This week, I’ll be recording and immediately releasing a series of conversations on business and market reactions to the spread of coronavirus. The conversations will be on oil and gas, corporate credit, and the reaction within the venture capital community. Today’s conversation is with Matt Smith, Ian Singer, and Kobi Platt of Deep Basin Capital. We are investors in Deep Basin, and they were past guests on the podcast. We discuss the new price war in the oil markets and the impact it might have on equities and especially on U.S. oil producers. Please enjoy.

This episode is brought to by Koyfin.

Show Notes

1:59 – (First question) – An overview of the global oil market and demand

3:37 – Supply and demand shocks we’ve seen lately

6:22 – What happened this weekend with Russia and Saudi Arabia and why the outcome was so shocking

9:45 – The knock-on effects of this activity on equities

14:24 – Impact on US energy production

18:29 – What other industries will feel the effect of reduced production in the US

20:35 – Defining a price war and how victory is defined

27:53 – Saudi Arabia’s calculus in this energy fight.

31:11 – How does all of this change what factors they use to analyze companies

35:43 – What it actually looks like within the commodities markets to trade energy

40:01 – What uncertainty is most intriguing to each of them

43:00 – The long-term interest in investing in the energy sector