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The “Curse of Plenty” Has Arrived: How the United States Can Help Developing Nations Manage the Oil Curse [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 5]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On November 13, 2015
  • 0 Comments
  • angola, foreign aid, natural resource curse, nigeria, oil curse
Winston Churchill once cautioned that “[w]e are stripped bare by the curse of plenty.”  His description is still fitting for how mineral wealth impacts developing nations, particularly in Africa.  That continent holds about one-third of the world’s mineral reserves, and African countries comprise six of the ten most resource-dependent, some with resource GDP exceeding 50%. […]
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Seeking Omnivore Investors: Does Investment Specialization Impede the Restructuring of Oil & Gas Debt? [Issue 4]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On November 6, 2015
  • 0 Comments
  • Debt Conversion, Restructuring
One of the barriers facing energy companies seeking to restructure their balance sheets is the increasing specialization of their investors and financial institutions. Traditional banks only want to hold low-risk reserves-based loans (RBLs).  Hedge funds and family offices have similarly narrow focuses.  Examples include high yield secured notes, convertible bonds, preferred stock, and common stock […]
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Do-It-Yourself Exploration: In an Environment of Reduced IOC Spending, Developing Nations Should Drill Their Own Petroleum Prospects [Issue 3]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On October 30, 2015
  • 0 Comments
  • drilling, rigs, spending
A consistent theme of recent earnings calls has been exploration cost cutting. One company after another has touted its reductions. ConocoPhillips even announced that it was exiting deepwater exploration altogether. In parallel with these reductions is an emerging rig glut. Offshore rig utilization has fallen from more than 90% to ~79% in one year’s time, […]
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Do Energy Employees Need Commodity Price/Bankruptcy Insurance? [Issue 2]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On October 23, 2015
  • 0 Comments
  • employees, employment, oil crash
On the occasion of economist Ronald Coase’s 100th birthday celebration, our conversation turned to the 2009 financial crisis. We marveled at how fast markets were adjusting. Everyone in the world simultaneously hit the “sell” button, and prices plummeted. Professor Coase observed that this is a product of technology, which cheaply and instantaneously updates billions of […]
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