growing geopolitical constraints facing entrepreneurs. Drawing on discussions at the Munich Security Conference, Fiona highlights Europe’s strong talent base alongside structural constraints, including smaller venture capital pools, fragmented markets, pension fund limitations, and bureaucratic procurement processes. We explore how defense and security startups think about U.S. versus European capital and transatlantic expansion, the growing importance of dual-use investment, and resilience as a business case. Fiona explains NATO’s two-pronged innovation strategy and emphasizes the need for a “resilience premium” to support domestic and allied production. We discuss China’s competitive innovation model, industrial policy lessons for the West, and the need to scale critical technologies to reduce supply chain dependence and rebuild manufacturing capacity across allied markets. Fiona also shares her perspective at MIT, where students are increasingly prioritizing defense, security, and resilience, alongside energy and climate reframed through critical minerals and system resilience, with AI integration across disciplines. We cover AI’s role in lowering experimentation costs through simulation, large-company AI execution pitfalls, drone and autonomy lessons from Ukraine, and how to avoid overspending on AI. We close by asking where she sees innovation over the next decade, which she describes as “innovation at the extremes,” including fusion energy, Arctic navigation and mining, space commercialization, and other frontier environments. It was a fascinating discussion and we greatly appreciate Fiona for sharing her valuable time and insights. To start the show, Mike Bradley noted that this week is centered on Tuesday’s State of the Union address and the policy implications that follow. On the bond market front, the 10-year remains steady, with traders’ attention turning to Friday’s PPI report. On the crude oil market front, WTI is trading at ~$66/bbl as markets weigh the potential for a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal versus whether the U.S. follows through on its threat of limited military strikes. WTI price could fall to low-$60/bbl if a nuclear deal is reached or rise to $70/bbl on escalation. The DJIA and S&P 500 are both up marginally since the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s global tariffs last Friday. Technology stocks have staged a modest rebound after several weeks of underperformance. Energy has outperformed over the past week but has underperformed since last Friday’s tariff announcement. E&Ps will dominate
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"There’s Definitely An Acreage Grab Ongoing By The Majors" With Ruaraidh Montgomery, Welligence
Feb 2000:59:27Tap to summarizeWe are pleased to share the final episode of our NAPE COBT series featuring Ruaraidh Montgomery, Head of Energy Trends & Analytics at Welligence Energy Analytics, to discuss the latest developments in global exploration trends. Prior to joining Welligence, Ruaraidh spent 13 years at Wood Mackenzie covering Latin America’s upstream and corporate sectors as well as the U.S. Gulf. At Welligence, he oversees all global upstream research. Welligence is a market intelligence firm exclusively focused on upstream oil and gas. Its platform provides tools and intelligence to assess opportunities, benchmark against peers, visualize upstream data, and access detailed asset valuations, among other capabilities. We were pleased to hear Ruaraidh’s insights. In our conversation, Ruaraidh walks us through how the Welligence platform combines high-quality data acquisition with on-the-ground human intelligence to model global upstream activity and identify emerging opportunities. He outlines Welligence’s outlook for international exploration, noting that while 2026 activity is likely to remain relatively flat, a more meaningful pickup is expected in 2027–2029 as recently assembled exploration portfolios mature into drill-ready prospects. We discuss why exploration is structurally needed to support supply into the 2030s, and how majors and large independents are rebuilding exploration through bid rounds, farm-ins, and direct partnerships with national oil companies (NOCs). He describes a growing “land grab” for acreage across key regions including the Atlantic Margin, Brazil’s equatorial margin, the East Mediterranean, the Black Sea/Turkey, Greece, Libya, and parts of North Africa. We highlight Alaska’s Nanushuk play as a powerful example of how reprocessed seismic can unlock new stratigraphic potential in mature basins. We touch on host governments making fiscal terms more competitive to attract capital and the growing importance of above-ground dynamics, using Venezuela as an example of a potential monetization pathway for existing offshore gas via Trinidad’s infrastructure and Atlantic LNG. We cover how operators think about securing development capacity as activity rises, the opportunity to reprocess and upgrade seismic using AI to shorten the cycle from data to leads and prospects, the emerging interest in international shale, and the logic of pursuing first-mover advantage. We also discuss producing-country NOCs expanding internationally (notably QatarEnergy and ADNOC/XRG), Petrobras re-entering international exploration, Russia and Iran as geopolitical variables, Murphy’s Vietnam success as a mid-cap case study, how Welligence is using AI across modeling and intelligence workflows, and more. Ruaraidh’s slides from the discussion are linked here. Thanks to Ruaraidh for joining! Mike Bradley started off the discussion by noting that the 10-year U.S. bond yield has done essentially nothing this week (stuck between 4.0% to 4.10%), largely due to a lack of market-moving economic data. In crude markets, WTI finally broke out of its $60–$65/bbl price range for the first time since August 2024. Growing doubts around the prospects for an Iranian nuclear agreement have pushed oil prices higher this week, though any agreement reached in the coming weeks could just as easily push WTI price back to the lower end of its recent trading band. He also pointed to the strength (backwardation) in global oil prices, despite the IEA’s persistent narrative that global oil markets in 2026 will be oversupplied by ~3.7mmbpd, which Mike deemed completely ridiculous. In broader equities, the DJIA and S&P 500 were both down marginally. The Energy sector has benefitted this week from the move higher in oil prices and remains the best-performing S&P sector this year (up ~23%)
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"The Market Has Really Flipped" Featuring Scott Richardson & Craig Lande, RBC
Feb 1901:00:56Tap to summarizeWe are excited to continue our NAPE COBT series with Scott Richardson, Global Head of Energy Investment Banking at RBC, and Craig Lande, Managing Director and Co-Head of RBC’s Energy A&D practice, to explore what’s driving today’s asset markets. Scott is the former Co-Founder of Richardson Barr and has more than 40 years of energy investment banking experience across the sale of both public and private companies, private and public debt transactions, fairness opinions, general advisory and asset divestitures. Craig joined RBC Richardson Barr in 2005 and previously served as Vice President at Waterous & Co. He has over 25 years of broad experience in the U.S. A&D market, including the sale of assets and companies, fairness opinions, and general advisory. Mark Castiglione and Maynard were thrilled to host Scott and Craig. In our conversation, we explore the current asset market, with gas deals a much more significant share of the market amid a mix of new and returning buyers, including international capital (particularly Asia) pursuing Gulf Coast gas with LNG linkage. We discuss seller-friendly valuations driven by a scarcity premium and “four buckets” of demand (ABS-backed buyers, international buyers, strategics/publics, and private equity) competing for limited opportunities and fueling increasingly aggressive bid dynamics, including tighter bid rounds and more pre-emptive offers. We unpack ABS mechanics and their impact on PDP valuations, including the role of lower-cost capital and longer-dated hedging. We cover the disconnect between private-market asset valuations and public-market multiples, corporate M&A as a catalyst for future A&D supply, trading firms seeking physical commodity exposure, the return of commercial bank lending, and go-private considerations constrained by leverage. We examine how buyers are embedding inventory upside into valuations by assigning value to secondary and deeper zones, where pockets of new basin excitement remain (including the Rockies, Canada, and select international opportunities), how shifting regulatory dynamics have stimulated interest in New Mexico, and the evolving role of ABS financing and continuation vehicles. We also touch on whether AI is meaningfully changing transaction workflows, longer-term consolidation trends, the potential return of exploration capital domestically and abroad, and much more. It was a substantive and thought-provoking discussion. Many thanks to Scott and Craig for their time and thoughtful insights during a very busy week. Stay tuned for our final NAPE episode focused on exploration. Our best to you all!
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"Where Else Can You Get Rig Count To Decline 70% And Production To Increase 50%?" Featuring David Bat, Kimberlite
Feb 1801:04:50Tap to summarizeIn recognition of NAPE week in Houston, we are delighted to welcome back David Bat, President of Kimberlite Research, to explore the latest OFS activity, trends, and technologies. David brings more than 30 years of experience spanning upstream, power, and oilfield research. Prior to joining Kimberlite in 2015, he served as VP and General Manager of Constellation New Energy, President of Welling & Company, and President of Stream-Flo USA. He began his career as a geologist with Chevron. Kimberlite is an international oilfield research firm that draws on insights from more than 20,000 hours of annual interviews with industry professionals to analyze market trends and benchmark performance for oilfield equipment and service providers. We were excited to hear David’s perspective and latest insights. In our conversation, we cover Kimberlite’s research model, the data it captures from operators, and how the firm uses AI as an enabling tool. David shares Kimberlite’s 2026 operator sentiment and activity outlook and highlights regional hot spots for expansion (including Latin America, the Middle East, Norway, and West Africa) and discusses key technologies improving recovery and efficiency, as well as the runway for further gains. We compare international versus North American market structure, noting that the “Big Four” hold roughly 80% share across much of the international/offshore oilfield services market, while North America is highly fragmented with many specialty providers. We touch on the Permian as a global incubator for innovation, the Haynesville as a proving ground for high-temperature tools, David’s longer-term outlook for the Lower 48 Tier 1 runway, operator-to-operator differences in service outcomes, and supplier performance dispersion and benchmarking, with performance and fit varying by basin. We explore upstream digital transformation strategies, why domain expertise matters for applying AI, hydraulic fracturing digital dynamics, and where digital value is expected to emerge, especially in production optimization. We also cover why consolidation is viewed as desperately needed in oilfield services yet hard to execute, Canada’s market dynamics, and the strong demand for qualified personnel and quality equipment in international and offshore markets. David shares his exploration outlook, potential drivers of improved recoveries, newer tech players, and Kimberlite’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) work, which he says correlates strongly with future financial performance and competitive strength; fewer than 10% of the OFS companies Kimberlite tracks exhibit truly distinguishing, scalable, "elite" customer-focused characteristics. A few select slides from David’s presentation are linked here. It was a wide-ranging discussion and we’re grateful to David for sharing his expertise with us all. Mike Bradley kicked off the discussion by noting that the 10-year U.S. bond yield appears to have stabilized in the 4.0% to 4.10% range after plunging last week on a cooler-than-expected January CPI report. In crude markets, WTI price has been stuck over the last several weeks between $60-$65/bbl and inched a little lower to start this week (~$62/bbl) following reports that Iran and the U.S. have a “general agreement” on the basis for a potential nuclear deal, which could eventually lead to an ease in Iranian sanctions. An agreement in the next couple of weeks could lead to an additional pullback in oil prices if the oil market narrative shifts away from a modest “war premium” towards the IEA’s 2026 global “oil glut” (~3.7mmbpd) narrative. On the natural gas front, he highlighted that the recent Arctic-driven winter premium for prompt gas price (~$3.00/MMBtu) and 12-month strip (~$3.50/MMBtu) have been completely u
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"February 14 Is Valentine’s Day For Some, It’s 13F Day For Us" Featuring Bill Anderson, Evercore
Feb 1100:40:39Tap to summarizeToday we had the exciting opportunity to host Bill Anderson, Senior Managing Director at Evercore and Global Head of the firm’s Activism/Raid Defense team and Strategic M&A Advisory practice. Bill is a pioneer in activism defense and has advised more than 500 companies facing activists or strategic raids, including many of the largest proxy fights and defense situations of the past two decades. Prior to joining Evercore in 2016, Bill spent more than 15 years at Goldman Sachs as an M&A partner and leader of its defense team. Earlier in his career, he was an M&A attorney at Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett, clerked on the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, worked as a CPA at Coopers & Lybrand, and served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. It was our pleasure to hear Bill’s perspectives on the latest M&A activity, activism and hostile preparedness, board composition and alignment, and the evolving dynamics between companies, shareholders, and capital markets. In our conversation, we explore Bill’s career path from classic M&A work into defense and special committees as markets changed, and how activism became a major driver of M&A. Bill shares his top takeaways from 2025 activity, noting the wide range of deal types and attributing the acceleration in deal flow to greater antitrust optimism, liquid financing, and strong buyer stock performance. We discuss why activism has become a core risk-management issue for public companies, how activists can build positions via derivatives and broker-dealer exposure with limited disclosure (and why 13F filings can be an important early-warning signal), and how shareholder bases have evolved with index funds now a dominant ownership block alongside the continued influence of ISS and Glass Lewis. We cover the difficulty of mobilizing retail votes and related regulatory/state-law considerations, the deal approval environment under Trump versus Biden (including CFIUS as a wildcard), why companies are more careful describing synergies, the impact of universal proxy, and the importance of diversity, tenure, and sector expertise in board refreshment. We touch on the drivers of positive acquirer stock reactions, how companies communicate value at deal announcement, activist dynamics in M&A and when activism becomes contentious, the importance of board alignment and cohesion, increased spin-off activity, and much more. We ended by asking Bill for his thoughts on how companies can attract long-only capital. Throughout the discussion, we reference several elements of Evercore’s “2025 Year in Review Report.” It was a fascinating discussion and we appreciate Bill for sharing his time and insights. Mike Bradley kicked us off by noting that the 10-year U.S. bond yield plunged this week following an unexpectedly soft December Retail Sales report. Bond volatility could remain elevated with January CPI set for release on Friday. On the crude oil market front, WTI price appears to have temporarily settled into a $60-$65/bbl trading range, given there have been no major new geopolitical surprises over the past week. In natural gas, prompt natural gas price has completely roundtripped since the Arctic blast started and is now trading back at ~$3.15/MMBtu. U.S. gas storage is back near normal levels (around the 5-year average) and winter weather from here through the end of withdrawal season will determine how constructive the setup is for summer gas price. On the broader equity market front, the DJIA has been one of the real winners this past week (up ~2.5-3.0%), especially versus the S&P 500 (up ~0.5%). Cyclical sectors (Energy, Industrials, and Materials) continue to be the market leaders, while Tech/Telecom continue to lag. In energy equities, most large-caps (Oil Majors, Oil Services, and Refiners) have already reported Q4 results, and the next few weeks will be dominated by E&Ps reporting. E&P commentary will likely be do
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"From A Canadian Point Of View, We’re Bewildered" Featuring Hon. Lisa Raitt, CIBC
Feb 12, 202500:53:35Tap to summarizeToday we were delighted to welcome the Honorable Lisa Raitt, Vice-Chair of Global Investment Banking at CIBC, for an insightful discussion focused on the implications of recent U.S.-Canada trade developments. Lisa joined CIBC Capital Markets in 2020 following an eleven-year tenure in the Government of Canada. Her distinguished career includes serving as Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, as well as serving as Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Labor, and Minister of Transport. We were thrilled to host Lisa and hear her valuable perspective on the evolving trade dynamics between the U.S. and Canada. In our conversation, we explore the Canadian view on President Trump’s recent comments regarding tariffs and Canada’s auto manufacturing industry, along with the broader implications for U.S.-Canada trade relations. We discuss Canada’s political landscape, including Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision to step down after losing party support, the Conservative Party’s growing momentum under Pierre Poilievre, and Canada’s economic challenges and growth concerns. We touch on the unifying effect trade tensions have had on Canadian political and business communities, the potential for retaliatory measures, the need for more power generation, transmission, and distribution to support Canada’s economic growth, and intra-Canada trade complications that impact Canada’s competitiveness. Lisa provides insight into the impact of the Canadian dollar and interest rates, how currency fluctuations affect key sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and sports, the deep economic and familial ties between the U.S. and Canada, whether ongoing trade disputes could fundamentally alter the relationship between the two countries, and more. We are very thankful to Lisa for sharing her time and perspective. Mike Bradley started off the show by highlighting that President Trump’s new tariffs and tariff threats are increasing volatility, but that for the most part, bond and equity markets have been moving sideways. He noted January CPI & PPI will be reported over the next two days which could create added market volatility for bonds and equities. If both inflation reports print cooler-than expected, it will likely lead to intensifying pressure from Trump for the FED to cut interest rates at the March FOMC Meeting. On the crude oil market front, WTI price has rallied this week to ~$73/bbl and crude oil time spreads are pointing to a physically tight oil market. Oil price continues to be impacted by on/off tariff threats and continued OPEC production curtailments but was aided this week on news that Russian oil exports are being impacted by tighter Russian oil sanctions. On the natural gas front, U.S. natural gas prompt price has rebounded to ~$3.50/MMBtu on colder weather and the 12-month natural gas strip is now trading above $4.00/MMBtu. BP indicated on their Q4 call that at current U.S natural gas prices, they were contemplating picking up gas rigs “now” which is a new development. He also noted that European natural gas price was trading at ~$17/MMBtu (~$100/bbl oil equivalent) because European gas storage is draining faster than expected due to colder winter weather and poor renewable performance/utilization. He ended by flagging Equinor’s recent strategy shift (significant reduction in renewables capex thru 2030) and also noted that BP is calling for a “fundamental reset” of their strategy at their Capital Markets Day (Feb 26th). Robert Kester added his thoughts on AI’s dominance in global discourse, highlighting this week’s high-profile AI Summit in Paris and different global approaches to AI, including the U.S.’s free-market stance, Europe’s push for regulation, and China’s state-backed AI expansion. We hope you all enjoy the discussion with Lisa as much as we did. Our best to you all – and to our friends up north, let’s work this out, eh!
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"You’re Going To Start To See a Widening Competitive Moat" Featuring David Bat, Kimberlite Research
Feb 5, 202501:04:07Tap to summarizeIt’s a big week in Houston with NAPE in town, and we were thrilled to welcome our good friend David Bat, President of Kimberlite Research, for an in-depth discussion of the latest OFS activity, trends, and technologies. David joined Kimberlite in 2015 and holds over 30 years of experience spanning upstream, power, and oilfield research. Kimberlite is a global oil and gas market research and consulting firm that gathers insights from more than 20,000 hours of annual interviews with industry professionals to analyze market trends and benchmark performance for oilfield equipment and service providers. We were excited to hear David’s perspectives on the evolving OFS landscape.In our conversation, David provides background on Kimberlite’s unique approach to gathering high-quality data from E&P operators and oilfield service users worldwide. He explains how their methodology offers deeper insights into technology adoption, service quality, and operational performance and walks us through key slides from a presentation (full version linked here). We explore recent technological advancements including rotary steerable systems improving drilling efficiency, self-oriented perforating guns enhancing completion effectiveness, and advancements in electric submersible pumps. We discuss how digitalization, software applications, and AI-driven analytics are reshaping oilfield operations as well as trends in frac technology, oilfield electrification, and shifts in fuel choices. David shares factors driving operator recommendations and highlights the contrast between North American and international markets, the potential for unconventional growth in Argentina, Australia, and the Middle East, the resurgence of offshore developments, and the challenges that prevent certain innovations from gaining widespread traction. We explore broader key industry themes, including consolidation trends in oilfield services, how company culture influences service provider success, the growing role of mobile power solutions across both oil and gas and non-energy sectors, and AI’s role in data aggregation, market intelligence, and operational decision-making. We end by asking David for his vision of the oil and gas services industry in the next decade. This is where he makes a great comment about "differentiation and an improving competitive moat" around the best companies. It was a wide-ranging and thought-provoking discussion and we’re very grateful to David for sharing his expertise with us.
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"You Don’t Deregulate By Writing A Regulation" Featuring Philippe Ducom, ExxonMobil Europe
Jan 29, 202501:10:48Tap to summarizeIt was our privilege today to welcome Philippe Ducom, President of ExxonMobil Europe, for a discussion centered on Europe’s challenges regarding energy policy and overall economic competitiveness. Philippe has been with ExxonMobil for 37 years and began his career as an engineer at the Notre-Dame de Gravenchon Chemical plant in Seine-Maritime. Over the years, he has held a variety of senior positions across manufacturing, business analytics, planning, sales, and marketing, working in Europe, Japan, the United States, and Saudi Arabia. Before being appointed as President of ExxonMobil Europe in 2018, Philippe served as Chairman, CEO, and President of ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia and previously led ExxonMobil Japan as Lead Country Manager. We noticed Philippe’s post, “Red tape is driving investment out of Europe – and threatening the energy transition” (linked here), in October of last year and have been eager to discuss. We were thrilled to host Philippe and learn from his unique perspectives and outlook for Europe.In our conversation, Philippe provides background on the European Parliament and Commission’s five-year cycle, and why the time to discuss these matters is now with a new 5-year legislative cycle just beginning. We discuss the challenges facing Europe including low growth, declining purchasing power, and lack of industrial competitiveness, as well as recommendations to reduce the regulatory burden. Philippe highlights how the previous Commission’s challenges have included managing COVID-19, helping the Ukrainians, pursuing energy security and trying to attain society's climate goals, all of which has bloated government balance sheets. Philippe shares his perspective on the complexity and inefficiency of Europe’s regulatory and permitting process, his recommendations for immediate actions that would require no cost but yield significant improvements, challenges of operating or opening new industrial facilities in Europe and he provides an update on the European chemicals and refining sectors. We examine the structure of the EU, cultural differences in the reliance on markets in the U.S. versus Europe, the importance of free markets and risk-taking to drive innovation and competitiveness, and ExxonMobil’s increased engagement with public policy and public discussions overall. We cover country-specific energy mix decisions among EU member states, how recent geopolitical events have exposed the importance of energy policy and gas infrastructure, Europe’s approach to energy regulation, the growing role of natural gas and nuclear energy in Europe’s energy mix, and the shifting dynamics of gas supply and infrastructure post-Ukraine invasion. We also explore the impact of Europe’s carbon border adjustment mechanism and the notion of extraterritorial regulations, how the U.S. IRA could offer valuable lessons for Europe, and much more. We ended by asking Philippe for his vision for Europe’s energy landscape in the next decade comparing two scenarios, one where Europe continues on its current regulatory path versus one where pragmatic policies are put in place. It was a wide-ranging and insightful discussion.
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"Large Hyperscalers Have The Healthiest Balance Sheets Of Any Companies In All Of Human History" - Chairman Gleeson, PUCT
Jan 22, 202501:00:44Tap to summarizeToday we had the honor of hosting Chairman Thomas Gleeson of the Public Utility Commission of Texas for an insightful and timely discussion focused on power, the dynamics involved, and the power revolution happening in Texas and globally. Chairman Gleeson was appointed by Governor Abbott to his role in January of 2024. He brings 15-years of experience at the PUCT, where he previously served as Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Director of Finance and Administration, and Fiscal Project Manager. Prior to joining the PUCT, Chairman Gleeson worked as a legislative analyst for the Texas Senate and as a budget analyst for the Legislative Budget Board. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Texas A&M University. The PUCT is responsible for economic regulation of Texas’s electric, telecommunication, water and wastewater utilities. We were thrilled to visit with the Chairman. Chairman Gleeson first outlines his objectives upon becoming Chairman, focusing on stabilizing the post-Winter Storm Uri environment, engaging stakeholders, as well as the differences in responsibilities compared to his predecessor, Peter Lake, who managed the immediate crisis after Winter Storm Uri. We discuss the enhanced relationship and collaboration between the PUCT and ERCOT, structural changes to the PUCT to increase the number of commissioners from three to five to improve decision-making and communication during emergencies, improvements in grid performance and reliability during recent cold weather events (including this week’s arctic blast!), and the challenge of meeting Texas’s rapid energy demand growth with infrastructure investments and a diversified energy mix. We discuss efforts to streamline regulatory processes for businesses that are considering relocating to Texas, balancing market growth with policy goals, the state’s focus on energy expansion over transition, and addressing rising demand with all resource types while balancing reliability and costs. We explore collaboration with large companies to build additional generation capacity and support the grid, Texas’s regulatory agility, differences between Texas’s market and capacity markets in other regions, the need for exemptions or adjustments in federal emission standards during emergency grid situations to support grid reliability, and the economics of building new gas-fired power plants. Chairman Gleeson shares insights on the role of large hyperscalers as contributors to infrastructure development rather than just large energy consumers, distributed generation models and how co-locating with grid-connected resources and building additional capacity is the “sweet spot” for collaboration between private entities and the grid, the potential for additional nuclear power in Texas, leveraging Texas’s budget surplus to foster energy innovation and reliability through public-private partnerships, the evolving role of ERCOT in integrating distributed energy resources, and much more. We want to thank Commissioner Gleeson for sharing his time and perspectives with us on a busy day. We look forward to staying in touch. Mike Bradley was in Panama for this week’s COBT and opened the conversation by relaying that Panamanians seem generally surprised and concerned with Trump’s continued rhetoric around control of the Panama Canal. From an overall markets standpoint, he noted that investors are really focused on Trump getting his Cabinet installed quickly, and more importantly, what Trump’s flurry of Executive Orders means for policy and markets. From a crude oil market standpoint, WTI was down ~$1.50/bbl this week due to Executive Orders to unleash American Energy (lower energy prices?) but mostly due to a rally in the U.S. dollar which is impacting multiple commodities. On the broader equity market front, the DJIA was up 400-500 points as investors seem temporarily relieved that aggressive tariff policies weren’t enacted in Trump’s initial Executive
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