Explore every episode of the podcast The PetroNerds Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 Oil, $6 Diesel, and NO to Banning Exports | 21 Sep 2026 | 00:40:31 | |
https://youtu.be/uiecwH0josk?si=FpYEiizPecSEk-Kr
Recorded: September 20, 2026 In episode 165 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, examines $100 barrel oil, diesel above $6 a gallon, and why banning U.S. diesel exports will not work. She connects the Federal Reserve’s rate increase with persistent energy inflation, explains the refining economics behind her opposition to export restrictions, and analyzes China’s renewed crude purchasing and the threats to Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu East–West pipeline. The episode explores how global disruptions reach American consumers—and why continued production, refining, and trade are essential to energy security. Key Takeaways
Trisha begins with the relationship between energy prices, inflation, and interest rates. She questions how effectively the Federal Reserve can address an inflation problem driven partly by oil-market disruptions and explains why higher borrowing costs could slow other parts of the economy without resolving the underlying energy constraints. Her concern is not simply that oil has reached $100 a barrel. It is the persistence of elevated oil, gasoline, and diesel prices, combined with expensive mortgages, that could increasingly weigh on consumers and economic activity. She is not calling for a recession, but she explains why her assessment of the economic risks has evolved as the conflict has continued. Diesel is central to that discussion. Trisha looks beyond the cost of filling a pickup truck to its role in freight, rail transportation, construction, agriculture, and heating. She discusses the gasoline and diesel demand figures she is watching and the potential for sustained diesel-price increases to work their way through the wider economy. The question is both how much consumers are paying today and how long businesses can absorb higher fuel costs before passing them along. The core of the episode is why banning diesel exports will not work. She walks listeners through the basic mechanics of refining: a barrel of crude produces multiple products, not a single fuel that policymakers can isolate without consequences. Different crude qualities and refinery configurations affect the product mix, but gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel remain connected through the economics of processing the barrel. Restricting diesel exports could weaken refining margins and reduce the incentive to process crude, undermining fuel supply rather than delivering price relief. Trisha discusses U.S. commercial petroleum inventories separately from Strategic Petroleum Reserve drawdowns and credits the refining sector’s response with helping maintain supplies during the conflict. She also explains why U.S. crude imports and exports are not contradictory: the country produces light, sweet crude while sophisticated Gulf Coast refineries are equipped to process heavier barrels, including Canadian oil-sands crude. Preserving trade flows supports the production and refining system rather than detracting from American energy security. Natural gas provides another example of the importance of market access. Trisha contrasts low Henry Hub prices with much higher European natural-gas prices and discusses competition between Europe and Asia for LNG. Continued LNG exports are important both for sustaining and growing U.S. natural gas production and for maintaining America’s credibility as an international supplier. She warns against allowing the diesel-export debate to become a broader justification for restricting crude oil, refined products, or LNG (liquefied natural gas). The conversation then turns to China. Building on the previous PetroNerds episode with Jason Isaac, Trisha distinguishes crude imports, stockpiling, and end-user consumption. She examines the increase in Chinese crude purchases and challenges the explanation that attractive refining margins alone account for China’s return to the market. China’s inventory position, purchasing decisions, and management of refined-product exports provide geopolitical leverage. Saudi Arabia’s East–West pipeline and the Red Sea export route form the episode’s final major focus. Trisha explains why the route to Yanbu has been an essential outlet during the conflict and examines the reported attacks, including drone activity originating in Iraq. She distinguishes damage to pumping infrastructure from damage to the underground pipeline itself and discusses the importance of repairs, restored flows, port logistics, storage, and tanker availability. She also considers the implications of disrupted Saudi crude deliveries to Europe. Trisha closes by bringing the discussion back to the global refined-product market, including attacks on Russian refineries and Russian diesel-export restrictions. American consumers are exposed to price increases caused by disruptions across an interconnected international system, but they have supply security. Restricting U.S. exports would not remove those pressures and could compromise the production, refining incentives, and trading relationships that help sustain supply. The answer: understand how the entire barrel and the global market work—do not assume that turning off one export stream will solve the problem. | |||
| China’s Oil War Chest—What the Market Is Missing | 05 Sep 2026 | 01:18:37 | |
https://youtu.be/-lVSNUBo7ZM
Recorded September 1, 2026 China’s reported crude-oil imports have fallen sharply—but Chinese oil demand has not collapsed. In this China-focused special, Trisha Curtis is joined by friend, colleague, and returning guest Jason Isaac to examine what conventional oil-market analysis may be missing. They begin with WTI near $91 per barrel, Brent around $95, and a global market that has proven far more adaptable than predictions of $150 or $200 oil suggested. Despite the conflict involving Iran and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, crude continues to move through pipelines, alternative ports, shuttle-vessel arrangements, and rapidly changing trade routes. Key Takeaways
The central focus is China. Trisha argues that the dramatic reduction in Chinese imports should not be interpreted as an overnight transition from oil to electric vehicles or renewable energy. Instead, it reflects years of aggressive stockpiling, increased domestic production, lower refinery throughput, overbuilt refining capacity, continued refined-product exports, and additional crude entering through pipelines and other land routes that are difficult to track. China imported more than 13 million barrels per day in December 2025. Imports then fell from approximately 12.5 million barrels per day in February 2026 to 11.76 million in March, 9.3 million in April, below 8 million in May, and just over 7 million barrels per day in June. Trisha’s argument is that a material portion of the earlier volume was never end-user consumption—it was inventory accumulation. She estimates that China’s total petroleum stocks could be several times larger than commonly cited public estimates. The conversation then expands into U.S. crude and refined-product exports, China’s growing influence in the oil market, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Venezuela’s production potential, the importance of the rule of law, U.S. shale growth, natural-gas infrastructure, and the growing burden of electricity and transmission costs on American residential consumers. This is a wide-ranging discussion about oil-market intelligence, national energy security, geopolitical leverage, and the fundamental difference between possessing energy resources and having the infrastructure, political stability, and industrial capacity required to use them. | |||
| Pipelines, Chokepoints, and the New Geopolitical Map | 23 Aug 2026 | 01:05:06 | |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nto_uVvh6zE
Recorded August 20th, 2026 and August 11th, 2026 In this special crossover episode of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, sits down with energy analysts David Blackmon and Stu Turley for a wide-ranging discussion about oil prices, record U.S. production, global energy security, refining constraints, strategic petroleum inventories, and the geopolitical transformation of global oil flows. Key Takeaways
Major conflicts and disruptions are hitting nearly every part of the global petroleum system. Iranian and Russian barrels are moving through alternative trading networks. Tankers and energy infrastructure are under attack. The Red Sea remains vulnerable. Russian refineries have been targeted. The Strait of Hormuz continues to sit at the center of the global energy-security debate. Yet the oil market has not experienced the sustained price shock that many analysts expected. Why? Trisha explains that the answer begins with the strength of U.S. oil production, particularly the Permian Basin, but it does not end there. Global oil markets have adapted through alternative supply routes, pipeline systems, inventory draws, changes in tanker movements, refinery adjustments, and the continued availability of U.S. crude oil and petroleum-product exports. The conversation also examines an increasingly important distinction: a stable benchmark oil price does not necessarily mean that the physical oil market is calm. Stress can appear in tanker rates, war-risk insurance, crude differentials, delivery premiums, refinery margins, inventories, and regional gasoline and diesel prices without being fully reflected in headline WTI or Brent prices. This episode was originally recorded as a crossover discussion with David Blackmon and Stu Turley and is presented here as PetroNerds Podcast Episode 163. About the PetroNerds PodcastThe PetroNerds Podcast, hosted by Trisha Curtis, delivers in-depth analysis of crude oil, natural gas, shale production, energy economics, geopolitics, technology, and global commodity markets. PetroNerds goes beyond headlines and market narratives to examine the production data, infrastructure, economics, policies, and geopolitical forces shaping the energy industry. | |||
| Nuclear’s Comeback and the Age of Energy Addition | 07 Aug 2026 | 01:17:37 | |
https://youtu.be/sOkqLZww1Rk
Recorded Friday, July 10, 2026 In Episode 162 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and Host of the PetroNerds Podcast, welcomes Doug Sandridge back to the show for a wide-ranging, unapologetically PetroNerdy conversation about nuclear power, electricity demand, energy security, and the global race for reliable energy. Doug is Senior Vice President of Fulcrum Energy Capital Funds, founder of Oil & Gas Executives for Nuclear Energy, an energy educator, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Oklahoma. This is Doug’s second PetroNerds appearance, following Episode 132, Oil and Nuclear, recorded in April 2025. Key Takeaways
Trisha opens with the July 10 market backdrop: WTI at $71.58 per barrel, Brent at $76.04, Henry Hub natural gas at $2.94 per MMBtu, and the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.561 percent. Against that backdrop of geopolitical conflict, lower-than-expected oil prices, and rising borrowing costs, Trisha and Doug turn to the state of nuclear power in the United States. Doug describes the nuclear industry as a duck that appears nearly stationary above the water while paddling furiously underneath. Although material growth in U.S. nuclear generation has yet to appear in the national electricity data, policy changes, regulatory work, pilot projects, supply-chain investments, plant-life extensions, and reactor demonstrations are creating the foundation for future growth. The two discuss the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program and the four advanced reactor demonstrations that reached criticality by July 4, 2026—while emphasizing that achieving criticality is an important technology milestone, not the same thing as commercial electricity generation. The conversation then turns to the lowest-hanging fruit in American nuclear energy: protecting the reactors already operating and restarting plants that were closed for economic or political reasons. Trisha and Doug examine the fight over Diablo Canyon in California, the importance of long-term operating certainty for fuel procurement and capital investment, and the broader consequences of removing reliable baseload generation before replacement power is available. They also discuss the planned restart of the former Three Mile Island Unit 1—now the Crane Clean Energy Center—under a long-term power-purchase agreement with Microsoft; the effort to restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan; and the construction of TerraPower’s Natrium advanced reactor project near Kemmerer, Wyoming. These projects demonstrate how rising power demand from artificial intelligence, data centers, manufacturing, and the broader economy is changing the economics of existing and new nuclear generation. Doug explains that large AP1000 reactors, small modular reactors, and microreactors will not all serve the same markets or arrive on the same timetable. Reactor restarts and life extensions can affect the grid first. Small and advanced reactors may begin adding incremental generation later this decade, while a meaningful wave of large-reactor generation will take considerably longer. Trisha compares the nuclear timeline to the shale revolution: major energy-system changes require years of investment, infrastructure construction, market development, and operational learning before they become clearly visible in national data. A central theme of the episode is that natural gas is not merely a temporary bridge to nuclear power. Nuclear developers need natural-gas generation to serve customers during the years between signing a power contract and bringing a reactor online. But with U.S. electricity demand growing, Doug argues that those gas plants are unlikely to be retired when the nuclear plants arrive. Instead, nuclear will be added to the system alongside natural gas and, where policymakers allow it, coal. This is not an energy transition based on substitution. It is an era of energy addition. Trisha and Doug then take the conversation global. They examine France’s nuclear fleet, Germany’s decision to close highly productive reactors, Belgium’s attempt to preserve its plants, nuclear development in Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom’s difficult energy position, and the relationship between energy costs and European deindustrialization. They contrast Europe’s political and industrial challenges with China’s long-term strategy of building coal, nuclear, transmission, manufacturing capacity, and energy redundancy simultaneously. The episode closes with a discussion of the full-system cost of electricity. Wind and solar may appear inexpensive when evaluated only at the point of generation, but the grid must also pay for backup generation, transmission, balancing, storage, and duplicate capacity. Trisha and Doug discuss the consequences of these policies in California, Germany, and Colorado, including rising consumer electricity costs, coal-plant closures, restrictions on oil and gas development, and eliminating reliable generation. This episode is ultimately about much more than nuclear power. It is about energy literacy, industrial capacity, economic competitiveness, national security, and the need for abundant, affordable, reliable, and redundant energy. | |||
| Energy Security Is National Security: Oil, Hormuz, China, and LNG | 27 Jul 2026 | 01:19:10 | |
https://youtu.be/–TRke8F1qM
Recorded July 26 and July 9, 2026 In Episode 161 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds Podcast, is joined by Stu Turley of Energy News Beat for a wide-ranging discussion on the intersection of energy markets, geopolitics, and national security. Key Takeaways
The conversation begins with escalating tensions involving Iran and the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz. Trisha and Stu examine attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping, discussing whether Iran’s actions reflect growing leverage or increasing desperation. They also explore how expanding export infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is reducing dependence on one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. The discussion then shifts to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the contrasting energy strategies of the United States and China. While America remains the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas—with crude production nearing 14 million barrels per day and natural gas output approaching 136 billion cubic feet per day—China continues investing heavily in energy stockpiles, coal-fired generation, and synthetic fuel production to strengthen its long-term energy resilience. Trisha explains why America’s energy abundance extends far beyond production. Refining capacity, pipeline infrastructure, LNG exports, petrochemicals, and manufacturing all contribute to a competitive advantage that supports economic growth while enhancing U.S. influence around the world. China’s approach provides a sharp contrast. The episode examines Beijing’s continued expansion of coal generation and coal-to-liquids projects as part of a broader strategy to reduce dependence on imported oil and prepare for future geopolitical disruptions. Rather than viewing these investments individually, Trisha and Stu discuss how they fit into China’s long-term planning for energy security. The conversation also explores Europe’s evolving energy landscape, including the consequences of reducing domestic coal, nuclear, and oil and gas production while increasing reliance on imported LNG. Trisha and Stu discuss how higher energy costs and declining industrial competitiveness complicate Europe’s efforts to expand defense spending and strengthen economic resilience. The episode concludes with a discussion on electricity markets, grid reliability, ESG and net-zero policies, American manufacturing, NATO, emerging trade relationships, and the growing strategic importance of LNG in global energy markets. The overarching theme is one that has become increasingly clear: energy security is national security. Countries that prioritize reliable, affordable, and scalable energy systems will be better positioned to support economic growth, strengthen national defense, and maintain geopolitical influence in an increasingly competitive world. Listen to the full conversation and subscribe to the PetroNerds Podcast for additional market analysis, geopolitical insights, and expert commentary on the forces shaping global energy. | |||
| Oil Markets, Iran, China, and the Fight for Affordable Energy | 12 Jul 2026 | 00:57:44 | |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2f7C_7ZyG0
Recorded: July 9, 2026 In this post–Fourth of July episode of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds Podcast, welcomes Hon. Jason Isaac back to the show for a wide-ranging discussion about global oil markets, geopolitical risk, American energy security, and the policies shaping energy affordability and reliability. Key Takeaways
Trisha begins with a market snapshot—WTI near $72 per barrel, Brent around $76 per barrel, and Henry Hub natural gas near $3 per MMBtu—before examining the renewed conflict involving Iran. Trisha and Jason discuss attacks on ships and military installations, continued crude movements through and around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. vessel escorts, ship-to-ship transfers, trucking, and the growing pipeline infrastructure that could steadily reduce Iran’s leverage over global oil flows. The conversation then expands to Russia’s shadow tanker fleet, Ukrainian attacks on vessels and refining infrastructure, Venezuelan and Iranian crude exports, and India’s growing role in refining Russian oil. Trisha explains why disrupting individual tankers and refineries matters, while cautioning that Russia still has multiple ways to move crude and obtain refined products. Trisha and Jason also break down the coordinated release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, emphasizing the difference between an exchange and an outright sale. They discuss the relationship between SPR drawdowns, U.S. crude exports, oil prices, and the eventual need to replenish strategic inventories. China is another major focus. Trisha challenges conventional estimates of Chinese oil demand and argues that China’s ability to reduce imports may reflect years of aggressive stockpiling rather than a sudden drawdown of its reserves. They explore China’s refined-product exports, its economic slowdown, its energy relationship with Russia, and the enormous influence Beijing continues to exercise across global energy markets. In the second half, the conversation turns to energy development in Africa, international financing, the World Bank, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, European energy policy, air-conditioning access, climate modeling, fuel taxes, climate litigation, the Texas power grid, Permian Basin natural gas, flaring restrictions, transmission spending, and the cost of integrating intermittent generation. Throughout the episode, Trisha and Jason make the case that abundant, affordable, and reliable energy is essential to economic development, national security, and human flourishing. Prepared from the supplied episode transcript. | |||
| Oil Flows, Hormuz, China, and the Fed’s Inflation Pivot | 23 Jun 2026 | 01:12:16 | |
https://youtu.be/B4L-5KNiqNo
Recorded: June 21, 2026 In Episode 159 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds Podcast, delivers a wide-ranging market update on oil, natural gas, geopolitics, China, strategic petroleum reserves, inflation, and monetary policy. Recorded on Father’s Day and ahead of America’s 250th Fourth of July celebration, the episode focuses on the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, the Strait of Hormuz, global crude oil flows, China’s oil imports, and the Federal Reserve’s renewed emphasis on inflation. Trisha examines why oil prices moved lower despite heightened geopolitical tensions, how more crude continued reaching the market through Hormuz and alternative export routes, and why physical oil flows matter more than headlines. Key Takeaways
A major theme throughout the episode is the disconnect between market sentiment and physical oil realities. Trisha walks listeners through the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, disputed claims surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, and the market reaction to evolving events in the Middle East. The conversation examines how Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline and the UAE’s Fujairah pipeline provide critical export capacity outside the Strait of Hormuz, helping maintain crude flows during periods of disruption. Trisha also reviews Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases, U.S. crude exports, tanker traffic, and the importance of understanding actual barrel movements in a 100-million-barrel-per-day global oil market. Why China Remains the Most Important Energy StoryOne of the central themes of the episode is China and its long-term energy-security strategy. Trisha challenges the narrative that declining Chinese crude imports are solely the result of electric vehicle adoption. Instead, she examines China’s stockpiling activity, refinery runs, strategic reserves, domestic production, and energy-security priorities. The discussion highlights why understanding China remains critical to understanding global oil markets, particularly as Beijing balances economic challenges with long-term strategic planning. The IEA, OPEC, and the Future of Oil DemandThe episode also explores the growing divide between the International Energy Agency and OPEC. Trisha reviews the IEA’s June Oil Market Report and the possibility that restored production and normalized flows through the Strait of Hormuz could create a future supply overhang. She contrasts that outlook with OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2026, which projects continued growth in global oil demand through 2050. The discussion raises important questions about energy security, investment, and whether current market forecasts are adequately accounting for future demand growth. For a deeper look at why the IEA’s long-term outlook may underestimate the realities of today’s energy markets, read Trisha Curtis’ recent PJ Media analysis, “The IEA’s Energy Fantasy Meets the Iran War.” Inflation, the Federal Reserve, and AIIn the second half of the podcast, Trisha shifts to macroeconomics and monetary policy. She breaks down the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Chairman Kevin Warsh’s first press conference, inflation data, Treasury yields, housing, and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. Trisha also discusses the potential inflationary effects of rising investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, data centers, and electricity demand. The episode concludes with a broader discussion on inflation, energy prices, housing, and the economic forces likely to shape markets through the remainder of 2026. Whether you’re an energy executive, investor, policymaker, or industry professional, Episode 159 provides a timely and data-driven examination of the forces shaping oil markets, inflation, energy security, and the global economy. | |||
| Midland Talk: Geopolitics, Hormuz, China, and the Future of U.S. Shale | 08 Jun 2026 | 01:22:46 | |
https://youtu.be/BV-3gt0wfsk
Recorded: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 In Episode 158 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, host of the PetroNerds Podcast and CEO of PetroNerdstakes, was on stage at the Society of Petroleum Engineers meeting at the Petroleum Club of Midland, Texas, for a wide-ranging discussion on oil markets, geopolitics, energy security, and the future of U.S. shale. Recorded amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and renewed volatility in global energy markets, Trisha examines how rapidly evolving geopolitical events have exposed the gap between market sentiment and the realities of physical oil. Just months before oil prices surged back toward triple digits, many analysts and industry participants were focused on oversupply concerns, weak demand forecasts, and bearish outlooks for the energy sector. Drawing on decades of market analysis, Trisha explains why investors, policymakers, and energy executives must remain humble when forecasting commodity markets and why understanding physical energy infrastructure matters more than ever. Key Takeaways
A major focus of the discussion centers on Iran’s role in global oil markets and the strategic relationship between Iranian crude exports and Chinese demand. Trisha explores how sanctioned barrels from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela contributed to perceptions of oversupply in global markets while simultaneously masking growing geopolitical risk. She argues that many market participants underestimated both the scale of Iranian production and China’s willingness to continue purchasing discounted crude. The conversation also examines the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. While the strait remains essential to global oil flows, Trisha highlights how Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have invested heavily in alternative export infrastructure, including pipelines to Yanbu and Fujairah, reducing some of the region’s vulnerability during times of conflict. Why China Is the Most Important Energy Story in the WorldOne of the central themes of the presentation is China’s long-term energy security strategy. Trisha argues that understanding China is essential to understanding today’s oil market. Beyond demand growth, China has spent years building strategic crude inventories, expanding refining capacity, increasing domestic production, and investing in power generation infrastructure designed to strengthen national resilience. She suggests that much of China’s apparent oil demand growth may actually reflect large-scale stockpiling efforts, creating significant uncertainty around traditional demand estimates. Combined with China’s continued reliance on coal, expanding electricity generation, and focus on industrial competitiveness, these policies reveal a country preparing for long-term strategic challenges rather than short-term market fluctuations. Energy Transition Narratives Meet RealityThe discussion also tackles broader energy policy debates, including the role of coal, natural gas, renewables, and electricity markets. Trisha challenges many prevailing energy-transition assumptions, arguing that energy security and reliability remain the foundation of economic growth and national security. She points to China’s continued expansion of coal-fired generation alongside renewable development as evidence that reliable baseload power remains indispensable. The conversation explores how rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence, data centers, manufacturing, and electrification is creating new pressures on power grids throughout the United States and Europe. According to Trisha, years of underinvestment in dispatchable generation, transmission infrastructure, and permitting reform have created vulnerabilities that policymakers can no longer ignore. The Resilience of U.S. ShaleThe episode concludes with an in-depth assessment of the U.S. shale industry and the future of American energy production. Despite recurring claims that U.S. shale growth has peaked, Trisha highlights continued productivity improvements across the Permian Basin, including longer laterals, stronger completion techniques, and operational efficiencies that continue to surprise forecasters. She also discusses the growing importance of natural gas infrastructure, LNG exports, and pipeline takeaway capacity as critical components of America’s energy future. While constraints remain, particularly in natural gas transportation, Trisha argues that the U.S. oil and gas sector remains one of the country’s greatest strategic advantages. Whether you’re an energy executive, investor, policymaker, or industry professional, this episode offers a timely and data-driven examination of the forces shaping oil markets, power systems, and global energy security in an increasingly uncertain world. | |||
| Frac, U.S. Shale Resilience, and the Future of Energy with Leen Weijers | 23 May 2026 | 01:30:59 | |
https://youtu.be/50CmjzaZzHM
Recorded: Friday, May 22, 2026, and Tuesday, March 17, 2026 In Episode 157 of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, host of the PetroNerds podcast and CEO of PetroNerds, sits down with Leen Weijers, former Senior VP of Engineering at Liberty Energy and one of the most respected minds in hydraulic fracturing, for an in-depth technical discussion on hydraulic fracturing, U.S. shale resilience, natural gas, and the future of energy production. Recorded during a period of elevated geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices, the conversation examines the operational and technological forces that continue to drive American energy production forward. With oil prices near $96 per barrel and Brent crude surpassing $100, Trisha and Leen step back from short-term market headlines to focus on the engineering innovations reshaping the shale patch. From frac fleets and longer laterals to proppant logistics, simulfracs, natural gas-powered equipment, distributed power generation, and geothermal lessons for shale recovery, the episode explores why U.S. shale continues to outperform expectations. Why U.S. Shale Continues to Surprise the MarketOne of the central themes of the episode is the continued resilience of U.S. shale production. While many analysts have repeatedly predicted shale production slowdowns or peaks, Leen explains that the flexibility of the U.S. frac industry allows operators to respond rapidly to changing price signals and market conditions. Importantly, both Trisha and Leen emphasize that traditional indicators like rig counts and frac fleet totals no longer tell the full story. Today’s frac crews are significantly larger, more efficient, and more productive than they were just a decade ago. Operational improvements such as:
have allowed operators to continue increasing production despite fewer rigs and fewer frac fleets. Efficiency Gains Are Outpacing Reservoir ChallengesThe conversation also addresses some of the real challenges facing unconventional oil and gas development, including:
Despite these challenges, Leen explains that engineering innovation and operational execution continue to offset many of the headwinds facing the industry. The discussion highlights how the shale industry has effectively turned efficiency gains into a competitive advantage, enabling the U.S. to approach nearly 14 million barrels per day of crude oil production. Natural Gas Is Reshaping the Future of Frac OperationsA major portion of the episode focuses on the growing role of natural gas in frac operations and power generation. Leen discusses Liberty Energy’s DigiFrac and DigiPrime technologies and explains how the industry is steadily moving away from diesel-powered systems toward natural gas-powered frac fleets. The conversation also explores how oilfield power technology is increasingly being adapted for mobile and distributed power applications, including support for rapidly growing AI and data center energy demand. Trisha and Leen also discuss:
The episode closes with a broader discussion about the future of energy development and the importance of maintaining reliable, scalable, and affordable energy systems. As the energy landscape evolves, Trisha and Leen argue that innovation within the shale patch continues to position the United States as one of the world’s most resilient and adaptable energy producers. For listeners interested in the technical side of oil and gas, hydraulic fracturing, energy infrastructure, and the future of global energy markets, Episode 157 offers an exceptionally detailed and insightful conversation. | |||
| America’s Oil Dominance: Iran, China, and the Future of Energy | 09 May 2026 | 02:43:23 | |
https://youtu.be/d566d0YSwq8
Recorded on April 8th, 2026 PetroNerds is honored to be hosted by John Papola in episode 156 of the PetroNerds podcast. In this crossover podcast, PetroNerds CEO and energy economist Trisha Curtis joins John Papola on Dad Saves America in Austin, Texas, for a deep-dive conversation on the oil and natural gas industry, the global energy market, American energy dominance, and how geopolitical shocks — Iran and the Strait of Hormuz — affect prices at the pump. Trisha breaks down the numbers behind global oil and gas demand, including why the world produces and consumes roughly 100 million barrels of oil per day, why the United States is the largest crude oil producer in the world, and why America’s energy position has reshaped global markets. Trisha frames oil as central to transportation and explains that when global production and consumption become unbalanced, prices move; she also notes that the U.S. is the world’s largest crude oil producer by a wide margin. Trisha explains why oil and gas remain central to modern life, how fracking transformed U.S. energy production, what policymakers get wrong about renewables and subsidies, and why energy security is inseparable from economic growth, national security, and global power. Energy is not just another sector of the economy. It is the foundation for transportation, manufacturing, electricity, national security, and the modern standard of living. This episode is a practical energy primer for anyone who wants to understand why oil and gas still matter, why energy abundance is a strategic advantage, and why utopian thinking cannot replace physics, infrastructure, markets, or security. The views expressed in this episode are Trisha Curtis’ own and do not reflect the views of the Department of Energy or the United States Government. John Papola has hosted many experts in the studio, including Jonathan Haidt, Dr. Drew, Michael Shellenberger, Bret Weinstein, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Adam Carolla. Topics covered:
Learn more about PetroNerds: Watch PetroNerds on YouTube: Follow Trisha Curtis on LinkedIn: Follow Trisha Curtis on X: Dad Saves America YouTube Episode Page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNFGie73VwMDad Saves America episode page: https://www.dadsavesamerica.com/p/iran-china-and-the-war-for-oil-dominance Visit Dad Saves America: | |||
| Iran, Russia, China, and Energy Security | 24 Apr 2026 | 01:52:36 | |
https://youtu.be/AAQKYuRbaj8
Recorded April 10, 2026 Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, welcomes Tatiana Mitrova back to discuss the geopolitical shocks reshaping global energy markets. Just days into the Iran ceasefire, they unpack why the latest crisis is better understood as a logistical shock than a traditional oil shock, how drone warfare is changing energy infrastructure risk, why Russia’s economy has proven more resilient than many expected, and how China is building an energy strategy centered on security, redundancy, and leverage. Tatiana brings a systems-level view to the conversation, explaining how large energy systems behave under pressure, how markets adapt under stress, and why the world is underestimating the long-term consequences of today’s conflicts. From the Strait of Hormuz to Russian oil production, from the war in Ukraine to China’s stockpiling and trading strategy, this episode connects the dots between geopolitics, logistics, military technology, and energy market structure. This episode is a masterclass in thinking beyond simple supply-and-demand narratives. It shows how energy markets are shaped not just by barrels and molecules, but by logistics, chokepoints, insurance, military technology, infrastructure resilience, and state capacity. For anyone trying to understand oil, gas, Russia, China, or the next phase of energy security, this conversation offers a deeper framework for what comes next. Tatiana Mitrova is a Global Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and one of the leading experts on Russian energy, energy security, and geopolitical risk. Her work focuses on energy economics, infrastructure, chokepoints, and how complex systems behave under stress. In this episode:
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| Wyoming Energy with Tyler Lindholm | 10 Apr 2026 | 01:08:31 | |
https://youtu.be/lLw1PhhXCEw
Recorded March 16, 2026 In this episode of the PetroNerds Podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, speaks with Tyler Lindholm, former Wyoming state representative and current Wyoming State Director for Americans for Prosperity. They break down why Wyoming holds a major advantage in affordable, reliable energy and why the state needs to shift from defense to offense. They discuss why Wyoming sits in a uniquely strong position in U.S. energy, especially as oil markets tighten, electricity demand rises, and policymakers push permitting reform back to the center of the national conversation. The conversation covers Wyoming oil production, natural gas, coal, utility control, rare earth minerals, education funding, and the policy contrast between Wyoming and Colorado. Tyler explains why Wyoming has played defense for too long and why the state now needs to lead with confidence on energy, infrastructure, and investment. A major focus of the episode is coal-fired power generation, including the potential for a new Dry Fork coal plant near Gillette. Trisha and Tyler also explore why reliable low-cost electricity matters for industry, manufacturing, data centers, AI, and national security. In This Episode
Key Takeaways Wyoming has the resources, location, and power cost advantage to become a bigger energy and industrial leader. Permitting reform is not a niche policy issue. It affects oil, gas, coal, transmission, broadband, mining, and every major infrastructure built in the West. Coal remains a strategic asset for grid reliability, industrial growth, and national security. Wyoming’s ability to shape its own energy future remains limited when out-of-state utilities control major generation decisions. Rare earth development and domestic processing deserve much more urgency. Guest Tyler Lindholm is a former Wyoming state representative, fifth-generation rancher, military veteran, and current Wyoming State Director for Americans for Prosperity. | |||
| State of Energy: War, Risk, and Geopolitics | 27 Mar 2026 | 01:36:22 | |
https://youtu.be/YNwOi5XyfbQ?si=IJ8gUgADuwjV6RtG
Recorded March 25, 2026, and February 26, 2026 Episode 153 of the PetroNerds podcast is a heavy-hitting, energy-dense podcast packed with intel and data in every second. Trisha Curtis, CEO and host of the PetroNerds podcast, walks listeners and viewers through a timely and thorough presentation on the State of Energy, covering topics from Iran and Russia to China and US shale. Trisha covers the gauntlet in a deep dive presentation given on February 26th, 2026, just two days before the war in Iran. Trisha discusses Iran’s oil production and how little geopolitical risk is priced into oil at $65 a barrel. She gets into Chinese oil demand and the Chinese economy, the importance of oil, getting energy right, and the role of coal and natural gas in power generation and electricity prices. She talks about the rise in electricity prices, the corresponding rise in wind and solar power, and the decline in cheap baseload power from coal. She discusses Chinese coal demand and the importance of energy in war and conflict. And Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh update on oil prices, oil flows, and the war in Iran. This talk and presentation were sponsored by First Turn Capital and Liberty Energy. The presentation was hosted by the Denver Energy Network and the Women in Oil and Gas Association at Liberty Energy’s office in Denver, Colorado. Please reach out to PetroNerds directly at www.petronerds.com. | |||
| War and $100 Oil | 13 Mar 2026 | 01:02:43 | |
https://youtu.be/7CWU0Yyht6Q
Recorded March 12, 2026 Episode 152 of the PetroNerds podcast is a one hour deep dive on the war in Iran, $100 oil prices, and the events that have taken place in the Middle East since February 28, 2026. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNeds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, is joined by Jason Isaac, President of the American Energy Institute. Jason asks Trisha why the market did not appropriately price in geopolitical risk before the war, especially with the atrocities and executions in Iran. Trisha walks listeners through the war in Iran and Iran’s attacks on its Middle East neighbors, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, shut-in barrels in the Middle East, and the impact on near-term oil prices. Trisha and Jason discuss the importance of US oil production, energy security and maintaining US energy dominance in oil, natural gas, and coal. They also discuss Europe’s exposure to the Middle East and rising oil and natural gas prices. Trisha discusses the chaos within Iranian leadership and whether or not the new leader is actually leading. Click to read the article and opinion piece referenced by Trisha Curtis, “The United States Must Maintain Oil Investment Amid Global Instability.” Trisha Curtis is also the Chief Economist of the American Energy Institute. | |||
| Iran, US Shale, and Oxford Oil Day | 27 Feb 2026 | 00:58:05 | |
https://youtu.be/YtMJzZvo9MA
Recorded February 26, 2026 and November 7, 2025 Episode 151 of the PetroNerds podcast is an Oxford special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, gives a 20 minute introduction on the state of the oil market, Trump’s State of the Union, tariffs, geopolitics and Iran. This body of this podcast is Trisha’s talk and presentation to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies’ Oxford Oil Day. Trisha walks listeners through the resiliency in US shale production and why it has continued to grind higher despite lower oil prices, a lower rig count, and fewer wells being drilled. This is a heavy hitting podcast you are going to want to listen to, relisten to, and share with your colleagues and friends. Please reach out to PetroNerds directly at petronerds.com. | |||
| Rockies, Risk, and Geopolitics | 13 Feb 2026 | 01:19:38 | |
Recorded February 11, 2026, and November 5, 2025 https://youtu.be/3B23i_w-5igEpisode 150 of the PetroNerds podcast is a true PetroNerds special. This 150th PetroNerds podcast is celebrated with a fresh market introduction covering oil prices hitting $65 a barrel on February 11th, 2026. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, gets into the oil price moves, US and Iran negotiations, China’s increased purchases of Russian crude oil, and rising US natural gas production in November 2025. The body of the podcast is the panel discussion Trisha Curtis organized and moderated at the Denver Earth Resources Library on November 5th, 2025 when oil prices were $60 a barrel. The panel discussion included Nathan Anderson with the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, Tad True with True Companies and Bridger Pipeline, and Joe DeDominic with Anschutz Exploration. All three executives bring a wealth of knowledge from their respective companies and oil plays. Trisha covers $60 oil and “peak shale” with all panelists. Trisha gets into the weeds on North Dakota and the Bakken with Nathan and asks Nathan to talk about the sustainability of production, the interest by private equity, and how much there is left to drill in the prolific Williston Basin. She asks Joe to talk about Anschutz’s position in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming as well as the Uinta in Utah. Joe talks about their lower well costs and how they are positioning themselves at $60 oil. Trisha and Tad discuss the midstream side of the business, and Tad’s experience in North Dakota, the Uinta, and the Powder. | |||
| Geopolitics, Iran, and US Shale | 23 Jan 2026 | 00:54:37 | |
Recorded January 20, 2026, and November 13, 2025 https://youtu.be/BpqTFn-8AUkEpisode 149 of the PetroNerds podcast is a heavy-hitting, energy-dense, PetroNerdy geopolitical special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, packs hours of intel into her 30-minute talk and presentation to the PetroLeum Alliance of Oklahoma on November 13, 2025. Fresh from London, Trisha does not miss a beat in Oklahoma City, covering the state of the oil market, the pessimism seen in oil prices throughout 2025, the resiliency of US shale, and the incredible geopolitical risk factors not being priced into oil, including China and Russia. Trisha introduces this PetroNerds special with a complete market update focusing on the tragic events in Iran and the oil prices in the first three weeks of 2026. This is a timely, not-to-be-missed podcast you’ll want to re-listen to and share with your colleagues and friends. Please reach out to PetroNerds directly at https://petronerds.com/contact/ and check out PetroNerds and Trisha on Steve Gruber’s Real America’s Voice this week. | |||
| Power, AI, Nat Gas, and Venezuela | 09 Jan 2026 | 01:53:53 | |
Recorded December 16th, 2025
Episode 147 of the PetroNerds podcast is a PetroNerdy Christmas special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast is joined by Jason Isaac, Founder of the American Energy Institute. Trisha and Jason cover the world, from US electricity and coal to Venezuela to Russia and Ukraine. Trisha talks about the economy and the sell off in oil prices and natural gas prices being overdone and the geopolitical realities still in the market, including the US seizing Venezuelan crude tankers and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. Jason and Trisha talk about the economy, unemployment rising to 4.6 percent, the labor market, the Paris Climate Accords, and Ford's announcement to write down EVs and focus on hybrid and more affordable pickups. Trisha talks about China and the coal fired power generation in China and how exactly this stacks up to US power generation. Trisha and Jason spend time talking about rising electricity prices, Californians being behind on their electric bills, aggressive green policies in states which has led to rising electricity prices, and the need for education and policy changes in power generation. Trisha wants coal for Christmas. She wants coal in her stocking and more coal fired power generation in the grid, not less. She talks about natural gas production, natural gas prices, and rising LNG exports. Trisha and Jason talk about the energy policies of the Trump Administration and the work Chris Wright is doing, his "I love coal" comments at the newly renamed National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Trisha Curtis is the American Energy Institute's economist. Her article in Daily Signal on "Rising Electricity Prices Started Well Before AI" can be found here: https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/18/rising-electricity-prices-started-well-before-ai/. And Trisha's latest interview on Steve Gruber's Real America's Voice can be found here: https://rumble.com/v731tow-trisha-curtis-pipelines-lng-and-americas-power-bills.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6il0x4zwJ4. | |||
| Coal for Christmas and Oil Price Drop | 18 Dec 2025 | 00:58:12 | |
Recorded December 16th, 2025
Episode 147 of the PetroNerds podcast is a PetroNerdy Christmas special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast is joined by Jason Isaac, Founder of the American Energy Institute. Trisha and Jason cover the world, from US electricity and coal to Venezuela to Russia and Ukraine. Trisha talks about the economy and the sell off in oil prices and natural gas prices being overdone and the geopolitical realities still in the market, including the US seizing Venezuelan crude tankers and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. Jason and Trisha talk about the economy, unemployment rising to 4.6 percent, the labor market, the Paris Climate Accords, and Ford's announcement to write down EVs and focus on hybrid and more affordable pickups. Trisha talks about China and the coal fired power generation in China and how exactly this stacks up to US power generation. Trisha and Jason spend time talking about rising electricity prices, Californians being behind on their electric bills, aggressive green policies in states which has led to rising electricity prices, and the need for education and policy changes in power generation. Trisha wants coal for Christmas. She wants coal in her stocking and more coal fired power generation in the grid, not less. She talks about natural gas production, natural gas prices, and rising LNG exports. Trisha and Jason talk about the energy policies of the Trump Administration and the work Chris Wright is doing, his "I love coal" comments at the newly renamed National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Trisha Curtis is the American Energy Institute's economist. Her article in Daily Signal on "Rising Electricity Prices Started Well Before AI" can be found here: https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/18/rising-electricity-prices-started-well-before-ai/. And Trisha's latest interview on Steve Gruber's Real America's Voice can be found here: https://rumble.com/v731tow-trisha-curtis-pipelines-lng-and-americas-power-bills.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6il0x4zwJ4. | |||
| Russia, Risk, and Oil Prices | 04 Dec 2025 | 01:25:44 | |
Recorded November 4th, 2025 and September 17th, 2025
Episode 144 of the PetroNerds podcast is another heavy hitting PetroNerdy special. The body of this podcast is Trisha Curtis' talk to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce on September 17th, 2025. Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh market update covering OPEC Plus' recent output increase, the Xi and Trump meeting, China and the US, geopolitics, the Fed, and the consumer. In this presentation and talk Trisha takes listeners through the oil market and the economy and begins the presentation and talk with oil prices and the health of the economy, the move to $65 oil on the back of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, Putin and Russia's drone incursions into European airspace, and Xi Jinping's SCO meeting with North Korea, India, and Russia, and China's military parade. Trisha talks about natural gas prices and the natural gas outlook and AI demand and power generation, US vs. China and the AI race, and OPEC Plus and Saudi output and market share. She gets into oil prices and the sentiment of the oil industry, crude oil inventories, explaining tariffs and what they mean and why, tariffs on India and China, Chinese crude oil stockpiling, and China's support of Russia. Trisha further dives into tariffs being about China and competition with China, the US manufacturing industrial base, manufacturing and the role of power generation. She gets into the rig count, longer laterals, the efficiency of the service sector and the resilient output of US shale, LNG exports and prices, global LNG market, US natural gas prices and residential natural gas prices, EIA nat gas price spike projections, and electricity prices. She talks about global coal consumption, Chinese coal consumption, global electricity, Chinese electricity, and Chinese oil and gas consumption and their economy. The last 15 minutes are filled with excellent questions from the audience including peak oil, coal and electricity prices, and oil and natural gas prices projections.
Trisha Curtis' interview on Real America's Voice Steve Guber Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0pIGZTrNX4
Trisha Curtis' opinion piece in the Daily Caller, "Winning Against China Means Winning on Energy": https://dailycaller.com/2025/10/19/opinion-winning-against-china-means-winning-on-energy-trisha-curtis/ | |||
| Oil Negativity, Geopolitics, and Power | 20 Nov 2025 | 01:20:40 | |
Recorded November 4th, 2025 and September 17th, 2025
Episode 144 of the PetroNerds podcast is another heavy hitting PetroNerdy special. The body of this podcast is Trisha Curtis' talk to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce on September 17th, 2025. Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh market update covering OPEC Plus' recent output increase, the Xi and Trump meeting, China and the US, geopolitics, the Fed, and the consumer. In this presentation and talk Trisha takes listeners through the oil market and the economy and begins the presentation and talk with oil prices and the health of the economy, the move to $65 oil on the back of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, Putin and Russia's drone incursions into European airspace, and Xi Jinping's SCO meeting with North Korea, India, and Russia, and China's military parade. Trisha talks about natural gas prices and the natural gas outlook and AI demand and power generation, US vs. China and the AI race, and OPEC Plus and Saudi output and market share. She gets into oil prices and the sentiment of the oil industry, crude oil inventories, explaining tariffs and what they mean and why, tariffs on India and China, Chinese crude oil stockpiling, and China's support of Russia. Trisha further dives into tariffs being about China and competition with China, the US manufacturing industrial base, manufacturing and the role of power generation. She gets into the rig count, longer laterals, the efficiency of the service sector and the resilient output of US shale, LNG exports and prices, global LNG market, US natural gas prices and residential natural gas prices, EIA nat gas price spike projections, and electricity prices. She talks about global coal consumption, Chinese coal consumption, global electricity, Chinese electricity, and Chinese oil and gas consumption and their economy. The last 15 minutes are filled with excellent questions from the audience including peak oil, coal and electricity prices, and oil and natural gas prices projections.
Trisha Curtis' interview on Real America's Voice Steve Guber Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0pIGZTrNX4
Trisha Curtis' opinion piece in the Daily Caller, "Winning Against China Means Winning on Energy": https://dailycaller.com/2025/10/19/opinion-winning-against-china-means-winning-on-energy-trisha-curtis/ | |||
| Oil Prices, China, and the Economy | 07 Nov 2025 | 01:37:05 | |
Recorded November 4th, 2025 and September 17th, 2025
Episode 144 of the PetroNerds podcast is another heavy hitting PetroNerdy special. The body of this podcast is Trisha Curtis' talk to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce on September 17th, 2025. Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh market update covering OPEC Plus' recent output increase, the Xi and Trump meeting, China and the US, geopolitics, the Fed, and the consumer. In this presentation and talk Trisha takes listeners through the oil market and the economy and begins the presentation and talk with oil prices and the health of the economy, the move to $65 oil on the back of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, Putin and Russia's drone incursions into European airspace, and Xi Jinping's SCO meeting with North Korea, India, and Russia, and China's military parade. Trisha talks about natural gas prices and the natural gas outlook and AI demand and power generation, US vs. China and the AI race, and OPEC Plus and Saudi output and market share. She gets into oil prices and the sentiment of the oil industry, crude oil inventories, explaining tariffs and what they mean and why, tariffs on India and China, Chinese crude oil stockpiling, and China's support of Russia. Trisha further dives into tariffs being about China and competition with China, the US manufacturing industrial base, manufacturing and the role of power generation. She gets into the rig count, longer laterals, the efficiency of the service sector and the resilient output of US shale, LNG exports and prices, global LNG market, US natural gas prices and residential natural gas prices, EIA nat gas price spike projections, and electricity prices. She talks about global coal consumption, Chinese coal consumption, global electricity, Chinese electricity, and Chinese oil and gas consumption and their economy. The last 15 minutes are filled with excellent questions from the audience including peak oil, coal and electricity prices, and oil and natural gas prices projections.
Trisha Curtis' interview on Real America's Voice Steve Guber Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0pIGZTrNX4
Trisha Curtis' opinion piece in the Daily Caller, "Winning Against China Means Winning on Energy": https://dailycaller.com/2025/10/19/opinion-winning-against-china-means-winning-on-energy-trisha-curtis/ | |||
| Oil Prices and Geopolitical Risk | 24 Oct 2025 | 01:21:24 | |
Recorded on October 22, 2025 and September 17, 2025
Episode 143 of the PetroNerds podcast is an exceptionally timely and heavy hitting podcast focusing on oil prices and geopolitical risk.
Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, spends time in the introduction of this podcast walking listeners through the recent drop and rebound in oil prices, driven by sanctions placed on Russia. She gets listeners up to speed on geopolitics and oil price dynamics, Ukrainian strikes on Russia, and US China negotiations.
The body of the podcast is the keynote address Trisha Curtis gave in Fort Worth at Whitley Penn's Fueling the Future conference. She is joined on stage by the moderator of the fireside chat, Haley Mitchell, Senior Audit Manager at Whitley Penn. Haley is PetroNerds podcast listener and she comes prepared with a series of questions for Trisha.
This keynote address covers everything from oil prices and the shale patch to China. Trisha gets into the state of oil prices, US production levels, Russian refineries getting attacked, and the status of the Russian war in Ukraine. She dives into US shale patch nuances, service companies and thin margins and blank space, what $60 oil means for the economy, what is happening with the Fed and inflation and interest rates and continued inflation, and her concerns about goosing inflation with lowering interest rates. Trisha further discusses tariffs and revenue, the US economy, health of the global economy and China's economy, and she connects it back to oil prices.
She talks about China's economy, deflation and actual Chinese oil demand, US electricity prices. Europe and their energy prices and commitments to NATO, US natural gas prices, natural gas demand, LNG, and AI. She touches on electricity and power purchase agreements and so called "cheap" wind and solar driving up electricity prices, the role of coal and need for coal in the US, coal as the enabler of natural gas, China's role in Russia's war, Chinese stockpiling, understanding markets and risk and oil trading, and nuclear energy.
Trisha closes the keynote with some great questions from the audience on natural gas prices, electricity prices, and holding up US production levels. And she does this all in less than one hour. Please share this podcast with your colleagues and friends, watch it on the PetroNerds YouTube page or the PetroNerds website: https://petronerds.com/podcast-2/.
Trisha Curtis' oped in the Daily Caller, "Winning Against China Means Winning on Energy," can be found here: https://dailycaller.com/2025/10/19/opinion-winning-against-china-means-winning-on-energy-trisha-curtis/.
And please reach out to PetroNerds and Trisha directly on the "Contact Us" page on the PetroNerds website: https://petronerds.com/contact/
https://youtu.be/hpm6NEPvsKQ | |||
| Tariffs and Geopolitical Volatility | 04 Apr 2025 | 01:50:58 | |
Recorded on April 2, 2025 and January 16, 2025
Episode 129 of the PetroNerds podcast a heavy hitting round the world tour on tariffs, geopolitics, and volatility.
This is the energy dense talk Trisha Curtis gave to the Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen on January 16th, 2025 titled "Outlook for 2025: Optimistic Uncertainty Mixed with Volatility" at the Denver Earth Resources Library. Trisha opens this podcast with a quick take on Chinese tariffs announced on April 2nd and US competition with China.
In this presentation Trisha gets into the run up in oil prices in the first two weeks of January, sanctions on Russia, the Fed and inflation, geopolitics, the US economy, and the global macro economy.
While Trisha is optimistic about Chris Wright and potential energy policies in the US, she is less certain about the health of the US economy and the US consumer and she is outright concerned about the global economy.
https://youtu.be/27hcScjfsmo | |||
| The US Economy and Health of the Consumer | 21 Mar 2025 | 00:53:48 | |
Recorded on March 17, 2025 and March 19, 2025
Episode 128 of the PetroNerds podcast is an exceptionally timely jam-packed market update on the economy and the health of the US consumer. This a St. Patrick's Day special and Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, gets into the color of Kohl's earnings call talking about pressure on discretionary spending for lower income consumers, Costco's earnings call talking about pressure on the higher income consumer, and the major airlines talking about changes in consumer sentiment and shifts in flying.
She talks about the Federal Reserve's commentary on the US economy, growth, and unemployment. She discusses inflation and the impact of lasting inflation on the consumer, the average hourly work week, and what is happening under the hood in employment. Trisha also discusses President Trump and the Secretary of Treasury's comments on recession vs. a pullback in the stock market, jobs cuts in DC from the government to contractors, tariffs, oil prices, and geopolitics.
PetroNerds and Trisha Curtis are NOT advising on stocks or investments in any form.
https://youtu.be/OaJkh84vf40 | |||
| Oil Prices and Oscillating Volatility | 10 Mar 2025 | 01:17:40 | |
Recorded on March 7, 2025 and February 28, 2025
Episode 127 of the PetroNerds podcast is another energy dense and intel rich jam packed podcast on everything you need to know to get you caught up on the oil market and the economy. This podcast is the conversation between Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, and Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, recorded as a livestream on February 28th, 2025.
Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh market update talking about oscillating volatility, oil prices, the stock market, oil demand and tariff fears. She gets into the Federal Reserve's comments on the economy and the fears and nervousness in the market. Trisha spends time talking about what is going on in the stock market, in the economy, and what is happening in oil prices with supply and demand. She talks about US production at 13.5 mbd, the rig count and private companies, OPEC production increases and the Saudi nod to Trump, Saudi and Russian production, Iran sanctions, Russia and Ukraine and additional peace deal meetings and the impact on oil prices and natural gas prices. Trisha also talks about Chris Wright's comments on oil prices.
One of the biggest questions the industry is asking right now is "what price does Trump want for oil?" She also addresses the SPR and refilling the SPR and how that can be used to put a floor on oil prices. And yes, she does this all in 20 minutes.
The hour-long conversation between Trisha and Jason proceeds with more color and detail on all of the above and the latest economic trends in oil, natural gas, and coal, Federal energy policies, tariffs, the market, China, and the first 39 days of the Trump administration. Jason also gets into the state level.
This podcast is sponsored by Efficient Markets. Reach out to PetroNerds at https://petronerds.com/.
https://youtu.be/r7-WmGRE6zM | |||
| BONUS EPISODE: Fireside Chat Q&A | 25 Feb 2025 | 00:49:35 | |
If episode 126 of the PetroNerds podcast was not enough, there is more. This bonus PetroNerdy episode is the Q&A Trisha Curtis did after her talk in Midland, Texas for the Society of Petroleum Engineers on November 19th, 2024.
https://youtu.be/nZQ8LBQ38hY | |||
| Russia, the Fed, and Midland | 25 Feb 2025 | 01:40:44 | |
Recorded on February 22, 2025 and November 19, 2024
Episode 126 of the PetroNerds podcast is a deep dive PetroNerds special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, catches listeners up on everything happening in geopolitics and the economy before getting into her talk and presentation to a sold out crowd in Midland, Texas for the Society of Petroleum Engineers on November 19, 2024.
This is an hour long complete rip of geopolitics, oil, and the economy, post election. In the introduction of this podcast, Trisha gets into the meeting between the US and Russia, Saudi's hosting of the meeting, the Fed's comments on tariffs and immigration policies, actual inflation moving up in January 2025, and oil prices and economic jitters.
In the Midland talk, Trisha walks listeners through the changes that will be seen in policy and the market by the Trump Administration on energy, gets into the geopolitics of the world and the relationship and thread China has with Russia, Iran, and North Korea. She covers power generation, emissions, LNG, global oil and gas demand, and closes with a look at US shale and what to expect under a Trump Administration. This is not a podcast you are going to want to miss folks.
This PetroNerds podcast is everything you need to get you caught up on the market and a whole lot more.
This podcast and the associated PetroNerds bonus episode are sponsored by Efficient Markets also known as EnergyNet.
https://youtu.be/IyNgLJ96GYk | |||
| Oil Price Volatility, Trump, and US Shale with Chris Atherton | 07 Feb 2025 | 01:11:09 | |
Recorded on January 23, 2025
Episode 125 of PetroNerds podcast is your complete outlook and overview on oil prices, M&A, activity, Trump, and US shale. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, is joined by Chris Atherton, the CEO of Efficient Markets, also known as EnergyNet. PetroNerds is proud to announce the first PetroNerds podcast sponsorship by Efficient Markets.
This is a partnership between Efficient Markets and PetroNerds.
Trisha Curtis and Chris Atherton cover everything from oil prices and M&A to changes in the regulatory landscape to infill drilling, PDP, production, and refracs. They talk about what their clients are asking them, oil price volatility, and how oil and gas prices are impacting transactions, deals, and M&A. Chris talks about the stability in oil prices in 2023 and 2024 lending itself to a good transaction environment.
They talk about CAPEX and spending and the public market. Chris Atherton talks about weather in Houston and the spike in natural gas prices in 2025. They get into trends and themes and views within the industry, capital discipline, Saudi Arabia, and natural gas prices.
Trisha diagress with the thought that capital will be disciplined with higher natural gas prices. She is bullish on activity in the US and the runway. She also gets into OPEC and EIA and the differing views on US shale production potential. Trisha and Chris discuss the question, will capital discipline constrain growth in the US, and at what price point?
They talk about the role of private companies, deregulation, and the rig count in Wyoming and Utah reflecting the current regulatory environment and expectations under Trump. Chris talks directly about M&A under higher natural gas prices and M&A with oil price volatility. They also talk about Trump, policies, and what Trump wants for oil and gas prices and what that means for money and investment in the space. Trisha says "Hydrocarbons are back in fashion in America." Chris discusses renewables and where wind and solar now sit on the deal side.
This podcast is jam-packed and covers all of this and a whole lot more. You are going to want to listen to it more than once and share it with your colleagues and friends.
If you are interested in podcast sponsorship and partnering with PetroNerds, reach out on the PetroNerds website at PetroNerds.com on the contact page - https://petronerds.com/contact/
https://youtu.be/n4MJn2UE1w0 | |||
| Trump 2.0, Oil Prices, and Executive Orders | 24 Jan 2025 | 01:06:40 | |
Recorded on January 22, 2025
Episode 124 of the PetroNerds podcast is hot off the press PetroNerds special focussed on the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States and the multiple executive orders on energy signed on his first day in office January 20th, 2025.
Trisha Curtis, the CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, is joined in this episode by Jason Isaac, head of the American Energy Institute. Trisha Curtis is also the economist for the American Energy Institute. This podcast was recorded as a livestream by the American Energy Institute on Wednesday January 22, 2025. Trisha and Jason cover the multiple executive orders focussed on energy including "declaring a national energy emergency," pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords and "putting America first in international environmental agreements," "unleashing Alaska's extraordinary resource potential, and "delivering emergency price relief for American families and defeating the cost of living crisis."
They get into the actual executive orders, talk about oil prices, geopolitics, geopolitical leverage, American energy dominance, and Trump's inauguration speech which said "we are going to drill baby drill" and "refill the SPR to the tippity top." Trisha also talks about oil prices, what this all means to the market, Germany and decline of industrial Europe, tariffs, China, and a lot more.
https://youtu.be/1DHtWQD9ln8 | |||
| Higher Oil and Higher Yields | 10 Jan 2025 | 01:38:14 | |
Episode 123 of the PetroNerds podcast is your complete market update for everything happening in 2025. This podcast is a timely and condensed talk on oil, energy, and power that Trisha Curtis gave to students at the Colorado School of Mines.
This energy dense podcast gives you everything you need to get your 2025 off on the right foot. Trisha introduces this podcast with a thorough market update covering the rise in oil prices, the rise in the 10 Year Yield, the Federal Reserve, and much more. Trisha dives into the rise in oil prices and notes that these prices seem slightly overdone, but explains that there are many geopolitical factors and events that could cause prices to stay here or rise further.
She spends time walking listeners through the rise in the 10 Year Yield and the Federal Reserve and how the Yield is rising despite the Fed lowering interest rates. She explains that the Fed is looking at potential policies of the incoming Trump Administration, but did not take into account the spending of the Biden Administration and Congress in the past four years. She talks about oil prices, geopolitics, and potential moves of the Trump Administration, Russia, Iran, and persistent and inflation.
The body of this podcast is the presentation and talk Trisha Curtis gave to students at the Colorado School of Mines on October 17th, 2024. This talk is tailored to focus on the geopolitical economics of energy. She walks students through traditional fuel consumption, why watching oil prices and the oil market is so important, the biggest themes in energy including hot wars and the forthcoming election, China, and US oil production, productivity, and resiliency. She gets into the weeds on US, Chinese, and global energy consumption and power generation by fuel, actual global CO2 emissions and where they are coming from (China), power demand growth, and the rise in Colorado, US, and global electricity prices and the direct correlation to the increase of wind and solar into the grid.
This talk is good, but the Q&A is better and a fired up Trisha Curtis explains to students that Europe is driving their economy into the ground in the name of lowering CO2 emissions while global emissions are rising because European manufacturing is simply taking place in China.
This is a PetroNerds podcast you are going to want to listen to more than once and share with your friends and colleagues.
https://youtu.be/-eRSxLuTl0g | |||
| US Frac, the Fed, and Oil | 20 Dec 2024 | 01:29:41 | |
Recorded on December 18, 2024 and October 3, 2024
Episode 122 of the PetroNerds podcast is your pre-Christmas PetroNerds special. This podcast is the panel discussion Trisha Curtis hosted at the Denver Earth Resources Library with Leen Weijers, VP of Field Engineering at Liberty Energy and Brenton Cheeseman, VP of North America at NCS Multistage.
Trisha spends time talking to Leen and Brenton about growth in US oil production, the role of the US service sector, and the incredible efficiencies made in the past few years. This is a candid conversation covering production, efficiency gains, a sub 600 rig count, horizontal lateral lengths, and the state of the service sector. Trisha asks Leen and Brenton to talk about the efficiencies in drilling and frac, completions, the speed in drilling, the growth in lateral lengths, and refracs. They talk about consolidation, the future, the Rockies, the Bakken, the role of the service sector, and the number of frac fleets.
Trisha introduces this podcast with a fresh market download on oil prices and the macro, the Federal Reserve's hawkish interest rate cut, and what clients and the industry are asking about in 2025. She spends twenty minutes getting you completely up to speed on the Federal Reserve rate cut and meeting and the mixed messages and confusion the Fed has caused. Trisha explains to listeners the biggest macro factors driving oil and the weakness in the global economy.
She closes the intro telling listeners about her Common Sense Institute Report that has just been released on the state of Colorado energy, rising electricity prices, CO2 emissions, and lack of growth in Colorado oil production. The paper can be found here. https://www.commonsenseinstituteus.org/colorado/research/energy-and-our-environment/key-trends-in-colorados-energy-landscape.
This panel discussion took place at the Rockies Expo at the Denver Earth Resources Library downtown Denver on October 3rd, 2024.
https://youtu.be/hUetfgKI13c | |||
| Energy and Trump 2.0 with Chris Wright | 06 Dec 2024 | 01:04:15 | |
Recorded on December 5, 2024 and November 11, 2024
Episode 121 of the PetroNerds podcast is another PetroNerds special, recorded on November 11th, 2024, with Chris Wright at Liberty Energy's office in Denver, Colorado. This is right after the election victory of Donald Trump's second term and days before Chris Wright is officially named Trump's pick for US Energy Secretary. Jason Isaac, the President of the American Energy Institute, hosts and moderates a panel discussion with Chris Wright and Trisha Curtis, the CEO of PetroNerds and Economist for the American Energy Institute.
Trisha Curtis opens this podcast with a jam-packed intro covering oil price moves, the OPEC Plus cut extension, France's political chaos, and what Trump means for US energy and global energy. She tries to clarify the opportunity and leverage and levers this new Administration has on energy, from sanctions on Iran to refilling the SPR to lifting the "pause" on permits for new LNG exports.
In the panel discussion, Chris Wright talks about energy sobriety and the importance of energy knowledge, energy policy, and energy security. When speaking about President-elect Trump and energy, Chris said, "He intuitively gets it… Energy is not a sector of the economy; it is the sector of the economy that enables everything else we do. If we get energy wrong, nothing else matters." He talks about bad energy policies that do not help the environment and hurt people's lives.
Trisha Curtis talks about the difference between Biden and Trump, the complete change that will be seen in energy and broader policies, high energy prices and lots of regulations under Biden, and the night-and-day policy switch with Trump and the current market euphoria. She gets into the delta between what you are charged for natural gas by utility companies and the actual price of natural gas, a gap of about $20, and she talks about adding more natural gas into the electricity pool, stemming the decommissioning of coal, lowering US electric bills, building out more natural gas infrastructure in the US, and exporting more natural gas.
Chris Wright gets into Trisha's favorite subjects, China, manufacturing, and coal! Chris talks about building infrastructure in the US for manufacturing and industry and consuming more domestic energy for manufacturing. "We could produce 20 percent more in natural gas." Trisha talks about China and tariff exposure to China and what Trump intends to do. Trisha and Chris talk about Germany and China and the bad policies in Germany, energy and otherwise.
Jason Isaac brings up the high standards of US air quality. Chris talks about growing up in Denver and the improvement in air quality. Jason asks Trisha to talk about economics and tariffs, and Trisha gets into China and tariffs and explains the need for hawkishness on China and the need for tariffs with a foreign adversary. She gets into Iran and their crude exports to China as well as the cheap China goods coming into the US and the need to make these goods in the US. Trisha comments on "decoupling" with China and the need to be more hawkish and more educated on China. Chris says, "Everything you hold dear relies on energy," and he says we are definitely going to see a shift toward affordable and secure energy and the need to address the grid and affordable power. "Trajectory and dialogue" first, then the reality will come later.
In the question and answer session, an attendee asks about EPA rules and the ability for the EPA to unwind or roll some of those rules back. Chris Wright explains that this will take some time and this will be tricky, but rolling back some regulations and bold actions for energy sobriety will probably be implemented. Trisha Curtis added to that answer by talking about Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords and the dramatic shifts in what the EPA will be doing and pushing.
Chris talks about Reagan as a reformer and, while he could not shrink the size of the government, he did stop the growth. He expects Trump to implement even greater reforms and seek to reduce the growth and size of the government.
A local senator asks about Colorado politics vs. the US, and Chris Wright talks about how he has pointed out to the Governor of Colorado that shale activity has not returned to Colorado and speaks to the overall top-down regulation and size of the government and policies. Chris also talks about how Liberty built a manufacturing facility in Oklahoma, not in Colorado, because of the regulation. Trisha explains that Colorado is likely to double down on the aggressive energy policies and decarbonization efforts and comments on how anti-business Colorado is becoming.
https://youtu.be/1MBxiCkwpxQ | |||
| Post Election Rip: US Shale and Geopolitics | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:45:01 | |
Recorded on November 15, 2024 and November 13, 2024
Episode 120 of the PetroNerds podcast is a show-stopping 30-minute post-election run down covering everything from U.S. shale to geopolitics. This podcast is Trisha Curtis’ talk and presentation to the Oklahoma Petroleum Alliance in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 13th, 2024 with a fresh market intro from Washington, DC. This heavy-hitting and fast-talking podcast gives you a full post election analysis of what a second Trump Presidency means for energy and how radically different this will be from the previous four years.
Trisha also walks her audience and listeners through the US and global economy and the messy and intense state of geopolitics. She talks about the macro, the economic health of the global economy, the spare capacity out of Saudi Arabia, robust production out of Russia, North Korean troops in Russia, and China’s financing of both Iran’s proxy endeavors against Israel and the West as well as China’s funding and support of Russia for the war in Ukraine. She gets into the rising electricity prices in the U.S., wind and solar and coal power, potential growth of natural gas, and the desperate need to embrace U.S. domestic energy to lower energy and power costs for the average American and the average business.
And lastly, Trisha brings this PetroNerds presentation and podcast home by talking about shale production and the whopping 13.4 million barrels per day of oil the U.S. is producing. She talks about election implications and what it means for shale and U.S. energy. This is a podcast you are going to want to listen to, relisten to, and share with your friends and colleagues!
https://youtu.be/IeqeFpP1UXc | |||
| PetroNerds Special – Nerding Out with Chris Wright | 18 Nov 2024 | 01:36:28 | |
Recorded on November 18, 2024 and September 9, 2021
This is a special reissue podcast with the oil and gas industry's very own Chris Wright. On Saturday November 16th, 2024 CEO of Liberty Energy, Chris Wright, was announced as President Elect Donald Trump's pick for the US Secretary of Energy.
I have known Chris Wright since 2017, and I can honestly say there could not be anyone more qualified for this position. Chris is passionate and deeply understands energy issues and costs and cares about the consumer and human lives. Something missed in the media this weekend is Chris Wright's and Liberty Energy's foundation, Bettering Human Lives.
This special re-issue podcast in an hour and a half with your new energy secretary. Get to know him, get to know me and PetroNerds, and get excited about America's energy future and prosperity. This podcast was recorded on September 9th, 2021 in front of a group of folks at Liberty Energy's office in Denver, Colorado and Chris and I cover everything from CO2 emissions to China to completions and frac sand.
https://youtu.be/vs8EGC359ag | |||
| US Election and Energy Special | 01 Nov 2024 | 01:16:42 | |
Recorded on October 30, 2024
Episode 119 of the PetroNerds podcast is a US election PetroNerdy special focussed on the impacts to US energy from this consequential Presidential election. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, is joined by Jason Issac from the American Energy Institute and former Texas representative.
This fun election special tries to get into the politics and policies while keeping it relatively entertaining. This podcast is politically focussed but it is not light on passion or data. Trisha does a fliparro where she hands off the moderating and interview to Jason and becomes the guest on her own podcast. Jason asks Trisha a series of questions from her interview with BBC to domestic policy impacts of the US election and foreign policy.
The goal of this podcast was to try and dispel some of the bias Trisha sees on market coverage with regards to energy, the economy, and the election. Trisha and Jason talk about policy impacts to US oil and natural gas as well as electricity prices, Iran and China. They talk about Harris' flip flopping on fracing, what fracing actually is, and how a Harris Administration will be much harsher on oil and gas than the Biden Administration and how Harris' domestic energy policies will be a continuation of his policies and much worse.
Trisha gets into inflation, lowering energy costs and electricity bills for the US consumer, and how to make the US consumer and US manufacturing competitive again. They discuss all of this and a lot more!
https://youtu.be/w4XY972tpoM | |||
| ESG, Climate, and the US Election – Part 2 | 26 Oct 2024 | 01:25:37 | |
Recorded on October 23, 2024 and October 2, 2024
Episode 118 of the PetroNerds podcast is part two of the politics, ESG, and climate special with Paul Tice, NYU Stern Professor, investor, and fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics.
Trisha Curtis starts this podcast with a complete rip of the current volatility in US and global markets, oil prices, the US election, comments by Paul Tudor Jones on CNBC on debt and economic crises, the Harris team's comments on not enabling US oil and gas and fracking, Baker Hughes' CEO comments on the role of natural gas as a "transition fuel" and a "destination fuel," and Trisha's contentious interview with the BBC on their Rare Earth program. Trisha Curtis on BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00244x3
The conversation continues with Paul Tice and Trisha Curtis asks Paul a series of questions on ESG and ESG vs. DEI. Paul talks about companies and climate science and a lack of push back and leadership across the board. They get into regulations, the Paris Climate Accord, SDG rules, and Trisha gets into primary energy consumption in the OECD vs the non OECD. They talk about regulations and politics and fracking bans and the reality of a Harris Administration vs. Trump. Paul says we need to educate the public and use the legal system to push back. Trisha talks about politics, the election, and how the oil and gas industry may not be able to come back from another four years of this. Paul talks about the use of setbacks and other limitations to ban fracking without banning fracking. Paul and Trisha talk about US production, policies against the oil and gas industry, the resiliency of US oil production, and the industry's need to get real on politics.
Paul says ESG allows the developing world to produce oil and gas while strangling the developed world and the West from producing oil and gas. He talks about the need to challenge the underlying premise of climate. Trisha asks Paul about the proponents of ESG and how it is distorting and impacting business and Paul dispels that ESG is not helpful for financial performance. Paul says oil and gas has to be more outspoken but also more selective in their investors. Paul Tice says "anyone who wants to talk about ESG metrics is not a real investor."
Paul closes the podcast by saying there are ways to turn the tide with politicians and business leaders getting over the fear factor and pushing back on ESG and climate. There is soo much in this jam packed mic drop podcast you are not going to want to miss it folks. Share this PetroNerdy PetroNerds special with your friends and colleagues.
https://youtu.be/2RHqkhvyXb8 | |||
| ESG, Climate, and the US Election – Part 1 | 11 Oct 2024 | 00:44:21 | |
Recorded on October 2, 2024
Episode 117 of the PetroNerds podcast is part one of a two-part PetroNerds special on the state of ESG policies and climate politics with Paul Tice. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, is joined by guest Paul Tice, author, NYU Stern Professor, and Fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics. If you have been looking for a substantive podcast that gets into the politics of ESG and the current election, this is it. Trisha and Paul cover the gauntlet of issues surrounding investing and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and politics in the energy space, with the thread being Paul's new book, The Race to Zero: How ESG Investing Will Crater the Global Financial System.
In part one, Trisha and Paul cover the SEC rule on climate, and Paul explains the outsized role of weather and transition risks, along with the increase in lawsuits against oil and gas that the SEC admits will happen. He gets into the incredible pressure on the oil and gas industry and what the 806-page SEC rule on climate actually does and is intended to do. They talk about the Fed, climate, and politics, and Trisha asks Paul where we are in the ESG timeline spectrum or stage. Paul says we are in the end stage or the enforcement stage of the Paris Agreements and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which have not actually been fully ratified by both branches of the U.S. Congress.
Trisha asks Paul to get into manufacturing and utilities and the "transition risk" and the impact of this SEC rule on climate on these industries, their need for energy, and their ability to make things. They talk about the ability of U.S. companies to compete, with Trisha referencing Germany and the fact that half of their auto manufacturing capacity is currently idle. Paul gets into intermittent power, higher prices, less reliable power, outsourcing manufacturing, and companies having to get their own power with an "every man for himself" approach because they cannot rely on the grid.
Paul takes on politics here, explaining that these green climate policies are being pushed through by undemocratic means, largely by the left and the Democratic Party. Trisha and Paul close part one of this two-part PetroNerds special by talking about the themes of the book and whether oil and gas do better under a Democrat or Republican. The old thinking that oil does better under a Democrat needs to be reassessed in the age of aggressive ESG and climate policies.
https://youtu.be/sD98lhCYUcg | |||
| China, Power, and CO2 | 30 Sep 2024 | 00:40:29 | |
Recorded on September 18, 2024
Episode 116 of the PetroNerds podcast is a compact heavy hitting PetroNerds special focussed on explaining the role of traditional fuels in the economy and the reality of power generation and CO2 emissions in the US and China. This is Trisha Curtis' talk at the Dry Fork power plant in Gillette, Wyoming on September 18th, 2024 to state legislators from across the US who were visiting Wyoming's energy facilities on behalf of the Wyoming Energy Authority.
Trisha walks legislators through the actual data of US oil and gas production, US oil and gas prices, the dramatic rise in electricity prices, the incredible decrease in US CO2 emissions, and the dramatic growth in Chinese CO2 emissions. Trisha explains that China not only has 1/3 of global power generation, they also have more coal fired power generation than the US has total power generation. And Chinese CO2 emissions and global CO2 emissions are rising as the US and states like Colorado look to aggressively decarbonize and decommission reliable baseload power generation from coal and natural gas.
Trisha does this all in 15 minutes. This is a fast paced heavy hitting podcast that you are going to listen to more than once and share with all of your peers. Trisha gave this presentation and talk as the CEO of PetroNerds and the economist for the American Energy Institute. She introduces this podcast with a brief introduction to discuss the decline in oil prices, the interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, and China's stimulus efforts which are not helping oil prices.
https://youtu.be/Ayp_blmDYMI | |||
| The Economy, Geopolitics, and Oil | 13 Sep 2024 | 01:26:34 | |
Recorded on September 11, 2024 and July 12, 2024
Episode 115 of the PetroNerds podcast is another jam-packed PetroNerds special you are going to listen to, relisten to, and share. This is the keynote address that Trisha Curtis gave to IPANM, the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 12th, 2024.
This podcast is front-loaded with an energy-dense PetroNerdy market update covering everything from the softness and deterioration in oil prices, the Fed and inflation, weakness in the Chinese economy, lack of attention on geopolitics, and updates on the war in Ukraine, elections in the US, and Chinese power generation stats and CO2 emissions and much more!
In this keynote address and talk Trisha covers the current state of the Biden Administration, global elections, US oil production, the health of the US economy and the consumer, inflation and the non recession, the non-ESG friendly energy transition, whack-a-mole CO2 emissions, the real problems with China, Russia, Iran, the war in the Middle East, Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Chinese CO2 emissions and exports of cheap green tech, the resilience of US shale, and everything in between.
Make sure to check out the article Trisha Curtis published with Real Clear Energy as the Economist for the American Energy Institute: "America's Energy Success has Nothing to do with the Biden Harris Administration" https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/09/03/americas_energy_success_has_nothing_to_do_with_the_biden-harris_administration_1055870.html and the US shale paper Trisha Curtis did for the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies that was published in their September 2024 Forum Journal. The paper is called "US Shale Oil - Relentlessly Resident" https://petronerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/US-Shale-Oil-Resiliency-PetroNerds-Trisha-Curtis-September-2024.pdf
https://youtu.be/Xl09qODB9vg | |||
| Rising Electricity Prices | 30 Aug 2024 | 00:50:00 | |
Recorded August 16 2024
In episode 114 of the PetroNerds podcast, Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, is joined by Chris Brown, VP of Policy and Research at the Common Sense Institute, to discuss the recent report Trisha co-authored on Colorado's declining energy competitiveness.
Energy is not just a sector of the economy; it is the sector upon which all businesses rely. Colorado, along with the rest of the US, has witnessed a dramatic escalation in electricity and natural gas prices, despite natural gas prices being near all-time lows, below $/mcf, for multiple months this year.
In this podcast, Trisha and Chris discuss the main themes of this report, including the rising electricity and natural gas prices in Colorado, which are making the state less competitive from an energy cost standpoint. They also discuss where electricity is coming from in Colorado and the direct correlation between rising electricity costs and the increase of wind power into the grid.
Finally, they talk about Colorado's CO2 emissions, which account for less than 0.3 percent of global emissions, and how Colorado shutting down coal-fired power plants is actually enabling higher CO2 emission growth out of China, increasing the cost of electricity and power generation in Colorado, decreasing grid reliability, and reducing the affordability of energy in the state.
The data is damning and alarming, and folks in Colorado need to be reaching out to the PUC, Xcel, and their local representatives, demanding a halt to more wind and solar power being added to the grid at the expense of the Colorado consumer, taxpayer, and household. The report, along with all the detailed charts and analysis, can be found here: https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CSI-Report-CO-Energy-Competitiveness.pdf.
https://youtu.be/1z8gu8-Iz0g | |||
| Hot Wars and the Economy | 16 Aug 2024 | 00:53:15 | |
Recorded on August 14, 2024
Episode 113 of the PetroNerds podcast is a must listen to episode to get you caught up on everything happening in the economy, oil prices, geopolitics, and escalation globally in hot wars.
Trying to figure out why oil prices seem to want to go down even when wars in the Middle East and Europe continue to escalate? Saw the sell-off a couple of weeks ago when oil prices dropped to $72? Trisha Curtis has you covered. Trisha walks listeners through current oil prices and recent volatility, what is happening with Iran, the US, and Israel, and Ukraine's penetration into Russia.
She spends the first half of the podcast diving into the economy, the freshly dropped CPI/inflation print, jobs cuts at Cisco and Intel, the Federal Reserve, unemployment ratcheting up to 4.3 percent, and interest rates. She pivots into geopolitics by talking about oil and why oil prices or real oil prices less the geopolitical risk premium are probably lower.
She covers the IEA and OPEC monthly reports released this week as well as housing and refinancing of mortgages in the US, and the biggest trends in the market right now including weakness in the US consumer and a slowing China. She also talks about the Chinese economy and breaks down some of the figures inside the US inflation read and much more. This is your one-stop shop folks! And lastly Trisha talks about recent podcasts, forthcoming podcasts, and upcoming public speaking engagements.
https://youtu.be/q8g3O48Z4Z8 | |||
| Economics and Geopolitics | 02 Aug 2024 | 01:26:57 | |
Recorded on July 31, 2024 and June 21, 2024
Episode 112 of the PetroNerds podcast is the keynote address Trisha Curtis gave to AAPL, the American Association of Professional Landmen (Trisha still calls it Petroleum). This is an absolutely jam-packed energy-dense podcast filled with intel to get you up to speed on oil prices, the economy, geopolitics, and war.
Trisha dives into the push and pull on oil prices, what is driving prices up or holding prices up, what is pressuring prices down or keeping a lid on prices, geopolitics and hot wars, inflation and the consumer, the relationship between Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China and continued attacks in the Red Sea and their impact on the global economy and oil prices.
She gets into the changing political landscape in Europe and across the world, China's lack of economic growth, China's production of green tech, the poor understanding of oil and gas, and lack of market coverage of oil and gas, a very anti-domestic oil and gas Administration in America, a slowdown in consumer spending and the economy and the Fed, black swans, the health of the US consumer, and high prices and inflation pressuring the consumer, not interest rates.
She covers the Biden Admin on energy policies and SPR, Chinese EV exports, Chinese oil demand and stockpiling, weapons flows from Iran and North Korea to Russia, and non ESG friendly green tech from China. And last but not least she takes a dive into US shale and the resiliency of production with less rigs and longer laterals despite regulatory headwinds and consolidation.
https://youtu.be/NH0nk-Is4cU | |||
| Pipes, Diffs, and Markets | 20 Jul 2024 | 01:00:19 | |
Episode 111 of the PetroNerds podcast is a true PetroNerds special. This is a recorded webinar with the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association (LEPA) hosted by Andy Black, President of LEPA and Tad True, VP of Bridger Pipeline, part of True Companies.
Andy Black and Tad True ask Trisha Curtis a series of market related questions ranging from the macro and oil prices to price differentials and the blowouts seen in the early days of the Bakken shale boom. Tad talks about when he met Trisha, around 2012, and what was happening in the market at the time and asks Trisha to reflect and weigh in.
If you have been wanting to hear about markets and midstream, this is the podcast you have been waiting for. Andy Black starts the webinar off by asking Trisha about the state of the oil market and the drivers in oil prices and Tad True gets Trisha in the weeds on crude flows, the history and evolution of US shale, and the major price differentials and blowouts seen in the Bakken in North Dakota and West Texas Intermediate in Cushing, Oklahoma. Trisha and Tad look back at the massive price differentials between WTI and Brent at the time and the rapid growth in crude by rail.
This is an awesome and incredible conversation you are not going to want to miss folks. Please like it, review it, and share it with your friends and colleagues.
https://youtu.be/pCOVcVkzWrI | |||
| Health of the US Consumer | 21 Jun 2024 | 00:51:18 | |
Recorded on June 19, 2024
Episode 110 of the PetroNerds podcast is a heavy hitting intel dense podcast on everything you need to know about the health of the US economy, the health of the US consumer, inflation, the Federal reserve, interest rates, and how it is all impacting oil prices.
Trisha Curtis walks listeners through the US economy and explains how the consumer is being tapped out by high prices and how inflation, not interest rates, are actually driving down inflation to a degree. She explains the impact of high prices on the consumer and what is happening with supposed interest rate cuts, the stock market, and unemployment and jobs. She gets into the type of jobs being added and why the economy and the consumer is not that healthy. She talks about the Consumer Sentiment Survey from Michigan and how it relates to the problems the Biden Administration is having on convincing the US populace that the economy is good and healthy.
Trisha talks about employment and job gains and the types of jobs being added and the lack of high paying jobs being added in the economy. Trisha gets into the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the impact on goods prices, fuel cost. containers, and shipping times. Trisha talks about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and oil prices and why the Biden Administration will likely tap the SPR again and lower oil prices before the election.
Trisha gets into the "non recession recession" and where the jobs gains are, where they are not, and the fact that a lot of job gains are being filled with immigration. She discusses the impact of immigration on GDP and inflation and housing. She closes this jam-packed PetroNerds podcast by talking about oil prices, risk, the macro, and what is driving oil prices up and down. She covers geopolitics and gets into Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China, Iran and the Houthis, and the push and pull on oil prices. She squeezes in some commentary on US oil production, less rigs, and longer laterals, and Russian and Saudi production and spare capacity.
This is an absolutely intelligence packed podcast that you are going to listen to and re-listen to, like, and share with your colleagues and friends.
https://youtu.be/K0iAFs4wde4 | |||
| Energy Policy with Jason Isaac | 10 Jun 2024 | 01:16:20 | |
Recorded on May 16, 2024
Episode 109 of the PetroNerds podcast is a discussion on energy and energy policy with former Texas representative Jason Isaac. He joins Trisha Curtis in discussing the state of energy and energy policy in the US and the world. They talk about US electricity prices and natural gas prices, the US economy and inflation, energy transition, US oil and gas production, and China.
They also discuss the new think tank led by Mark Mills, the National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA), where Trisha Curtis is now a Senior Fellow. Jason is the founder of the American Energy Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. This is the first of many energy policy discussions Trisha will be having in the coming months.
Trisha Curtis and Jason Isaac also wrote an op-ed together on Biden's SPR moves and energy policy, which can be viewed here: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/may/20/cost-of-biden-draining-our-strategic-petroleum-res/
https://youtu.be/t5g0953nCVI | |||
| Shale 2.0 with Buckhorn Production | 18 May 2024 | 01:02:29 | |
Recorded on April 30, 2024
Episode 108 of the PetroNerds podcast is another PetroNerds special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, is joined by guest Sam Shiverick, CEO of Buckhorn Production. Buckhorn is a production company that purchased unconventional horizontal wells from an operator in New Mexico in the Permian Basin in 2020. This is an incredible conversation that highlights the longevity and future of US shale. Buckhorn is literally breathing new life into older unconventional assets and increasing output and showing just how profitable it can be.
Sam explains the history behind Buckhorn and his background in oil and gas and then Trisha and Sam get into the market dynamics and how Buckhorn is differentiated with a lower cost structure and much lower risk profile as it is not drilling and completing wells. They discuss the business model, older wells, methane, ESG, refracs, and a lot more.
This is Sam Shiverick's first podcast. He is an incredible guest and PetroNerds cannot wait to have him back on the podcast.
https://youtu.be/b8BtHLEkfCQ | |||
| The Fed vs. the Consumer, Inflation, and Oil | 03 May 2024 | 00:45:58 | |
Recorded on May 1, 2024
Episode 107 of the PetroNerds podcast is a complete rip and review of the US economy, inflation, a weakening consumer, the Federal Reserve and interest rates, the Chinese economy, and oil prices and oil demand. Trisha Curtis, host of the PetroNerds podcast and CEO of PetroNerds, walks listeners through Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell's speech on May 1st and the reality of inflation not being appreciated by the dovish Fed.
She goes through the poor earnings of stocks from Starbucks to McDonald's, all based on declining sales on the back of inflation and a tapped out consumer. The impacts this has to oil demand and oil prices are very real, but ongoing hot wars, the Houthis continued attacks to ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, Chinese tensions in the South China Sea, and Russia's continued barrage against Ukraine are all keeping prices elevated.
Trisha closes the podcast with a number of newsworthy items including US production coming back above 13 mbd in February 2024, US CO2 emissions declining on the back of US natural gas, and much more. This is a jam packed podcast you are going to want to listen to twice and share with everyone you know!
https://youtu.be/lvrIWJeT6Kc | |||
| War, Energy, and Politics | 19 Apr 2024 | 00:53:05 | |
Recorded on April 18, 2024
Episode 106 of the PetroNerds podcast is your complete market update and round the world tour on what is happening in the oil market, energy, the global economy, and geopolitics. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, takes listeners from natural gas prices in the US to the Middle East and back again. This podcast dives into the drivers for oil prices, the war in the Middle East and the Iranian strikes on Israel, Russia's energy infrastructure targeting in Ukraine, OPEC spare capacity, US production of oil and natural gas, rising US electricity prices, stubborn US inflation, and the the lack of interest rates cuts by the US Federal Reserve.
This is a podcast you are going to want to relisten to and share with your friends and colleagues. In 53 minutes Trisha covers what is driving oil prices, natural gas production in the US and natural gas prices, geopolitics and war and Iran's attack on Israel on April 13th, the SPR, global spare capacity, OPEC and Russian production vs. OPEC Plus targets, US production and lower US rig count and US activity, the complexity of high oil prices and low natural gas prices in the US, the Biden Administration's stance on Iran and their unwillingness to enforce sanctions on Iran crude exports to China, electricity inflation in the US and power demand, and the impact of politics and policies on oil and gas prices in the US. Trisha gets into power generation and natural gas explaining that half of US power generation is coming from natural gas.
She talks about power generation and manufacturing, EVs and Hertz and the slowdown in sales and adoption of EVs, inflation and electricity prices and the $1.74 natural gas prices NOT being passed along to consumers, and Russian attacks on Ukraine and Ukraine's energy infrastructure and power generation. She discusses the Fed, interest rates, no interest rate cuts, inflation, housing prices and mortgage rates, new home sales being down and housing prices being up, the demand for electricity and power generation by chip companies and bets on AI, the geopolitical angst within the market, and Russia, Iran, and China ties.
She closes the podcast by talking about the need for market intelligence and leadership in oil and gas, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it is also the right thing to do for your shareholders. Trisha talks about politics and policies and raising energy IQ. She talks about the differences between Biden and Trump on oil and gas prices and infrastructure, regulations, and business.
https://youtu.be/9sa4TS6Vxhc | |||
| $87 Oil, Geopolitics, and the Fed | 06 Apr 2024 | 01:15:25 | |
Recorded on April 5, 2024
Episode 105 of the PetroNerds podcast is a must listen to show stopper that you are going to want to share and listen to again. This PetroNerds podcast is a fresh market recap and dive on everything driving oil prices higher, including geopolitical tensions, the war in the Middle East, the Fed and rate volatility, inflation and concerns over sticky inflation, and China, Iran, and the less than ESG friendly energy transition.
Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, walks listeners through the rise in oil prices, the rise in gold prices, and the rise in the 10 year yield curve and the relationship between the three. She gets into the current state of geopolitics and the risk premium finally coming into oil prices with regards to Israel and Iran. And she talks about the plethora of Fed commentary this week covering everything from rate hikes to rate cuts to rising immigration.
She also talks about the US jobs report. The bulk of the podcast is the talk and presentation Trisha gave in Dallas, Texas to a group of investors at the CFA Investor Summit in November 2023. She chose to release this podcast now because of the geopolitical explanation in the talk with regard to the war in the Middle East, Fed comments, the atrocities committed in Gaza, and her discussion of China's role in the energy transition. This is fast talking, lippy, and a complete round the world conversation to investors.
https://youtu.be/Kpt86pq3xL0 | |||