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Shale Acreage = Out of the Money Options [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 25]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On May 9, 2016
  • 0 Comments
“Out of the money (OTM) is a call option with a strike price that is higher than the market price of the underlying asset. . . . An out of the money option has no intrinsic value, but only possesses extrinsic or time value.” – Investopedia As buyers evaluate shale packages in bankruptcies and foreclosures, […]
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Do Energy Laws Need Expiration Dates? [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 24]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On May 1, 2016
  • 0 Comments
“The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 was exacerbated by safety mechanisms that didn’t fit the crisis. When the well started spewing mud and gas, the crew redirected it into a safety device called the ‘mud-gas separator.’ But the device ‘was quickly overwhelmed, enveloping much of the rig in explosive gas. Without this device, the […]
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President Obama’s $10 Per Barrel Oil Tax [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 23]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On April 26, 2016
  • 0 Comments
  • "carbon tax" "oil tax"
Earlier this month, I debated the merits of President Obama’s proposed $10 per barrel oil tax at the 2016 Energy Forward Conference (sponsored by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business) with, among others, Ron Minsk, Former Special Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Environment. The new $10 per barrel tax would be […]
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Game of Thrones: Resolving Negotiation Impasses [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 22]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On April 18, 2016
  • 0 Comments
Energy companies often use a letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, or heads of agreement (“LOIs”) to quickly establish a transaction’s principal terms. LOIs are a few pages long and may only capture the basics of price and quantity. In contrast, definitive agreements often span more than 100 pages. The process for agreeing to the […]
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West Africa’s Tangled Web of Terrorism & Oil [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 21]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On March 23, 2016
  • 0 Comments
  • Africa, Education, Terrorism
“32,685 deaths [per year] from terrorism, up from 3,329 at the turn of the century.” – The Wall Street Journal (March 23, 2016) On March 13th Islamic terrorists killed 19 when they attacked Ivory Coast hotels lining Gran-Bassam beach. The Gulf of Guinea assault followed others in nearby Mali (November 2015) and Burkina Faso (January […]
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Who Killed Aubrey McClendon? [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 20]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On March 8, 2016
  • 0 Comments
  • McClendon
“I’ve always been comfortable thinking things through and doing it, more or less, my way.” – Aubrey McClendon As the Wall Street Journal reported, “there is no denying the significance of Aubrey McClendon: He didn’t just see the energy boom coming. He helped to create it.” Yet Mr. McClendon didn’t invent hydraulic fracturing or horizontal […]
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Enron 15 Years Later: Where Are They Now? [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 19]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On February 25, 2016
  • 3 Comments
  • Enron
“I’ve never commented much about my experience at Enron except to say, when I was there, it was a much more pipeline and asset-oriented company.” – Rich Kinder, former President of Enron and founder of Kinder Morgan Mr. Kinder is referring to Enron’s adoption of an “asset-light” business strategy in the late 1990s. The implication […]
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Justice Scalia, Justice-in-Waiting Srinivasan & Senator Cruz [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 18]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On February 17, 2016
  • 0 Comments
  • "clean power", Scalia, Srinivasan
“A Constitution is not meant to facilitate change. It is meant to impede change, to make it difficult to change.” – Justice Scalia I last saw Justice Scalia in November, at the General Counsel’s Forum meeting, where he signed my copy of Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (see Gaille Energy Blog Issue 16 […]
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Candidate Energy Policies: Just a Means to Other Ends? [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 17]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On February 13, 2016
  • 0 Comments
“Most of the Department of Energy is an impediment to producing energy. Not one barrel of oil is produced by the Department of Energy. But the Department of Energy stops a lot of oil from being produced.” – U.S. Senator Rand Paul (pictured below discussing energy policy in Houston) With Senator Paul and others suspending […]
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Justice Scalia’s 37 Contract Drafting Rules [Gaille Energy Blog Issue 16]

  • Posted by scottgaille
  • On January 30, 2016
  • 0 Comments
  • "justice scalia" "canons of construction"
Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner recently took the stage at the General Counsel’s Forum, entertaining us with anecdotes from Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts. Justice Scalia asked the audience to define a “nimrod.” One GC stood up and offered “a foolish person.” The Justice pointed out that for several centuries nimrod meant […]
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