David Ramsden-Wood, author of
stops by the Energy Impact and the Energy News Beat Podcast to talk about the Trump Middle East Tour, EOG, and his Hot Take of the Day.DRW wrote on his Substack, "EOG Goes Abroad, and So Does American Power." It is a great article that raises some huge issues in the oil and gas markets.
This is a must-watch episode for anyone who wants to understand the real future of American energy and why it’s being shaped overseas.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:01 – Introduction
01:21 – The Trump Doctrine & Energy Strategy
05:16 – EOG’s 900,000-Acre Concession in UAE
07:37 – Energy as an Export Service
09:10 – Global Energy Demand: Asia Rising
11:35 – Natural Gas & Policy Quid Pro Quo
13:59 – Policy Failures in Green Energy States
17:21 – Are We at Peak U.S. Oil?
23:34 – EOG’s Move: Independence or Buyout Prep?
27:18 – Geopolitics, Israel, and the Energy Landscape
29:09 – Gas vs. Oil: The Future Molecule
31:21 – Politics and Policy Under Biden
38:27 – Canadian Politics & U.S. Strategy
40:00 – Gavin Newsom and Political Opportunism
41:36 – Can Trump End Climate Subsidies?
44:02 – Censorship, Free Speech, and Elon Musk
47:20 – Tesla, Consumer Choice & Auto Industry Shifts
49:01 – Political Aspirations & Civic Engagement
51:42 – Social Security & Fiscal Imbalance
54:14 – 2025 Tax Cuts & Electoral Consequences
56:36 – Closing Thoughts on Energy, Policy & Optimism
58:09 – Contacts
David Blackmon [00:00:21] Hey, welcome to Energy Impacts with David Blackmon. I am, believe it or not, David Blackman. I'm here today with Stuart Turley with his Energy News Beat podcast for a joint interview with one of the smartest people we know, and it's always good to talk to people smarter than we are. David Ramsden-Wood, who has his own Substack hot take of the day and is just a well-known energy analyst, investor, and All around man about town up in Colorado. How you doing, David?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:00:54] I'm doing great, guys. How are you? It's been a minute, I think it's been since Nape, hasn't it?
David Blackmon [00:01:00] Has it? Oh, I don't even think about that. That's ridiculous. I'm sorry.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:01:03] It's been a while, no, but it's good to see you guys. I've been busy, I know you guys have been busy. There's been lot happening every day in the energy world since January 20th, I mean really before that. But it's hard and here we are, we're almost at the end of May, I can't even believe it.
David Blackmon [00:01:21] Yeah, four months into the new Trump administration and, and David, and the reason we reached out to David, he published a fantastic piece last week. And I happened to come across it as I was writing a piece with some similar thoughts to it, so I got in contact with him just to let him know I wasn't plagiarizing him about the new trump doctrine. And, and it's also David got into that discussion about the Trump doctrine, what it means, how it's going to work. Based on a discussion about EOG's recent move into the United Arab Emirates, which he believes, and I agree, is a real, I think, landmark move by a big independent producer who has been focused in America's shell place to move internationally to beef up its portfolio of not just reserves, but drilling opportunities and everything related to the business. David, I really appreciate you being here. Let's get started first by talking about the Trump doctrine and your view of what was laid out in the visit to the UAE cutter and of course, Saudi Arabia, the first country he visited and where he made a big speech, laying this all out. Yeah. What is your view of, of the sea change that's going to bring us and Middle East relations?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:02:52] So, I mean, I think we have to go back just a bit. And it goes to, I know if you're on X, a lot of oilmen are quite frustrated with Trump for talking oil down into the 50s and some of the background to that. And especially in the context of his January 20th speech and then obviously going back to Trump 1.0 with Drill Baby Drill. I give Chris Wright a huge amount of credit because he understands the industry. And so I wrote a piece as soon as Trump came in and I wanted to start there I think today is drill baby drill is not about the US. Now you can make the case it's about US natural gas and we're going to talk about that because I think there was a really interesting article that came out two days ago that we'll close with. But you know drill baby, drill is about the fact that oil and gas are going to prominent role. The prominent role in energy generation for the foreseeable future. And the truth is the Permian has been peaking and that U.S. Oil production is basically only back to where we were in November of 2019. Couple hundred thousand barrels, but with liquids and reporting, and it's basically the same number. And we're drilled through most of the tier one inventory. The Eagle Ford has very little, the Bakken has very Little. And so the truth, is we are going to decline. Or flat to decline in the U.S. Almost regardless of prices. There just isn't oil. And so the drill baby drill to me was about going international and I've been making the case for a very long time. The international, the majors of the United States need to go to rule of law countries that have oil, have resources, and they need to deploy U. S. Expertise there. And the truth is if EOG finds something of scale in the UAE and it looked anything like the U S. Scale. I mean, oil is going to be a $50 to $60 a barrel commodity for the foreseeable future because you can do so much more with American technology internationally. So to me, the announcement that that EOG, which hasn't merged, it hasn't bought, it didn't participate in this consolidation phase, they're saying we're going overseas. And in particular, the Middle East and the importance of the UAE Saudi relationship, I think is just the side of the times and it will not be the first major we see. Go Overseas.
David Blackmon [00:05:16] Yeah, I think that's right. And it's just, you know, it's a big old concession EOG's got over there in the UAE. What is it? 900,000 acres?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:05:26] 900,000 acres. I mean, I can't even I can even put that in context because I you know, you sort of you sort of go one acre is 42,000 square feet.
David Blackmon [00:05:37] I know.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:05:37] Uh, and so 900,000 acres, I just, I don't, I don't really know how to even comprehend the size of that, but you know, look, EOG is, is a phenomenal explorer and, and it has been interesting to see over the last five years, right? Like the private equity, uh, when I started with my partner's One Energy in 2016, if you came out of EOG, you were the man, right, and before that it was Burlington, and, after that it, was arguably at ARCO. But EOG really hasn't done anything. And I had made, I'd written a post in 2019 that said, I think that Exxon should buy EOG, fire every onshore Exxson employee, and let EOG run all of Exxons portfolio, and then have Exxsons focus on the things it's best at, which is huge international capital deployment, refining Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America. America. America, Gulf America. But anyway, so you've just taken this, it's gonna take years and years and years to actually turn into something. But it really shows that Drill Baby Drill, especially for oil, is about energy independence outside. And I say this in all my speeches, when goods don't cross borders, soldiers will. And we need to have dependable energy from stable sources and. Saudi and UAE are two of the most stable, at least in my view, of the current geopolitical environment.
David Blackmon [00:07:07] Hey, I want to thank you for mentioning Burlington resources. My old company, by the way, it was a great company. Stu you want to pop in
Stuart Turley [00:07:15] Yeah, great note from Messy Times. Christopher Messina, author of the Messina Times financial book. It is absolutely a great one. The Greenland government stopped a ban on its oil and gas exploration, the massive field it sits on would have the same global supply impact.
David Blackmon [00:07:35] I've read that.
Stuart Turley [00:07:37] One of the great things, uh, DRW that, that you're talking about, and I really applaud is that the Trump visit and I'm going to play the video with the sound off just as we're talking, as it's, um, uh going along, as we, as we're going here, the, I've never seen such respect, uh for our president, uh in this last trip. Uh, you know, I'm over here going, you, yay, we're back. But I think your article hits more of energy as in service as an export. Our LNG exports are going to be the number one export to offset trade barriers, uh, trade tariffs, I mean, and trade trading deficits. But where I think that this is even more important is as we take a look at trading blocks, I think the UAE, Qatar, the Middle East and Russia and the US are going to be a new trading block with energy as an export service. And you look at India and Vietnam, Vietnam has now got ExxonMobil and Chevron working in there. They have been stagnant for years and you're seeing two of our big oil companies are starting to work in Vietnam. This is huge, David.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:09:10] I mean, I agree. And when you think about it, the North American complex, the number of people here, they're sort of like 550 million. And we use 220 gigajoules a year, Asia's 4.5 billion, and they use on average 60. So they use 75% less energy than us and trade aside. I mean the whole realignment of I think what we're seeing in Trump 2.0 is Yeah, there's some logical connections and Trump has put China squarely on the other side of the trading block. And I think, you know, I like the comments about Greenland for sure. Critical earth minerals, being able to navigate the ice waters. I mean, there is a reason that Trump said that he wants to acquire Greenland, you know, for military purposes, for critical minerals, for oil. Pick your thing. That's a huge. Unexplored, untapped resource, and as technology evolves and our skills as the human race evolve, we're able to do work there. And then, yeah, I agree. The only product that the United States can really produce en masse right now is natural gas. And so I always found it funny. You remember the letter that Elizabeth Warren sent just before in November 2021, chastising the big CEOs of U.S. Energy companies because they were sending natural gas and LNG overseas and that it was hurting American consumers. And then miraculously, the Nord Stream pipeline got blown up and the only solution to Europe's energy crisis was more LNG from the United States. So, I mean, clearly natural gas in the future, that's where we need to see drilling when I tell young engineers, young people, people who are maybe in the middle of their career and thinking about what the next 20 years looks like. I mean move to Pittsburgh, get into the Marcellus, get in with the EQTs of the world. Um, and taros of the world, I mean, natural gas is coming. It's coming in a big way. And again, the big guys can do this internationally. Cutters doing it UAE, Saudi, they have huge resources and it's the only way we can really rebalance the trade. And, and it is not lost on me that the agreement that the Trump administration made with New York with the wind power, I was going to ask you about next. I mean that, that, and that's my, that's my blog for tomorrow.
David Blackmon [00:11:35] Yeah, you think that's a quid pro quo?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:11:37] It's an absolute quid pro quo. I mean, the Eric Adams, whether we like it or not, that was a quid pro quo pro quo for ice and immigration enforcement. And this 100% was shut shut down the wind. And if you approve a natural gas pipeline, because of the New York ban, and and you can feed the city of New York. Yeah, 100%. And so now we get natural gas going into into New York and we stop with this climate garbage. When was the last time you heard climate change on mainstream media in the last three months? Remember before?
David Blackmon [00:12:13] It's almost disappeared.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:12:15] Russia invades Zelensky and he he has a speech that says this is the reason we need to go green is to get off Russia's oil you're like no that what what are we talking about and and the New York City example is great if you strung every single battery on earth together it could power New York City for 1.6 days.
David Blackmon [00:12:37] That's right, and only for three hours though, because they would sack them down in three hours
David Ramsden-Wood [00:12:42] Right, I mean, and so take that and yet natural gas wasn't able to get into New York State and they didn't want to have pipelines. When you have the most prolific onshore resource right outside in the Marcellus, it's like, what are we doing? So it's nice to see in the background a level of logic.
Stuart Turley [00:13:03] We couldn't even import LNG to our own Boston Harbor to get it up there because of the Jones act. I mean, this is such an oxymoron. We can spend an hour on that. Oh yeah. But this is absolutely horrific. New York state is absolutely, uh, in the mix of Hawaii, California. California is a whole nother animal. Newsome has just devastated, uh. They're going to see $9, $10 gasoline and diesel out there real soon with all the refineries leaving. The green energy policies of Germany, the UK, Canada, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Hawaii, all mean one thing. Higher electricity prices, more horrific financial problems.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:13:59] Oh, absolutely. I mean, Spain's a perfect example, right? I did a speech for my classmates. So some of some of you follow me know, out of, I guess, boredom, maybe certainly intellectual interests, but but certainly out of boredom. I went to law school full time. And half of my classmates, well, all my classmates really are half my age. And and and many of them have gone kindergarten straight through not not having work.
Stuart Turley [00:14:24] Wow.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:14:25] And it is interesting, like, the doctrinal dogma of, like people who are, they deeply respect Mark's philosophy. And they really believe that climate change is the existential crisis. And so we were supposed to give a five minute persuasive speech, and some people chose to talk about how I Met Your Mother's finale was the worst show ever. And It was a fun speech, but of course I chose. Let's talk about climate change and like what you haven't been told in school and just like the eyes of everything that I said and so I use Spain as an example. Spain, April 28th gets 9 hours of 100% renewables, hydro, solar, wind and they're very proud and then 7 days later they have a 24 hour plus blackout based on a 0.2 hertz oscillation on a 50 Hertz. And so you look at the percentage of that, that's 0.4% oscillation in power, and there's not enough inertia, and the whole thing goes down. And this is what we're doing in Colorado with some of the refining rules and the announcements of the refinaries that are shutting down in California. I mean, California is in real trouble, notwithstanding you can't rebuild the houses for the Malibu fires, and notwithstand some of their DEI diversity. Equity, homelessness, and the budget gaps, but their energy policy is just non-functional.
Stuart Turley [00:16:02] It's a national security problem. Now Gavin Newsom has elevated California to a national security issue. If they're the fifth largest economy in the world, if you took them by themselves and they import X number percent of our crap into the United States. Now, if we start seeing nine, $10 diesel, because we have to import the diesel, they import 70% of their crude oil from sanctioned countries in China. What the heck? I mean, that is, that is, they used to be energy independent. Now let me ask this DRW. Their refineries are set up for Alaskan oil. Alaskans are different. It's not the sweet crude. It is a heavier oil. And my grandfather was attributed as being one of the chief geologists that discovered the North Slope. Love Alaska. Love all my trips up there. But we should, we're not, we should. We're not going to be peak United States oil. We're maybe peak shale oil because there is so much other areas for everybody to drill in that natural gas and the molecules. I got two questions for you. Yeah. Everybody's talking about peak oil. I don't think we're there yet. I don't think we'r there. I think
David Ramsden-Wood [00:17:21] global demand peak oil.
Stuart Turley [00:17:23] Yes yes.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:17:24] Peak
Stuart Turley [00:17:25] And I think peak shale, yeah, boy, it's, that's a question. Cause water, there's so much water versus that. And then the other question is around, um, I forgot. I just had a senior moment. I had a, I had, uh, Joe Biden.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:17:42] I mean, let's start with the peak oil. So, I mean is oil gonna continue to grow? And Mark Lozano, who I know you guys know, he and I had a great conversation around it. I mean the mix of crude, I think your point, the light suite versus the heavies are very different. And yes, we are, our refineries in the United States are set up for a certain type of crude and that we've been pumping a light suite and that the heavier barrels are probably more in demand. You look at, How oil is trading, but I really like Alaska is currently 400,000 barrels a day 500,000 barrels a Yeah, right.
Stuart Turley [00:18:20] And, yeah, and the Aliesca pipeline is less than 10% and it's at borderline shutdown.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:18:26] But so then take that, I mean, shale right now is eight million barrels a day. And so I mean will Alaskan crude to the extent that we're able to get up there and do more exploring over the course of time, but does Alaska go to eight million barrels a today? No. Right, and so then the question is, have we reached peak US oil? I think definitively the answer is yes, and there's some great. You know, there's some great images that you can pull to stock from the underlying decline. And then I'll send you this. Um, it's a, it's slide I made from like four years ago, but the underlying decline of shale wells is 40%. And so if you were to shut down fracking for six months, like that, this was the crazy thing about the Elizabeth Warren when she ran for, wanted to run for president in 2019. And she said that on day one, she would ban fracking. If you banned fracking, a hundred percent of the oil wells that are being drilled and completed right now are fracked. And you would see a five million barrel a day decline within six to nine months. Like the U.S. Would go from 13 to eight in six to 9 months. And then the world would be chronically undersupplied. And that's the piece that's so interesting is these companies right now as oil 59, 60, 62, it's a huge number now. They can't really slow down because their debt to EBITDA goes out of the world and they decline 20%. And then the debt spiral is death. So they have to use hedging way more aggressively than they have, which is crazy. But they're drilling their best inventory and like praying. And then, the amazing thing is, in 2022, when oil was over $100 a barrel, these CEOs continued to wanna keep their jobs over doing the right thing for shareholders. And we still have too many CEOs per barrel. We needed to consolidate and now with stock prices down 50% from where they were six months ago in a lot of these intermediates, you simply can't justify merging because why would you do it now when you didn't do it six months? And without a massive global change of declines, which again the US declines 500,000 barrels a day, cool, but we need to see something structural that pushes oil to 80 to get these stock prices back and then. We need to be 10 oil companies in the United States and some privates, and then doing all international work and gas. It's like, this is not.
David Blackmon [00:21:02] And we were headed in that direction too.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:21:05] We were, but still the RBC page has way too many guys, less than $10 billion. And, and it's, you know, it's just funny. Like I listened to the all in podcast. I'm not sure if you guys do. Um, they've had some of the, um, the cabinet. So the cabinet secretaries have, have been on recently. And then, um uh, Sundar, uh, Pinchar Pinchy, the Google CEO. Um, I always forget, I was forget his last name. He is brilliant, like brilliant, brilliant. Elon Musk is brilliant brilliant. And I'm sorry that US EMP companies are not run by brilliant brilliant guys. And the best voice that came out of our industry that actually gets it is Chris Wright. And he's now in the administration. The administration. Right. So, so this is an issue that I think like, and no, no, I'm not trying to be offensive to, but like our business is not hard. It's the rock was right there a couple hundred million years ago. The wells aren't getting better. Your inventory is declining and it's a price and cost game. So figure it out and merge and get big and then get international where you can start moving pieces and so back to where we started EOG doing the UAE. Like this is huge technical skill, huge expertise and a untapped 900,000 acres where they can bring American technology to global energy. That's called energy independence.
Stuart Turley [00:22:39] And energy as an export service. Energy as an export service, helping us get to energy dominance.
David Blackmon [00:22:48] Do you view EOG's move though, David, I understand the price point you're making, but do you view, I mean, EOG has always been one of the few big independents I've viewed as not being run by its management team to try to set it up to be sold. But I wonder if you view this move into the UAE as an effort by EOGs management to make it more attractive to an ExxonMobil with that major international asset now. ExxonMobil. Of course, we'd love to have its Permian assets. Maybe it's Eagle Ford, maybe, but not as much. But that big concession in the UAE might be really attractive to an Exxon or Chevron or another bigger company looking for acquisition targets.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:23:34] You know, I really don't. I actually see it as EOG doubling down on itself, because, you know, how long is this exploration cycle really going to take to get to a meaningful and valuable announcement of reserves? And quite frankly, Exxon could announce a similar deal with someone. So I really believe that EOG has been short inventory for a huge amount of time. I wrote an article on them in 2020. That suggested that they buy Marathon, because their overlap was really strong. Obviously, Marathon's gone, as many of these other companies are. And I believe that their expertise could have been used on Exxon's resource. EOG, they just don't have anything in the United States. So I believe the UAE is the announcement that EOG is now just gonna become an international company with a cashflow base in the in the the United states. And that goes forward. I will be interested when we talk about like acquisition targets, who wins Hess?
David Blackmon [00:24:39] That's such a huge question right now for the operator
David Ramsden-Wood [00:24:40] right now with the operator ship between the two yeah that one that one's the more interesting and i think it's a cautionary tale for other companies to have these rofers on certain deals and and the way they go into partnerships because like the only reason you would ever want to buy hes was was that asset and and no one knows who operates it in a in a merger so Pretty pretty interesting
David Blackmon [00:25:08] It really is. I, you know, and it's for Chevron in particular, it's just such a huge wild card in their, you know, in their ongoing business plants. You know, if they don't get that, then I think they will be out there looking for another deal, right? They'd almost have to be.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:25:25] Now, now Chevron, the one acquisition, I've been impressed with Chevron's moves, you know, when they lost out on Oxy, which, or rather lost out on Anadarko too. Anadarco, yeah, yeah. But their acquisition of Noble and the Israeli gas field that they picked up, you know again, back to the Middle East, like where the administration has very clearly been pro-Israel. And you know to be honest, and then this goes on to make.
Stuart Turley [00:25:53] You're talking about the Leviathan Field? The Leviathan field, exactly. Yeah, Noble was the operator of that.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:25:59] The whole the whole reason to do noble you know chevrons effectively close their their colorado office like like everyone is exiting the dj basin there's no reason to be here um it's it's a it's a an anchor around the neck the leviathan field for chevron was was huge and and again from an energy independence standpoint and and the way the administration has been so pro-israeli and And I mean, honestly. I did not even know that there were so many people that supported Palestine in the US. And I know that this is like an ignorant thing to say, and it is outside my wheelhouse, but just going back to the student protests that started in 2023 and infected school universities where students thought it was appropriate to disrupt class and break into buildings and camp. I don't know, I didn't grow up in the 60s with the Vietnam War and all the protests there, but. But like the anti-Israeli sentiment was crazy when Israel is like a very stable partner for the United States and a staunch ally. And when you think about like the gas fields and the stabilization requirements of the Middle East for where our energy comes from right now, it's a really weird geopolitical thing for me to observe.
David Blackmon [00:27:18] So much of that hatred of Israel, though, wasn't necessarily within those student bodies before October 7th, right? So much is activists going into those schools, like Columbia and the other universities that got overrun with it, and preying on the easily malleable minds of those students, right. I mean, and that's what happened in the 60s, too, is activists got into these campuses and brainwashed a ton of students. But, you know. I don't think that any Israel sentiment was, I mean, it was there, but it wasn't as big as it has become now.
Stuart Turley [00:27:58] Let me ask this question of both of you back into the change in the oil and gas market. Let me get back to the oil-and-gas market. And that is, if we take a look at oil, we have the different blends. You have, you know, the sweet crude, light crude, you have heavy oil sands. You have the demand for Russia crude, China and India is just growing still. India is the number one growing market in the world. China is stagnant. If China remains and keep afloat, I think you're gonna see oil demand as a thing, but I think the molecule demand is gonna change to natural gas. I think right now, do you remember the, and everybody was saying, oh, we're this pesky natural gas and they just flare it. I think that now... Pipelines are becoming very more important and I think natural gas is going to be the sought after and then oil may be the pesky thing that you have to get rid of. What are your thoughts there?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:29:09] I mean, so yes and no. I mean it's interesting. Oil has to be produced with gas by nature of the way it's built and the drive mechanism. Gas doesn't need to be produce with oil. And so yes, you're gonna end up with like a lot of light ends and condensate and the uses for that. Yes, you definitely gonna see a shift in mix and the fact that natural gas infrastructure. I laugh at hydrogen, which first of all is the worst fuel idea of all time. And secondly, the fact that 95% of hydrogen is made from methane, we're basically taking a molecule that already exists, that already has pipeline infrastructure everywhere. We're putting a huge amount of energy into it to break it into two component H2 molecules to then build new infrastructure for and then go burn it the same way that we burn the CH4, which is the bass. Product, the base like source of this. I don't get it at all. And we should be using way less electric cars and way more hybrids and way more compressed natural gas vehicles. And that really needs to be if we want a cleaner energy future and even take clean out, I don t care, an efficient, affordable, reliable energy future, which is important for human prosperity. We need to have more compressed natural gas cars and hybrids and not oil-based combustion engines so we can get, you know, easily get to 40, 50, 60 miles per gallon with the technology and we would use less critical minerals, we would less oil, we would more efficient energy and it's shocking that the previous administration didn't just land on this as the moderate solution. The EV car mandate is crazy. Yeah, and that natural gas is the fuel of the future at 100 percent.
David Blackmon [00:31:08] Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's really shocking considering who was really running the last administration. It wasn't Joe Biden.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:31:15] It really, I mean in
David Blackmon [00:31:16] And it was a pack of real activists, lunatics. And so you got what you got.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:31:21] Right. I mean, and I think the tapes this week that came out and I mean we we knew it and it's amazing that the media is just sitting back being like, we had no idea. He's shaking hands with ghosts on the stage. What do you mean? No idea. And it does make sense that these radical strands policies and just like this was pushed by people who were not elected, but knew that they had a like uh... Figurehead in the office it is
David Blackmon [00:31:53] They seized his powers for their own devices, yes.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:31:56] And I don't think it's a conspiracy theory. And it's amazing when you say that to Democrats, they're like so offended. But you're like, I mean, how many people support, like I coach a girl's high school golf team. The truth is I hit the ball 100 yards further than them. My son is a college golfer. If my son had said that he was a girl and wanted to compete on the LPGA Tour, he would be one of the best golfers in the world. And I would not be proud of him. Because that's just. Like, no, biology is, it's shocking that this is even like a debate.
David Blackmon [00:32:33] No, I know. Yeah, it's sad what's happened here. But anyway.
Stuart Turley [00:32:39] The I think secretary.
David Blackmon [00:32:42] Do keep trying to get us back on top of each other.
Stuart Turley [00:32:45] I am, I'm sorry man.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:32:47] We will look back to energy, but you can't look at energy without looking at all of the polls and like Saudi is negotiating the Russian-Ukrainian peace deal. That is very key. The live tour and the PGA merger is about whitewashing their Khashoggi image and I And it is, and it's being facilitated by. The administration. So you can't talk energy without talking Saudi and you can talk Saudi without talking Khashoggi and you cant talk about their role in future geopolitics and energy dominance and partnerships and trade blocks without recognizing that that is why the Saudis are taking such a large role in this and why the UAE deal is so important because UAE and Saudi are so important to Middle East energy.
David Blackmon [00:33:42] And you can't have an informed discussion about energy without including a discussion about policy because policy drives energy and energy drives.
Stuart Turley [00:33:53] And pooping pants were making decisions.
David Blackmon [00:33:57] you know...
Stuart Turley [00:33:58] Well, but you know, we sit back and we take a look at Russia ending the all Putin has to do is nothing is what George McMillan, one of my podcast guests is absolutely phenomenal. He, Putin is just trying to bankrupt the bank of London. That's all he's trying to do. He could care less. He's already won the war. He's got his land bridge to the Crimea point that he took under Obama. Um, he's got eight new bases that he needed cause he only had one fresh water port that was open year round. He needed that. You take a look at Syria, uh, president Trump lifting the Syrian port. Why did the regime change in Syria? It's because the previous guy wouldn't put in pipelines for the United States. Oh, go figure that one out. I wonder why, how that happened. Now suddenly he's a nice guy and we've lifted the sanctions. There's a lot going on around that geopolitical thing out there. And I think that is critical to understand that not only is Ukraine a crime scene, I think it is actually going to be a new trading block. And that new trading bloc is going to people breaking away from the EU. You're going to have Canada, which is now leaning to the UK and the failed deindustrialization going on. Uh, in the EU, it's a failed Western policy. So.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:35:26] So, I guess a couple points there, because there was a few. On the Russia-Ukraine, I will admit I have been surprised at the inability to get a peace deal done. And I think what that shows is that there's a huge amount of institutional inertia that supports this war, both in Europe and the remilitarization of Europe when the EU announced $880 billion of bonds to put towards like defense. So, you know, maybe Putin wants to bankrupt the London Bank. To me, we haven't had an honest conversation around what's going on in Russia and Ukraine, to get to a place where we could even like, and the fact that these ceasefire talks and like, I don't know where that goes. And that obviously swings. Then the second thing is on the trade blocks and Canada leaning towards the UK. It's all face-saving and and you know Trump Trump I get tweeting about Governor Trudeau and wanting to get rid of him I did write a piece I actually Trump is extremely smart and despite what despite what he's tweeting sometimes that makes him sound a little bit goofy um I I really think he purposely influenced the election to have Carney win over Poliev and and and the reason I say that is because Polly have is similar to Trump and as a half Canadian myself, Canadians hate Trump. And so Trump couldn't be beating up on Poliev every day because Americans who pay attention are like you're just beating up your brother. You guys are so similar ideologically that this doesn't make any sense. And I really believe that if Carney doesn't win, Trump has a really difficult task at hand with Canada. Carney can play the villain. He's a World Economic Forum guy. He is a Bank of England guy. He's not a politician. He has got Napoleon syndrome. He put in the exact same cabinet that Trudeau had that are all anti-pipelines. So Trump orchestrated this because it helps with ultimately hurting Canada to bring them into the fold. With the US. Whereas Paul Yev would have made all the changes and it never would have weakened Canada because he would have said, to hell with all these climate policies, we need to make this great. So I don't buy Canada's leaning to UK any more than like, you know, two five year olds are gonna gang up on the 25 year old bully. Like, they're not gonna have any luck. So they can say whatever they want. Ultimately, everyone has to deal with the U.S.? It's just a function of, of when and how Trump decides to.
David Blackmon [00:38:27] I like Medi's, uh, Medi message there. Free Alberta. Yes. Alberta. We don't want Canada, but Alberta is it's.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:38:36] Saskatchewan. Don't forget
David Ramsden-Wood [00:38:39] But the worst thing that ever happened to Canada and I remember it happened as a kid the referendum in Quebec There was like fifty point one percent to forty nine point nine for Quebec not to separate and Canadians were so thankful at the time Had I understood and had I had any I mean I was 12 or something at the timer Quebec should have left and and Canada would have been a such a better country without Quebec They have a party that runs only for their interest. Can you imagine? If California entered the US politics and they always ran a party and they always won and it only cared about California. So out of Washington, you had the Democrats, the Republicans and the Californians and, and, and they, they would be negotiating for all the transfers, all the deals. And otherwise they would shut down the ports. Otherwise they would shutdown all this. Like it's, it's truly, Quebec is, is a, a spurge on Canadian society and I would, I mean.
David Blackmon [00:39:38] And that's what California is becoming through the United States too, as Stu pointed out earlier, you know, it's a California's doesn't have quite the influence over national politics that Quebec does, but California is becoming a real national security problem. And, um, you, at some point there's going to have to be reckoning about all that.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:40:00] What do you think is the Newsom he's he's come out with a podcast. He's walked back some of his positions. You know, he's clearly wanted to be president for a long time. The, the, the democratic presidential field for 20, 28 is very open. Like, do you, do think Newsom and these climate guys, do you think they actually believe this stuff? Newsom doesn't believe me. Or was it the only way you could win?
David Blackmon [00:40:23] Yeah, no, he just, he knew some is a pure political reptile. He, uh, he, just assumes whatever position he thinks is going to get him elected to whatever office he is. He is trying to get. And so what he's doing with the podcast, at least where he started was interviewing some conservative people to figure out, well, where do I need to triangulate he's, he's like bill Clinton, you know, remember bill Clinton triangulated after that 99, 1994 debacle. Adopted some Republican policies and won in a landslide in his re-election bid. That's what Newsom is trying to do now is figure out where he can triangulate Republican issues to become more moderate and appeal to more people in the 2028 election. Whereas he's governed as a straight far left lunatic, he knows he can't get elected president as a straight far-left lunatic. But he'll say and do whatever he thinks it takes. In order to get the Democrat nomination first, and then he will moderate for a general election if he gets the nomination. And, you know, he's Bill Clinton all over again, just with a little better hair.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:41:36] Can Trump create enough inertia on Republican policies and the undoing of many of the Biden-era administration policies? Can you create enough in inertia that it permanently kills some of these movements? Do you believe the next four years will actually see the death of the climate change? Maybe not the movement but but the amount of money right like all these guys all these
Stuart Turley [00:42:09] Great question, DRW, and I'm really worried, I'm really worried from the standpoint that our horrific rhinosaurus wrecks assholes in, did I just say that out loud? Um, in, in our Congress, our rhinos are about to put in the big, beautiful bill, uh, more green subsidies for the whole thing and kick the can down the road. There's more rhinos in there that are part of the deep state. The deep state's pretty darn deep. And until we start seeing people hanging, uh, in jail, um, it's not going to change and, and you take a look at California politics, how in the world can California, 90% of the people identify as red voting folks, but they've got such a corrupt system. I'm not very Positive feeling right now for the Republican party. I'm America first I believe in the Gulf of America and I am just by I Absolutely. In fact, let me do one step further
David Blackmon [00:43:22] Stu, I've gone from keeping us on topic now, way overboard. But go ahead,
Stuart Turley [00:43:28] I just, I just want to say to all the people hacking my site, I get about a hundred thousand people a day to my site and I know who's hacking my site. It's our, my own federal government has got agents and people working on, on this. And I got proof and it is a case study of seven to 10,000, uh, denial of service attacks. On my site every day, because I'm trying to speak the truth out there. And this is just another example of it.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:44:02] Well, I mean, the speech the speech piece is is an interesting tie. And I think like to the question of can we generate enough momentum and enough discussion? You know, as you guys know, I got banned from LinkedIn in 2020 and they let me back on briefly. And so I had heard someone got back on. And so, I wrote them and they they let me back online. Now, you can't search me. You can't find me. And with 20000 followers, if I do a post, I literally-
David Blackmon [00:44:35] Oh, we lost him. LinkedIn, LinkedIn has just intervened to ban DRW again.
Stuart Turley [00:44:45] Isn't that funny? I mentioned the deep state, David. The odds of this are funny, DRW.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:44:56] Yeah, hold on my my earphones. Can you hear me? Yeah Someone called me
Stuart Turley [00:45:05] We're over here going that it's the deep state. Add us again.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:45:08] Yeah, no, I heard that, I've heard that. But anyway, the LinkedIn thing is crazy because so like to the point of yours, like they can, anyone can moderate anything and you think you have an audience, but through a couple levers, they can attack, they can jump down. Sure.
David Blackmon [00:45:22] They're doing that to me now at LinkedIn.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:45:24] Yeah, so think about the importance of what Elon did by buying Twitter.
David Blackmon [00:45:31] Yes. No, it's, it saved the world, saved the United States.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:45:35] It literally saved the world like now you're hearing voices from both sides and and everyone on the left is like Oh my goodness X is so toxic. It's like well, that's because you guys blocked half of the places For four years, so you didn't need to curate your channel because your channel just was your channel It was remarkable
David Blackmon [00:45:58] Yeah, no, Elon Musk saved this country and so few people appreciate it. And of course, yesterday announced he's not going to get involved in politics anymore and that's unfortunate for the country, but you know, it's just, we should have expected the backlash to happen to it.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:46:17] I don't know if I buy that. What I took from what he said yesterday was he doesn't need to get involved in politics anymore because Trump is now in power. And so like he's sort of like the Dark Knight from Batman. Like he's not the hero we want, but he's the hero we deserve. And he'll come back when we need him again. Well, I hope so. Th Boy, you guys know I have a Tesla, which I bought as a thank you to Elon for saving democracy. And my classmates hate it. I have the license plate that actually says democracy. It's the best troll of all time. But I love the car and the self-driving and the power. Like it is truly an incredible vehicle. And then you think about the robots and the AI and like. I mean, I don't buy into Tesla's valuation, but as a company, it is truly one of the most incredible companies.
David Blackmon [00:47:20] No doubt, no doubt, absolutely, and you know, one of the most innovative companies.
Stuart Turley [00:47:26] And free choice is all about buying Tesla. Tesla will be a great buy. I think the robots, I think is technology and it's gonna be able to be a car that older people are gonna be able to keep their licenses longer with. There is a reason to do it. I don't understand why we're not driving more hybrids. If Ford put out a decent sized hybrid truck, that would be the number one selling vehicle on the planet. I guarantee I totally agree.
David Blackmon [00:47:58] And they're going to, right? I mean, they're developing that model right now, yeah.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:48:02] Yeah, I mean the fact that the reason the auto companies are so happy that Trump got in on energy is Ford was losing $64,000 per electric vehicle they were making and they do pretty well on their Raptor. And so consumers, I have a Tesla because I live seven minutes from school and I only drive it in town and it is my fun second car, but if anything is happening, I drive my defender. Has the worst oil like mileage of any vehicle known to man, but I can drive through three foot snow banks without even noticing. So like consumer choice is a real thing.
Stuart Turley [00:48:46] And you're, you're I got to give our listeners a shout out because your story of your trip in the snow on a hockey trip, I believe with your son was absolutely hilarious.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:49:01] You know I look back on that and I've been I've been doing a lot of personal reflection because I've changed a lot and I think you guys have known like at some point I have to go into politics and I resisted it for a while I think I'll probably I'm considering running for mayor in 2027 I obviously I can't win in Denver so it's like do I do City Council and then use that as like a platform because you can take any clip of any our interview I do and cut out 20 seconds and make me sound like anything you want to.
Stuart Turley [00:49:35] But you know what? You're usually right.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:49:37] I do look back on some of those videos that I made, and the ridiculous character that I played on television to make points about energy, and that one was one of the best videos from Omaha of all time. You can find it on YouTube, and a much younger, a lot crazier DRW is out there. So this is a much more modernism.
David Blackmon [00:50:02] Well, God bless you. Good luck running for office in the city of Denver. That's, uh, you know, Colorado, unfortunately has been, had seen its politics completely destroyed by this influx of Californians.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:50:18] I think my mother, my mother was the president of the United Way in Calgary and they had a saying that I actually think works really well in local politics, which is if a city isn't great, a city isn't grates unless it's great for everyone. And you know, I think as a huge part of that is, is safety and police and, uh, and education and, and economic policies that balance the budget and address the needs of people.
David Blackmon [00:50:47] Remember when those were the core functions of city government?
David Ramsden-Wood [00:50:50] No, I do, and I think bringing that back, I hope one day becomes apolitical. The big, I call them rhinos, call them, I don't really care. What I hate is that we now spend $7 trillion a year as a country and pre-COVID we spent like five and we have an imbalanced budget and yes, I'm all for the tax cuts and everything but the reality is social security was put in in 1935 when the life expectancy was 61 and you didn't get it till 65. And there were 33 workers for every retired person. Now we live till 80 and there are 2.6 workers for every retired. Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:51:42] But let me throw this, Rhett, this thing. We only got a few more minutes here, DRW. And, but I do want to say that if Nancy Pelosi had kept her cotton picking, greedy cotton picking, California political bullcrap hooks out of social security, it would not be in what is a trouble because she spent roughly several million dollars, impeaching president Trump using funds from social security. So you take a look at all the bull crap that our people have robbed social security and how many millions of people are on social security out of the country. And the fraud is going on. Holy smoke. You eliminate that. There's a nice big chunk of money still hanging out.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:52:34] I hope so too. I am a little concerned that that we really like you know when when Doge was doing its Doge thing it didn't go into Medicare Medicaid and it didn't going to defense and you know again I know that this takes time and the courts have been blocking maybe some of the data access but but we don't really know like it isn't it's gonna take a number of years I think to realize. The number of self-dealings that were happening. And clearly, it's been better hidden than we thought. And you look at the United Health Company, I find the timing fascinating. Like take separate and apart the assassination of the CEO, but this recent criminal scandal, and I guess this morning it came out that perhaps they were paying nursing homes to not transfer people. But like, it's the eye of the hurricane. Instead of Medicare, Medicaid being like the eye of the hurricane. So I find it interesting. They've almost outsourced like this this this face faceless company instead of us actually looking at what the government has been funding. Anyway, it's gonna be I'm gonna be really interested to see how this big big beautiful bill and taxes and conversations around entitlements. Progress because the truth is if the ten year it's ten percent five percent mark santo believe strongly that it will that is super bad for the united states
David Blackmon [00:54:14] Yeah. And back to your question from about 10 minutes ago about whether or not Trump can create, well, you know, we've been all over the place, but, uh, whether Trump can create enough inertia to kill off, you to have a long-term kind of revolution here, it all depends on the big, beautiful bill because the midterm elections all depend on the Big Beautiful bill because of the extension of the Trump tax cuts in it. That's the key to everything. Cause if they don't pass that, if they don't extend those tax cuts, then every American is going to get hit with a huge tax increase January 1st, next year. And the Republicans will be wiped out in the midterm election.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:54:57] But it's great.
David Blackmon [00:54:58] That simple.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:54:59] Who do we I mean if let's say the Republicans don't pass it so a Republicans are gonna vote for Democrats who want even higher taxes
David Blackmon [00:55:07] Yes. I mean, 80% of people have no idea, have no ability to attach cause to, to effect in their daily lives. They can't attack the cause of government policy and who is responsible for it to what's happening in their day. And so the media will portray on January 1st, the media will portray that is a huge tax increase brought to them by Donald Trump. With no mention of the role the Democrats played in first, making those tax cuts, forcing them to be temporary and second to kill the extension of them. And so, you know, probably half the voters in America will go to the polls thinking, well, Trump's responsible for me having 10% less net income. So I'm not going to vote for him again. I'll just vote for the other party. And that's really how people think, man. You know, I know it's irrational, but it really is how most Americans think and make their decisions.
Stuart Turley [00:56:09] You know, it's really sad that we as a country, DRW, and David, that we think in the terms of the next election cycle, like President Biden robbing the SPR, and then you have Saudi Arabia and China and India looking in decades, and we can't get past the driveway.
David Blackmon [00:56:31] But that's our system, and it's not perfect, but it's the best system ever invented.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:56:36] Well, I think tying back to energy and to close with the time. Yes.
Stuart Turley [00:56:43] It's really sad when our guest has to bring his back up.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:56:47] I know where we have an hour and so and and I think that it is like to the whole point Why are all chats now? Why do they have to go all around the world and through all these different topics is because they're all related
David Blackmon [00:57:00] They're all related, yes.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:57:02] I strongly believe, for the first time in a long time, that we have an excellent group of cabinet secretaries who actually understand their portfolio.
David Blackmon [00:57:12] Yes, it's the best cabinet ever.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:57:14] They understand their portfolios, and that President Trump feels like he has a borrowed time because the bullet, thank God, missed by that much. And so I am hopeful that we can get enough momentum on the natural gas side and that the realities of the U.S. Oil decline puts in focus the fact that the world doesn't run on, without coal, without natural gas, and without oil. And we need more exploitation of those resources, not less. And so hopefully the next four years is about building momentum that can't be stopped. No matter what happens in our next election. So that's my optimism for the future. And I share your optimism, by the way.
David Blackmon [00:58:04] But we're out of time, guys. David, tell people how they can find you.
David Ramsden-Wood [00:58:09] You would like to substitute the best way is to subscribe to my substack, which is hot take of the day dot substack.com. And I try and write probably five times a week. Uh, and then occasionally whenever my friends reach out and say, Hey, come on the podcast, let's have a chat. Um, I always like that. And, and you can always send me up on X at David Ramsden Wood, um, which, which is, uh, is a great name because my name is the long. So hit me up there, email me and, uh appreciate everyone's time. Thank you for what you do and the conversations that you inspire, and it's always good to catch up.
David Blackmon [00:58:45] Thank you, man. It's always a pleasure. And everybody please like, and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast and please visit David at his Substack and Stuart, his Substack, which is.
Stuart Turley [00:58:57] Theenergynewsbeat.substack.com
David Blackmon [00:59:00] There we go. And mine is, uh,
David Ramsden-Wood [00:59:01] Hey, don't bring them down, let's go up.
David Blackmon [00:59:06] You can see me at Energy Transition Absurdities on Substack. We're done for the day. Thanks, everybody. It's a wonderful discussion. Thanks, everyone, for your comments. And we'll see you again soon.
Stuart Turley [00:59:17] Here we go, guys.
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