Latest news with #VickiHollub
Globe and Mail
29-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Warren Buffett to Step Down by End of 2025. Here Are 3 Stocks He Might Buy on the Way Out
It's official. Warren Buffett has asked the board of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) to replace him as chief executive officer by the end of 2025. Now 94 years old, Buffett has been signaling a leadership transition for years, carefully building a team capable of heading the diversified business giant in the decades to come. Before he gives up some of his power, Buffett might choose to up Berkshire's stakes in some of his favorite investments. If that occurs, I'm betting on the three stocks below. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Berkshire should buy more of this oil company Buffett is a big fan of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY). Don't take my word for it -- just ask him. He apparently "read every word" of the company's earnings transcript one quarter, noting that the company's management was doing "exactly what I would be doing." CEO Vicki Hollub was "running the company the right way," Buffett added. What exactly caused Buffett to fall in love with Occidental? Occidental's revenue stream is largely dominated by upstream production, but it does have some midstream and chemical production assets. Occidental's stock price has outpaced the price of oil during the past five years, suggesting an ability to create value apart from swings in commodity prices. Importantly, however, the company's valuation has increased according to some metrics, accounting for some or even much of that performance. The company is currently deleveraging itself following the acquisition of CrownRock, and it trades at a reasonable 17.4 times earnings with a 2.2% dividend yield. The company's future will still largely be determined by commodity prices. But Buffett's glowing comments, plus a recent filing that allows Berkshire to acquire as much as half of the total company, suggests that more buying may be on the way. Just last quarter, Berkshire acquired 760,000 more shares -- making this one of the few positions it added to. OXY data by YCharts Expect Amazon to be a long-term winner Berkshire already owns $2.1 billion worth of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). I expect it to buy even more over time. In fact, I expect Berkshire to continue buying Amazon stock long after Buffett departs. Berkshire first bought shares of Amazon in 2019. Over time, we learned that it wasn't even Buffett who made the call. Instead, it was likely the purchase decision of two of Buffett's lieutenants: Ted Weschler and Todd Combs. Buffett reportedly called himself an "idiot" for not buying Amazon previously. What does the Berkshire gang love so much about Amazon? There's the sprawling e-commerce division that has a huge economic moat. More than half of all online shoppers check Amazon first before going to any other website, search engines included. But there's also the Amazon Web Services division, which is growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The AWS division already contributes more than half of Amazon's operating profit, and the long growth runway of AI should increase the importance of this division for decades to come. Whether it's the decision of Buffett, Combs, or Weschler, expect Berkshire to continue adding to its Amazon position. Buffett trusts this value stock Chubb (NYSE: CB) is one of the more boring stocks in Berkshire's portfolio. That's likely why Buffett loves the company so much. At the core of Berkshire's empire sits a portfolio of insurance companies. These businesses generate extra cash because they don't need to return premiums to policy holders until a claim is filed. For decades, Buffett has used this "free" cash to invest in a variety of securities. So it's safe to say that Buffett understands the insurance sector very well. The insurance industry has gotten increasingly crowded in recent years. Yet Chubb has been able to generate consistent underwriting profits. Its combined ratio has consistently been below 100%, meaning that it has paid out less in claims than it has collected in premiums. In recent quarters, its combined ratio has been as low as 86% -- an impressive figure in today's tight market. Don't expect huge moves from Chubb. The stock's beta is just 0.56. But that minimized volatility could allow Buffett to put more of its growing cash pile to work in an industry he arguably understands better than anybody. Should you invest $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway right now? Before you buy stock in Berkshire Hathaway, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Berkshire Hathaway wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025
Forbes
11-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Uncertain Future Of The Energy Industry In New Mexico
Oil lines and pump jacks near Loco Hills in Eddy County, New Mexico. Oil and gas production is one ingredient in New Mexico's cauldron of energy uncertainty, and it's a big one. An estimated 35% of New Mexico's revenue comes from oil and gas fields in the Delaware basin, part of the Permian basin that stretches into West Texas. Crude production exceeded 2 MMbopd (million barrels per day) in 2024, which was double that in 2019 before the Covid dropout in 2020. The entire Permian basin reached 6 MMbopd in 2024, about half of total U.S. crude production. But what will happen if the price of oil stays low? Delaware basin on left extends into southeast New Mexico. If the WTI price of oil stays at $63/barrel, Permian drilling of well inventory will last seven - ten years. This is better than three - four years for the Eagle Ford in East Texas, and the Bakken in North Dakota. But it illustrates one potential downside if the price of oil stays low. Another downside is a projection by Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental, who said crude production in the Permian could peak by next year, due to cutbacks in capital spending. Oil and gas production is one ingredient in the cauldron of uncertainties because 35% of New Mexico's revenue comes from the Delaware basin. Another ingredient is that oil and gas globally produces about 50% of greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause global warming. The oil and gas industry is responsible for the largest fraction of emissions in New Mexico at 41%. Although there is a growing industry of renewable energies in New Mexico, and lots of government support, the revenue from this will never replace the revenue from oil and gas. Another dilemma faced by New Mexico is the enormous volume of water that flows to the surface along with oil and gas—so called produced water. 2 billion barrels or 84 billion gallons are produced each year. Right now, this water is left in evaporation ponds, or disposed of in injected wells, or recycled and cleaned to be used in the next frac job. Disposal by deep injection is problematic because it has created earthquakes of magnitude 5, although this has been more of an issue in West Texas. The dilemma is exacerbated because the Permian basin is largely a desert, and New Mexico is in a drought—some say a 20-year drought. A solution that cries out loud is to purify the produced water enough that it can be used in agriculture, or perhaps even drinking water. There are a range of systems from multi-stage filtration up to commercial desalination that can be used, but to achieve the required purification would be costly. Twelve pilot projects are underway to test the effects of treated water on agriculture and manufacturing. But the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission stepped in last month to prohibit the next step—discharge of treated water to ground or streams. The Commission fears that chemicals still in treated produced water will be toxic, but there are no regulations governing their use. As well as water treatment, the state would need to oversee storage, transport, and disposal of the water. Although there are no regulations for this, NMED (New Mexico Environmental Department) plans to use results from the pilot projects to design new standards, technical and operational, that would allow re-use of produced water to help resolve the fresh water problem in New Mexico. Chaco Canyon was a central gathering place of Indian tribes around 1100 A.D. Eight man-made roads extended radially outwards, some for 50 miles or so. The large collection of ruins at Chaco include separate multi-story buildings and many circular kivas, underground religious centers. Carvings in sheltered sandstone clefts and alignment of structural walls reveal native knowledge of yearly seasons of the sun and moon. Chaco Canyon lies in the San Juan basin, once the largest gas basin in the U.S. Chaco has been simmering in the New Mexico cauldron for a number of years. In 2023, Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland issued an order to restrict drilling or development of oil and gas operations to outside a 10-mile radius around Chaco. This was to enlarge the area of protection around Chaco Canyon, which is sacred to many Indian tribes. But not all tribes, as the Navajo Tribe did not live in the region until hundreds of years after 1100 A.D. Kin Kletso Great House viewed from the clifftop. The details of this issue have been spelled out separately. Chaco sits close to the southern edge of the oily window of the San Juan basin. In 2023, the Navajo Nation had wanted to specify a smaller radius of 5 miles, because some members owned mineral rights to some of the land around Chaco. They filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in January of 2025, arguing to revoke the 10-mile limit because it harmed the profits of lessees who were economically small operators. Into the breach has stepped the Trump administration. New Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, has told the BLM to reconsider the 10-mile limit. The All Pueblo Council of Governors has resisted this, but not the Navajo Nation. Given the Trump government's directive to revise or rescind actions that are an 'undue burden on the development of domestic energy resources', it's hard to see the BLM keeping the 10-mile protective limit at Chaco. New Mexico was a hotspot of uranium mining back in the 1950s and 1960s when the cold war was at its height. Over 1,000 uranium mines came into existence, many that employed miners from the Navajo Nation. The uranium was bought by the U.S. government to be used for nuclear defense purposes. Church Rock just outside Gallup was an active mining site, and the scene of a bad flood that polluted the Rio Puerco in 1979—the largest-ever radiation accident in the U.S. The health effects of mining, notably lung disease due to radon gas attached to mining dust, is a dark chapter in the history of mining. Lack of epidemiological studies and government bureaucracy delayed cleanup efforts for surface tailings radiation, and underground contamination of aquifers. The U.S. Congress eventually passed RECA, an act that provided reparations to people affected by uranium mining and by nuclear tests in Nevada. The law was due to expire in June 2024, but the Senate passed a bill to extend it by six years. However, the House never brought it to a vote, so the law has expired. Under RECA, the government has paid claims of 41,000 people, and paid $2.6 billion in reparations, the majority to recipients from the Nevada nuclear testing site. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 opened a door to nuclear power as an alternative energy source, to the tune of $30 billion. This would include reopening of old mines, many of which lie on Native land, as well as new mines. The Trump government appears to have taken another giant step toward uranium mining by another new executive order on May 23 that prioritized nuclear fission reactors, traditional and SMRs (small modular reactors). This was ostensibly to provide burgeoning new electricity needed for U.S. data centers. According to the Secretary of Energy, 'Nuclear has the potential to be America's greatest source of energy addition. It works whether the wind is blowing, or the sun is shining, is possible anywhere and at different scales.' Given the state's history, a lot of tension will arise if uranium mining is allowed to resume in New Mexico. Untrammeled growth of uranium mining and nuclear generation of electricity may ignite a spark to the ever-present fear of radioactivity in mining and disposal of nuclear waste, which are always simmering in the New Mexico cauldron of uncertainty.
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
News From New Mexico: A Cauldron Of Energy Uncertainty
Oil and gas production is one ingredient in New Mexico's cauldron of energy uncertainty, and it's a big one. This analysis points to several dilemmas, in recent news, that are simmering, and explains what may happen in the near future. 35% of New Mexico's revenue comes from oil and gas fields in the Delaware basin, part of the Permian basin that stretches into West Texas. Crude production exceeded 2 MMbopd (million barrels per day) in 2024, which was double that in 2019 before the Covid dropout in 2020. The entire Permian basin reached 6 MMbopd in 2024, about half of total U.S. crude production. But what will happen if the price of oil stays low? If the WTI price of oil stays at $63/barrel, Permian drilling of well inventory will last seven - ten years. This is better than three - four years for the Eagle Ford in East Texas, and the Bakken in North Dakota. But it illustrates one potential downside if the price of oil stays low. Another downside is a projection by Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental, who said crude production in the Permian could peak by next year, due to cutbacks in capital spending. Oil and gas production is one ingredient in the cauldron of uncertainties because 35% of New Mexico's revenue comes from the Delaware basin. Another ingredient is that oil and gas globally produces about 50% of greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause global warming. The oil and gas industry is responsible for the largest fraction of emissions in New Mexico at 41%. Although there is a growing industry of renewable energies in New Mexico, and lots of government support, the revenue from this will never replace the revenue from oil and gas. Another dilemma faced by New Mexico is the enormous volume of water that flows to the surface along with oil and gas—so called produced water. 2 billion barrels or 84 billion gallons are produced each year. Right now, this water is left in evaporation ponds, or disposed of in injected wells, or recycled and cleaned to be used in the next frac job. Disposal by deep injection is problematic because it has created earthquakes of magnitude 5, although this has been more of an issue in West Texas. The dilemma is exacerbated because the Permian basin is largely a desert, and New Mexico is in a drought—some say a 20-year drought. A solution that cries out loud is to purify the produced water enough that it can be used in agriculture, or perhaps even drinking water. There are a range of systems from multi-stage filtration up to commercial desalination that can be used, but to achieve the required purification would be costly. Twelve pilot projects are underway to test the effects of treated water on agriculture and manufacturing. But the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission stepped in last month to prohibit the next step—discharge of treated water to ground or streams. The Commission fears that chemicals still in treated produced water will be toxic, but there are no regulations governing their use. As well as water treatment, the state would need to oversee storage, transport, and disposal of the water. Although there are no regulations for this, NMED (New Mexico Environmental Department) plans to use results from the pilot projects to design new standards, technical and operational, that would allow re-use of produced water to help resolve the fresh water problem in New Mexico. Chaco Canyon was a central gathering place of Indian tribes around 1100 A.D. Eight man-made roads extended radially outwards, some for 50 miles or so. The large collection of ruins at Chaco include separate multi-story buildings and many circular kivas, underground religious centers. Carvings in sheltered sandstone clefts and alignment of structural walls reveal native knowledge of yearly seasons of the sun and moon. Chaco Canyon lies in the San Juan basin, once the largest gas basin in the U.S. Chaco has been simmering in the New Mexico cauldron for a number of years. In 2023, Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland issued an order to restrict drilling or development of oil and gas operations to outside a 10-mile radius around Chaco. This was to enlarge the area of protection around Chaco Canyon, which is sacred to many Indian tribes. But not all tribes, as the Navajo Tribe did not live in the region until hundreds of years after 1100 A.D. The details of this issue have been spelled out separately. Chaco sits close to the southern edge of the oily window of the San Juan basin. In 2023, the Navajo Nation had wanted to specify a smaller radius of 5 miles, because some members owned mineral rights to some of the land around Chaco. They filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in January of 2025, arguing to revoke the 10-mile limit because it harmed the profits of lessees who were economically small operators. Into the breach has stepped the Trump administration. New Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, has told the BLM to reconsider the 10-mile limit. The All Pueblo Council of Governors has resisted this, but not the Navajo Nation. Given the Trump government's directive to revise or rescind actions that are an 'undue burden on the development of domestic energy resources', it's hard to see the BLM keeping the 10-mile protective limit at Chaco. New Mexico was a hotspot of uranium mining back in the 1950s and 1960s when the cold war was at its height. Over 1,000 uranium mines came into existence, many that employed miners from the Navajo Nation. The uranium was bought by the U.S. government to be used for nuclear defense purposes. Church Rock just outside Gallup was an active mining site, and the scene of a bad flood that polluted the Rio Puerco in 1979—the largest-ever radiation accident in the U.S. The health effects of mining, notably lung disease due to radon gas attached to mining dust, is a dark chapter in the history of mining. Lack of epidemiological studies and government bureaucracy delayed cleanup efforts for surface tailings radiation, and underground contamination of aquifers. The U.S. Congress eventually passed RECA, an act that provided reparations to people affected by uranium mining and by nuclear tests in Nevada. The law was due to expire in June 2024, but the Senate passed a bill to extend it by six years. However, the House never brought it to a vote, so the law has expired. Under RECA, the government has paid claims of 41,000 people, and paid $2.6 billion in reparations, the majority to recipients from the Nevada nuclear testing site. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 opened a door to nuclear power as an alternative energy source, to the tune of $30 billion. This would include reopening of old mines, many of which lie on Native land, as well as new mines. The Trump government appears to have taken another giant step toward uranium mining by another new executive order on May 23 that prioritized nuclear fission reactors, traditional and SMRs (small modular reactors). This was ostensibly to provide burgeoning new electricity needed for U.S. data centers. According to the Secretary of Energy, 'Nuclear has the potential to be America's greatest source of energy addition. It works whether the wind is blowing, or the sun is shining, is possible anywhere and at different scales.' Given the state's history, a lot of tension will arise if uranium mining is allowed to resume in New Mexico. Untrammeled growth of uranium mining and nuclear generation of electricity may ignite a spark to the ever-present fear of radioactivity in mining and disposal of nuclear waste, which are always simmering in the New Mexico cauldron of uncertainty.
E&E News
19-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Occidental taps UAE oil giant for carbon removal money
Occidental Petroleum has inked a deal with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. that could provide $500 million for a carbon dioxide removal megaproject being pursed by the U.S. driller. The agreement to evaluate a potential joint venture for the South Texas Direct Air Capture Hub was signed by Occidental Chief Executive Vicki Hollub and ADNOC CEO Sultan al-Jaber, who is also the technology minister and climate envoy of the United Arab Emirates. It was announced Friday during President Donald Trump's visit to the UAE. The deal represents a vote of confidence — and a potential insurance policy — for the hub's development amid increased scrutiny of climate-related spending from Trump's Department of Energy, along with growing economic challenges for the broader direct air capture industry. Advertisement The South Texas hub seeks to remove 1 metric million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually with matching funds awarded during the Biden administration — federal backing that is now in question. Occidental's deal with ADNOC would help fund a hub that's half the size of the current proposal.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) Joins Hands with ADNOC to Develop Texas Direct Air Capture Hub
It was recently revealed that Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) has formed an agreement with UAE's ADNOC for the development of a direct air capture facility in South Texas. Let us shed some light on this development. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the United States, including a leading producer in the Permian and DJ basins and offshore Gulf of Mexico. It was recently announced that Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) and its subsidiary, 1PointFive, have entered into an agreement with XRG, the investment company of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to evaluate a potential JV to develop a direct air capture (DAC) facility in South Texas. As part of the joint venture, ADNOC will consider investing up to $500 million for the development of the facility, designed to capture 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The two energy giants have been discussing opportunities to collaborate on carbon capture, utilization, and storage projects in the U.S. and UAE since signing an MoU in 2023. The Strategic DAC Framework Agreement was signed during President Trump's recent visit to the United Arab Emirates, when the Gulf nation announced plans to raise its energy investments in the United States to $440 billion in the next decade. Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY), stated: 'We are proud to advance our decades-long partnership with ADNOC and XRG on our South Texas DAC Hub, which we believe will deliver game-changing technology to support U.S. energy independence and global goals. Agreements like this, along with U.S. DOE support, demonstrate continued confidence in DAC as an investable technology that can create jobs and economic value in the United States and Texas.' While we acknowledge the potential of OXY to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than OXY and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Cheap Energy Stocks to Buy Now and 10 Most Undervalued Energy Stocks According to Hedge Funds. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
