Do you remember what it was like before March 2020? It feels like a lifetime, but we’re not even two years removed from when the Covid pandemic came around. We all know the rest of the story. Global lockdowns. Deserted streets and highways. Empty parking lots. Vacant airport terminals. It was also one of the wildest times to ever be an investor in the energy sector. With just about all non-essential travel shut down, oil consumption nose-dived, and storage tanks quickly filled to capacity. Predictably, prices fell into the abyss. At one point, crude oil futures contracts dipped into negative… Read More
Do you remember what it was like before March 2020? It feels like a lifetime, but we’re not even two years removed from when the Covid pandemic came around. We all know the rest of the story. Global lockdowns. Deserted streets and highways. Empty parking lots. Vacant airport terminals. It was also one of the wildest times to ever be an investor in the energy sector. With just about all non-essential travel shut down, oil consumption nose-dived, and storage tanks quickly filled to capacity. Predictably, prices fell into the abyss. At one point, crude oil futures contracts dipped into negative territory. That’s right. Sellers literally had to pay buyers to take the stuff off their hands. Midstream movers and shakers suffered as well. It was an unprecedented collapse for the energy sector. Of course, the pandemic affected us all in one way or another. Some suffered more than others. But for people in oil-rich boomtowns like Midland, Texas, the effects of the energy downturn were looking downright catastrophic. Pundits were quick to declare that shale era was over. Oil and gas seemed to be down for the count, and activity in once humming supply basins from Colorado to Pennsylvania ground… Read More