OGI At Closing: So What Is New For Oil And Gas?

In preparing the special report that comes with this issue, “The Permian at 100: The Play That’s Changing Everything,” I had occasion to search through some back issues of Oil and Gas Investor. Sometimes it seemed they were written yesterday.

“Given the oil and gas industry’s history of returns vs. other industries, and the fact that many investors may now see more downside than upside in commodity prices, the appetite of investors for holding E&P equities isn’t all that strong now, nor is the high-yield market for smaller operators.”

No doubt you’ve assumed this is a typical and familiar comment ripped from the pages of analyst reports seen in the past few weeks and months? No. This observation was made 20 years ago, in the April 2000 issue! It came from energy banker James Mercurio of Bank of America (before the merger with Merrill Lynch), who spoke to Investor for a cover story on capital trends. The more things change, the more they remain the same.