Today we were delighted to welcome our good friend Bill Von Gonten, Founder and CEO of W.D. Von Gonten Engineering (WDVGE). Bill is a renowned oil and gas expert and entrepreneur. He founded W.D. Von Gonten & Co. in 1995, pioneering the volumetric assessment of US gas shales. In 2013, Bill established W.D. Von Gonten Laboratories, a core testing facility specializing in unconventional resources, data science and frac modeling. In 2022, these entities were combined to form WDVGE, which later partnered with National Energy Services Reunited Corporation to expand WDVGE’s services to the Middle East and North Africa. Today, WDVGE operates in nearly 15 countries and has experience in every oil and gas basin worldwide. We were thrilled to host Bill for a discussion focused on the Vaca Muerta shale play and Argentina’s broader energy landscape.
 
In our discussion, Bill provides an overview of the Vaca Muerta, sharing his history and involvement with development efforts in the region. We discuss the unique characteristics of the shale play, the economic and logistical challenges of developing the Vaca Muerta, and comparative data that highlights its potential to surpass the Eagle Ford with its size, pressure and reservoir quality. Bill offers his perspective on geopolitical and economic considerations in Argentina, the future potential of the Vaca Muerta, including increased production and export capabilities, and its potential impact on the global oil and gas market through LNG and oil exports. We discuss people resources and industry infrastructure in Argentina, financial models for development, Argentina’s pro-oil and gas stance, the development of oil and gas infrastructure by midstream companies, economic opportunities for Argentina, other global opportunities for unconventional oil and gas development along with their challenges, and much more. Bill’s presentation slides from the discussion are linked here. It was a fascinating conversation and we sincerely thank Bill for sharing his time and insights with us today.

You may recall we had an episode of COBT focused on President Javier Milei’s election and the changing politics of Argentina. The discussion featured Fernando Oris de Roa, Former Ambassador of Argentina to the United States and is linked here.

Mike Bradley opened the conversation by highlighting that Fed Chairman Powell indicated last Friday “the time had come for policy to adjust” and “his confidence had grown that inflation was on a sustainable path back to two percent.” That interest rate policy pivot gave the green light for the FED to begin cutting interest rates at their mid-September FOMC meeting. On the broader equity market front, Mike shared investors are totally focused on NVIDIA’s quarterly results (after the close on Wednesday) and that consensus is positioned for another beat and raise. He noted that the bar is high, and if they fail to clear it, AI & Tech stocks could take a temporary breather and the Russell 2000 and other S&P sectors could take an equity leadership role. On the energy equity front, ExxonMobil released its Global Outlook to 2050 this week (linked here). He noted a few key takeaways from the report including oil & natural gas will make up >50% of the world’s energy mix in 2050 and a plateau in oil demand beyond 2030, remaining above 100mmbpd through 2050. He ended by highlighting Argentinian debt and equity performance since Javier Milei was elected President and ended with some Vaca Muerta shale stats (current and future potential). Todd Scruggs flagged a WSJ article reporting on the planned restart of the decommissioned P