Can One Man’s Vision Lead The Shale Industry Out Of The ESG Desert?

Can One Man’s Vision Lead The Shale Industry Out Of The ESG Desert?

ERIE, CO - APRIL 14: Oil workers on a drilling rig in a neighborhood on Colliers Parkway in Erie, ... [+] Colorado. (Photo by Steve Nehf/The Denver Post via Getty Images) "To me, if I think about what the optimal E&P sector looks like, in the U. S. I would think you'd have 10 or 15 of them, and all of them would be net-zero. All of them would have best-in-class boards. All of them would have the compensation aligned with shareholders based on equity performance. I would expect dividend yields of 5-10%, no real growth, returning excess cash to shareholders, and return on capital employed that consistently outperforms their cost of capital. That's how we're trying to remake the industry. The easiest way to do this is to go acquire a company and demonstrate that you can do it." As the consolidation of the upstream, E&P sector of the U. S. shale business continues to heat up, there is debate over whether it is taking place too slowly, just fast enough, or too quickly for the good of the industry. Based on the quote above, you can put Ben Dell, Chairman of the Board at DJ Basin producer Civitas