On July 6, 2013, 47 residents of Lac-Megantic, Quebec died horribly when a 74-car freight train carrying crude oil exploded in a fireball. It was the deadliest freight-train accident in Canadian history. Five bodies were never recovered and were assumed to have simply vaporized. DNA samples were required to identify others. Heat from the inferno […]
One official says the shale industry may be “set up for failure.” “It is quite likely that many of these companies will go bankrupt,” a senior adviser to the Energy Information Administration administrator predicts. This is from the New York Times. However, it wasn’t part of The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground, Bethany McLean’s recent […]
In July, Pierre Andurand’s hedge fund, Andurand Capital, lost 15% on bullish crude oil bets. Oil was weak in July, but is up 21% in 2018. Notwithstanding this correct outlook, his fund is -5% for the year. Few things are more frustrating for a manager or his clients than losing money on a profitable call. […]
When it comes to limiting CO2 emissions, the results are not always what you’d expect. Debates about climate change often draw zealots on both sides. The common accusatory opener, “Do you believe in global warming?” betrays the binary, almost religious argument between those who think we’re wrecking the planet and those who don’t. Pragmatism is […]
Before jumping at an attractive yield, investors should pause to consider its consistency. In recent years, traditional MLP investors were victims of one of the greatest betrayals in U.S. financial history. Older, wealthy Americans were drawn to companies that paid out most of their cashflow in distributions. For years, America’s energy came from roughly the […]
The chart below is a sobering one for pipeline investors. Over the past five years, the S&P has returned 13.1% p.a., versus -2.7% for the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index (AMZIX). An allocation to AMZIX contributed almost a 16% p.a. performance drag, such that $100 invested in the S&P500 in July 2013 would now be worth […]
