Skip to main content

Matt Simmons interview on BP Gulf disaster

King World News recently interviewed Matthew Simmons for his latest take on the BP Gulf disaster.

You can hear Matt's alarming warnings about the coming fallout from this environmental catastrophe, along with his view of what's really happening in the Gulf and the region, in the interview linked above.

In addition, we also want to examine some of Matt Simmons' claims and his motives for speaking out on this disaster. There's been a lot of talk about Simmons' short position in BP stock (which Matt spoke about in a recent Bloomberg TV interview), along with some questions (including my own) about any conflicts of interest he might have as founder of the Ocean Energy Institute, "a think-tank and venture capital fund addressing the challenges of U.S. offshore renewable energy".

Earlier today, Chris Nelder pointed to this Robert Rapier piece entitled, "Is Matt Simmons Credible?". Rapier outlines what he feels are some of Simmons' more outlandish or incorrect claims regarding the BP disaster and why Simmons may not be the authority on the spill that he presents himself to be.

While I have respect for Simmons and am always interested to hear his views on energy matters, the Rapier post does provide some useful food for thought, especially given the more uncritical questioning Simmons has encountered from many interviewers who are not energy specialists, to say the least.

Popular posts from this blog

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Clean Money - John Rubino: Book review

Clean Money by John Rubino 274 pages. Hoboken, New Jersey John Wiley & Sons. 2009. 1st Edition. The bouyant stock market environment of the past several years is gone, and the financial wreckage of 2008 is still sharp in our minds as a new year starts to unfold. Given the recent across-the-board-declines in global stock markets (and most asset classes) that have left many investors shell-shocked, you might wonder if there is any good reason to consider the merits of a hot new investment theme, such as clean energy. However, we shouldn't be too hasty to write off all future stock investments. After all, the market declines of 2008 may continue into 2009, but they may also leave interesting investment opportunities in their wake. Which brings us to the subject of this review. John Rubino, author and editor of GreenStockInvesting.com , recently released a new book on renewable energy and clean-tech investing entitled, Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green Tech Boom . In Clean ...

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...