New pipelines in the heart of the North American continent have begun dissolving the region’s crude bottlenecks. We’re taking the opportunity to survey the nation’s biggest and safest pipeline operators.    As noted in the Jan. 9 issue of The Energy Strategist, this year we should… Read More

Just last month, I was using Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) as an example of everything an energy investor ought to avoid: an overleveraged and ailing leviathan long run for the primary benefit of its imperial CEO and his coterie of insiders. Yet here I am… Read More

In this issue:  Unwieldy empires can be very costly, as Chesapeake’s long-suffering shareholders are still learning. But the hiring of a young and well-regarded outsider as CEO and recent purchases by a top value investor give us the confidence to bet on a successful turnaround. In contrast, the… Read More

Booming US crude supply should dramatically reduce the power of the oil exporters’ cartel, despite the market’s current skepticism. Read More

The best bets are the fastest-growing and most profitable producers. Their gains will pain suppliers of chemicals and biofuels Read More

I’m very fond of Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC), having written about, and profited from, the stock since the low $30s and made it my first pick for The Energy Strategist at a fortuitously timed $72, after which it quickly ran up above $90. The inevitable cold shower… Read More

A coup ousting the architect of a sprawling multinational empire would not normally be welcomed by shareholders. But Occidental (NYSE: OXY) is different in that the coup was actually a counter-coup and in the fact that many investors have had enough of the empire’s burdens.The man they ousted… Read More

We don’t see many earnings windfalls like this. When EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) reported first-quarter operating earnings of $1.80 a share last week, it beat analysts’ consensus estimate by 62 cents, and 52 percent.And there was no gimmick involved, unless you want to count as the gimmick the… Read More

Last week the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provided an update of oil and gas resources in the Bakken region. This was the first update since a 2008 USGS report that estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil and 1.85 trillion cubic feet… Read More