Ep. 87 – Flaring Deep Dive Featuring Andrew Howell and Andrew Baxter

We are back from India just in time for the World Series in Houston and had the pleasure of hosting the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) for this week's COBT session. Joining us today are Andrew Howell (Director of Investor Influence) and Andrew Baxter (Director, Energy Transition) to discuss the launch of "ESG by EDF," a new platform which will leverage EDF's deep scientific and policy expertise for the benefit of the investment community. Their first report, "The Burning Question: How to Fix Flaring," looks at flaring data, with the intention of not just benchmarking company performance, but also to offer investors a more complete understanding of why flaring occurs, industry best practices and potential industry-wide solutions.

In the conversation, we touch on the challenges of tackling flaring in less-regulated countries and some of the technologies that are making this possible, as well as the increasingly intense focus on curbing methane emissions. Like so many ESG issues, the solution to problems like flaring hinge on rational discourse which considers both the urgency of the issue as well as the practical challenges (e.g., maintaining safety standards) in resolving it. By providing the investor community a deeper understanding of these types of issues, our friends at EDF bring us one step closer to more of that much needed rational discourse.

We had a really engaging discussion and can't thank both Andrews enough for sharing their time and expertise!

First at bat is our TPH crew: Mike Bradley shared his analysis of what WTI prompt prices and time spreads are telling us. The answer weaves in oil storage projections for Cushing with recent energy headlines. After spending time with investors last week in Toronto, Matt Portillo discussed key themes from the trip, notably an emphasis on return to capital. Colin Fenton joined live from the Kayne Anderson Annual LP conference in LA and shared his observations from the Golden State. And our own ESG specialist, Craig Webster, was the natural clean-up hitter for our ESG discussion with EDF!