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Water Tower Hour Recap

On the most recent Water Tower Hour podcast, Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair and Co-Founder of Water Tower Research, interviewed the WTR team that will attend the Louisiana Energy Conference (LEC) from May 28-30. WTR is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of the event. Those interested can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Links accessible in our full report. This podcast includes individuals from WTR senior management, natural resource and energy transition research teams, and IR advisory. The team discussed topics of the 30+ panels and presentations, key investment themes, and the broader implications of energy evolution and transition for the oil & gas and sustainability sectors. Jeff Robertson, WTR Head of Natural Resources, has attended the LEC for many years and expects the main topics to include producing basins offshore US, producer plans to return cash to shareholders, operational efficiency gains, return on capital, and consolidation. Robertson said the conference will be very comprehensive this year, including not only traditional oil & gas business, but also introducing a separate track that was added for energy transition. Shawn Severson, WTR CEO & Co-Founder, and Head of Energy Transition and Sustainable Investing, noted the increasing amount of cross-over between the traditional energy space and the sustainability and energy transition space. Severson thinks the current structure of the LEC offers a great opportunity to integrate the ideas of both sides. He expects discussions to incorporate enhanced scrutiny around the economics and returns of sustainable projects. Chris Degner, Managing Director at WTR, said upstream producers have been challenged to tap capital markets aggressively and is interested to see any evidence at the LEC of whether growth capital is available via private equity or commercial bank lending. Regarding activism, the energy industry has generally responded as evidenced by spending cuts, rationalizing cost structures, and returning cash to shareholders. Peter Gastreich, an analyst covering both traditional energy and energy transition sectors at WTR, identified independent E&P operators in Latin America as well as international offshore oilfield services operating globally as potential key investment themes at the LEC. Both groups of companies have generally guided for strong growth outlooks in some cases on a multi-year horizon, will participate in multiple panel discussions at the LEC, and should be broadly expected to have upbeat messages to share. The LEC has been hosted annually since 2000 in New Orleans by Al Petrie Advisors. Those interested can learn more about the conference and register via the link accessible in our full report.