In June of last year my wife and I fled the draconian lockdown imposed on New Jersey for the south (see Having a Better Pandemic in Charleston, SC). Whereas back then our autocratic governor had even forbidden a solitary walk in the park, Charleston SC felt like a world apart. We were left awestruck at […]
The global energy crisis is becoming the biggest investment story of 2021. US consumers are uniquely unaffected so far by spiraling prices for natural gas and coal. Crude oil continues to cause some discomfort at the White House, which regularly pleads with OPEC to offset their own policies by increasing supply. Limited export capacity for […]
The continued ascent in natural gas prices has transfixed the energy sector but hadn’t much impacted broad market commentary, until recently. Europe has an energy crisis to be sure – a combination of over-reliance on windpower, years of policy discouraging natural gas production and strong global demand for natural gas. If sentiment in the pipeline […]
Last week’s FOMC meeting for once gave the market something to ponder. The $120BN of monthly bond buying looks set to taper before the end of the year, and to be down to zero by next summer. Fed buying of mortgage-backed securities has been especially superfluous, as shown by the red-hot housing market. The market […]
A feature of renewables not widely acknowledged is their relatively low capacity utilization. Solar is limited to daytime, with peak generation around midday. Output is typically 20-25% of capacity, meaning a 10 MW solar farm would generate 48-60MWh every 24 hours. The UK’s windpower capacity utilization was 37% last year, higher than is typical. As […]
For years environmental extremists have campaigned with increasing success for less investment in fossil fuels. The logic has been that as CO2-emitting sources of energy become harder to access and more expensive, the world would increasingly turn to renewables. Confronting demand for energy has generally been eschewed in favor of targeting suppliers. It’s far easier […]
Anyone who’s visited Felixstowe on England’s windy east coast knows that umbrellas enjoy a brief existence in offering protection from the rain. Farther north off the coast of Scotland, the North Sea is one of earth’s most hostile places to drill for oil. Gales are common. Working an oil rig isn’t for the nervous. Consequently, […]
Pipeline company earnings for 2Q21 were satisfyingly unremarkable, and were followed up recently with news of further givebacks to investors. Cheniere Energy implemented a dividend as part of a comprehensive long term capital allocation plan. They also plan to repay $1BN of debt annually as they target an investment grade rating. The company expects to […]
Last week the northeast US suffered 52 deaths as Hurricane Ida (by then a tropical storm) dumped up to ten inches of rain in just a few hours. Cranford, NJ on the Rahway River is prone to flooding. It’s a couple of miles from Westfield, GHQ for SL Advisors, and it seems like every decade […]
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia holds more sway than most over White House legislative strategy, because he’s one of the few willing to break ranks with Democrat orthodoxy. In his WSJ Op-Ed last week, he argued for a “strategic pause” on Congressional spending. This means his support for the White House’s proposed $3.5TN […]
