“If You Follow Fashion, You’ll Get Fleeced” – Martin Lovegrove

We are thrilled to have Martin Lovegrove, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Kirk Lovegrove & Company join us today. Martin has a wealth of knowledge and experience around strategic advisory, acquisitions, and divestitures with 50 years in the global oil and gas business. In his career, he has advised 120+ clients on over 500 mandates and has developed four independent successful advisory companies along the way. It was wonderful to visit with Martin and get his perspective on all the issues swirling around in today's world. Undeniably, a great deal has happened since last week's episode with Dr. Angela Stent and Dr. Dan Yergin. As we all watch the harrowing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine develop, we wanted to provide a list of organizations that are offering relief support to the country including a few charities specifically focused on children.

In our discussion with Martin, we discussed the current European energy and security mindset, how we got here, the future of oil and gas, his thoughts on key players, the outlook for classic energy companies, the energy transition going forward, the great opportunities the oil and gas industry offers to the next generation, and generally his reflections on a half century of working with the industry. It was incredibly insightful; we very much enjoyed our time with him and know you will enjoy the conversation.

The Veriten team did a fantastic job of summarizing key news items for today's lead-in. Mike Bradley examined equity and commodity performance, noting the past week has been one of the most volatile weeks in energy markets in the past decade. He also presented fascinating data on both the classic and clean energy complexes. You will see a very interesting chart comparing the XLE and the ICLN. Colin Fenton explored where Russia's gas flows are now going in light of recent events, with flows through Ukraine down 50%. Also in Veriten news, today marks Todd Scruggs' official first day and we couldn't be happier to have him join the team. Todd serves as Partner/Investment Opportunities and is already hard at work thinking about investing for the next energy decade.

We hope you and your loved ones are well. In times of crisis, it reminds us all how fortunate we are. Thanks to all of you from all of us at Veriten.