Performance!!!!
Performance is the title that I wanted to call this post. Something that I’ve built in to the Preliminary Specification, criticised the industry for, begged them to do something about and they have done nothing about or even bothered with. Hence our plan to do our developments without them. The concept of performance, to compete within the capital markets, to be innovative and profitable do exist in the minds of the bureaucrats. The problem is they’re all delusions that have manifest themselves over the course of four decades of naval gazing and listening to one another say how great they are. There is nothing as pious as an oil and gas bureaucrat who has a history of annually raising money from investors for the capital budget, to then capitalize all that spending and turn around to more investors for more cash. Stating that the depletion charge on the income statement wasn’t anything but a sunk cost and not relevant to the situation today. Profits are irrelevant, it's all about cash flow and “when you add in the amount we raised last year our cash flow is ballistic!” They never had any concept of performance. Money was made by taking it from investors. That was the oil and gas business. The number of times I was told that I was crazy for focusing on profits when we began this journey is ridiculous. From mature adults who claimed they graduated university!
Guess it’s becoming obvious that I’m not enamoured with the 2018 financial statements. I’ve always stated in my business career that I should never expect a mouse to run like a horse. What we have here is a rat’s nest. Turning it into a stable of thoroughbreds is beyond what’s possible. I think that my thinking here is completely in line with what the investors and bankers are thinking. They have endured many decades in which they’ve listened to the garbage coming out of the producers. How bankers and investors, as mere mortals, can have no comprehension of how difficult oil and gas is, or how brilliant the producers they’ve invested in are. It’s clear they’ve had enough and want out. In our sample of 23 producers the following actions occurred. Dividends were paid in the amount of $10.5 billion, bank loans were paid down by $20.6 billion, and stock buybacks were $15.2 billion. Additionally short term liabilities were drawn down by $7.1 billion. All I can say is it's good to see the people in the field being paid finally. Everybody is getting their pound of flesh out of the industry and that is a positive development. Hopefully they’ll be able to make something from their investment, and what was that song in the 1960’s from the group The Who, oh yes, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
As we head into the AGM’s now I do want to wish all of the bureaucrats my sincere best of luck. I would also like to suggest that stock buybacks for me are the second greatest form of wealth destruction known to man. The first is investing in oil and gas. If you conduct a pro-forma analysis on a stock buyback you’ll see that not only did the investor themselves not receive any cash, but you’ve really hurt the organization. I have a suggestion, instead of recommending to the shareholder another stock buyback program, offer instead to just shred the money through the paper shredder. I recommend that at least dividends put the money in the investors hands. That provides value.
Once you’ve done something for four decades it becomes the culture of the industry. No one knows any different. The things that are done and said are the only things that are understood by those within the industry. The last two years has seen the producers being very quiet because they don’t understand why no one is buying what it is they’re saying and what they’re doing. “This all used to work so well before. What happened?” The number of years, at the current depletion rate, without any further capital expenditures, is a value that never stops rising in oil and gas. In 2016 it was 6.18, 2017 was 6.74 and 2018 stands at 7.71 years. Meaning it would take that number of years at current rates of depletion to extinguish the property, plant and equipment account, without considering any further capital expenditures. The other factor of interest in this ever escalating capital balance is the fact that capital expenditures in 2018 were 104% of depletion. Reflecting the fact that the exercise is to never recognize the capital costs of oil and gas exploration and production. It is to build balance sheets bigger, better and badder than anyone else, a.k.a. spend money like a drunken sailor because that is the oil and gas culture of performance!!!!
Making something of this lot is no longer my responsibility. I’ve given up on them. To have them compete with Silicon Valley, Wall Street or any other industry for the capital they need is so far beyond their comprehension. It’s taken a decade to this point and they still don’t understand. The ability to recognize the capital costs of exploration and production on a timely basis is beyond their desire to understand and do. Turning over the capital in a competitive, profitable way would have provided them with untold cash to spend as they wished, pay off their banks and investors and keep their interests in their firms undiluted. Instead they just kept going to the well for more cash and never recognized any of the costs of doing so. Now it’s clear to everyone, other than the bureaucrats, the only beneficiary other than them with their highly creative forms of compensation has been the energy consumer. Who have had the capital costs of their energy consumption paid for by the oil and gas investor.
The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North American energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in our future Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will fund these user defined software developments. It is through the process of issuing our ICO that we are leading the way in which creative destruction can be implemented within the oil and gas industry. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here.