Between the Front & Back: Grundle’s Book Club

So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.

 
So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
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The more I hear about these ayatollah fellahs, the less I like ‘em.
 
So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
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Hadn’t bought/read it...had to listen to a lot of Yergin two weeks ago so have a feeling I may have a decent gist of it. His takes have evolved some...personally think part of it is due to them getting bought out by IHS so there is a bit more of a company line he has to tow now...his early stuff is what built him. Overall really sharp guy though.

I’ll try and read it but TBH I’m so swamped right now probably won’t happen till this summer.

And Khashoggi was anything but a saint...for all the claims of him being a journalist he was a spy connected to some bad folks. Think there is a lot more to that story, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day...
 
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So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...
Hadn’t bought/read it...had to listen to a lot of Yergin two weeks ago so have a feeling I may have a decent gist of it. His takes have evolved some...personally think part of it is due to them getting bought out by IHS so there is a bit more of a company line he has to tow now...his early stuff is what built him. Overall really sharp guy though.

I’ll try and read it but TBH I’m so swamped right now probably won’t happen till this summer.

And Khashoggi was anything but a saint...for all the claims of him being a journalist he was a spy connected to some bad folks. Think there is a lot more to that story, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day...
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Huh. I knew nothing about him until a month or two ago when I read his book from about 10 years ago. For purposes of this lil book club thingie, that’s not good because the two books back to back (same audiobook narrator to boot) have run together a bit.
 
So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...
Hadn’t bought/read it...had to listen to a lot of Yergin two weeks ago so have a feeling I may have a decent gist of it. His takes have evolved some...personally think part of it is due to them getting bought out by IHS so there is a bit more of a company line he has to tow now...his early stuff is what built him. Overall really sharp guy though.

I’ll try and read it but TBH I’m so swamped right now probably won’t happen till this summer.

And Khashoggi was anything but a saint...for all the claims of him being a journalist he was a spy connected to some bad folks. Think there is a lot more to that story, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day...
Click to expand...

Huh. I knew nothing about him until a month or two ago when I read his book from about 10 years ago. For purposes of this lil book club thingie, that’s not good because the two books back to back (same audiobook narrator to boot) have run together a bit.
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Commanding Heights is dated now but a must read...at least watch the PBS Documentary series. The Prize is considered by many in the oil industry (I’m not in that industry) to be the Bible...never actually read it though so can’t comment on it.
 
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So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...
Hadn’t bought/read it...had to listen to a lot of Yergin two weeks ago so have a feeling I may have a decent gist of it. His takes have evolved some...personally think part of it is due to them getting bought out by IHS so there is a bit more of a company line he has to tow now...his early stuff is what built him. Overall really sharp guy though.

I’ll try and read it but TBH I’m so swamped right now probably won’t happen till this summer.

And Khashoggi was anything but a saint...for all the claims of him being a journalist he was a spy connected to some bad folks. Think there is a lot more to that story, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day...
Click to expand...

Huh. I knew nothing about him until a month or two ago when I read his book from about 10 years ago. For purposes of this lil book club thingie, that’s not good because the two books back to back (same audiobook narrator to boot) have run together a bit.
Click to expand...
Commanding Heights is dated now but a must read...at least watch the PBS Documentary series. The Prize is considered by many in the oil industry (I’m not in that industry)[/i][/b] to be the Bible...never actually read it though so can’t comment on it.
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Chinteresting, I always thought you were. You have a command of the topic that far exceeds anyone else here.

Will add Commanding Heights and The Prize to the list.
 
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So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...
Hadn’t bought/read it...had to listen to a lot of Yergin two weeks ago so have a feeling I may have a decent gist of it. His takes have evolved some...personally think part of it is due to them getting bought out by IHS so there is a bit more of a company line he has to tow now...his early stuff is what built him. Overall really sharp guy though.

I’ll try and read it but TBH I’m so swamped right now probably won’t happen till this summer.

And Khashoggi was anything but a saint...for all the claims of him being a journalist he was a spy connected to some bad folks. Think there is a lot more to that story, but I doubt it will ever see the light of day...
Click to expand...

Huh. I knew nothing about him until a month or two ago when I read his book from about 10 years ago. For purposes of this lil book club thingie, that’s not good because the two books back to back (same audiobook narrator to boot) have run together a bit.
Click to expand...
Commanding Heights is dated now but a must read...at least watch the PBS Documentary series. The Prize is considered by many in the oil industry (I’m not in that industry)[/i][/b] to be the Bible...never actually read it though so can’t comment on it.
Click to expand...

Chinteresting, I always thought you were. You have a command of the topic that far exceeds anyone else here.

Will add Commanding Heights and The Prize to the list.
Click to expand...
I am just downstream of it so have to know what is going on...got bit big on a few of my R&D projects on major shifts in the oil industry so made a point to understand it. And I lied a bit in that my new job basically is even though “officially” I’m not.

 
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So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)[/b]

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...

Biden has only been President for two months, so kind of weird to suggest we're more energy independent now than when Trump was President, but whatever. Either way, that's been going on for some time. EIA's most recent data (and the most recent data that isn't COVID affected anyway) is from 2019. In that year, the U.S. produced 19% of the world's crude oil and consumed 20%. Saudi Arabia is next, just edging out Russia, with a hair shy of 12%. Half of the United States' oil imports come from Canada. (Sure is what we run a hell of a lot of.) This has been going on for years.

Thing is, oil is fungible. Just because we only get 6% of our oil from Saudi Arabia doesn't mean that a country that produces 12% of the world's supply can't have a major impact in global pricing by increasing or decreasing production. The problem isn't the threat of the Saudis cutting us off from their delicious oil, it's the threat of the Saudis opening up the faucet (yet again) and disrupting pricing in a way that costs domestic producers and creates instability in that industry. My brother in law had to sell off his profitable pressure testing business and move home from North Dakota the last time they pulled it.
 
So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)[/b]

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...

Biden has only been President for two months, so kind of weird to suggest we're more energy independent now than when Trump was President,[/i][/b] but whatever. Either way, that's been going on for some time. EIA's most recent data (and the most recent data that isn't COVID affected anyway) is from 2019. In that year, the U.S. produced 19% of the world's crude oil and consumed 20%. Saudi Arabia is next, just edging out Russia, with a hair shy of 12%. Half of the United States' oil imports come from Canada. (Sure is what we run a hell of a lot of.) This has been going on for years.
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The point is we? were not yet energy independent when Trump's administration began.

So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)[/b]

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...

Thing is, oil is fungible. Just because we only get 6% of our oil from Saudi Arabia doesn't mean that a country that produces 12% of the world's supply can't have a major impact in global pricing by increasing or decreasing production. The problem isn't the threat of the Saudis cutting us off from their delicious oil, it's the threat of the Saudis opening up the faucet (yet again) and disrupting pricing in a way that costs domestic producers and creates instability in that industry.[/i][/b] My brother in law had to sell off his profitable pressure testing business and move home from North Dakota the last time they pulled it.
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To your point, and a point the book makes, is that SA has the ability - far more than anybody else - to immediately turn on the spigot should some sort of disruption occurs or they otherwise feel like they need to.

The phrase is "spare capacity". Basically numerous wells dug and capped, but can be turned on at a moments notice. SA has more spare capacity than anyone in the market.
 
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It’s a Catch-22 for the Saudis...their economy is dependent on oil price. Drive it too low and it hits them too hard...drive it too high and it both hits oil demand and incentives others to go find new sources. Shale screwed with their economics, and they fucked up and kept it too high for too long...got a ton of players into shale and when the Saudis started trying to drive the price down to drive them away they instead forced them to get a hell of a lot more efficient. Get enough sunk costs involved and people get crafty really quick...you’d be amazed at the cost efficiencies and increased yields over the last 10 years in shale. You have Permian players now saying they have breakeven costs at $30/bbl when that was ~$60+/bbl a few years ago.

Think you may see oil shoot up over the summer, but by summer of next year no chance you will have high oil prices without some shitty govt policy...low interest rates will force investment in the oil patch if prices stay high no matter how many public oil companies claim to limit CapEx and want free cash flow.
 
So far so good. Read the free 8 chapters online, bought the book.

Very interesting. Seems to be written factually, apolitically - which is refreshing tbh. After GRUNDLe saying so, I wish I took notes. Some real gems. Certainly creating a new understanding of the geopolitics in play.

(TTTTT - after seeing that Saudi Arabia only sends us a low single-digit percentage of our actual fossil fuel use as a country, it's a head-scratcher that Trump and Biden gave MBS a free pass for the Khashoggi assassination. Slightly more understandable under Trump since we weren't quite yet energy independent though certainly trending that way, but still ...)

Really hope @HoustonHusky partakes in this book report. I would love to hear his take as he is likely familiar with all of subject matter.
Click to expand...

The more I hear about these ayatollah fellahs, the less I like ‘em.
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they're a bunch of real jerks!!
 
I'm gonna skip this one and hop on for next month's book:

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Does starting discussion a week from today work for everyone?
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I'm not sure I'll have my copy of the book by then... Best case scenario is Friday. I'll catch up when I can
 
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