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The Louisiana Energy Conference 2026 — What Several Hundred Energy Executives and Investors Were Really Talking About in New Orleans · WTR Small-Cap Spotlight

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Tim Gerdamin, Vice Chairman, Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer of Watertower Research.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm once again joined by Al Petrie, founder and senior partner of Al Petri Advisors for our post-event recap of the 2026 Louisiana Energy Conference, or LEC.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: As promised, we have brought Al back to share some of the 30,000-foot takeaways from what was another outstanding gathering in New Orleans.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also joined by my Watertower research colleagues from our natural resources team, Richard Tullis and Jeff Robertson.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Richard, I'm going to turn it over to you to kick things off.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Al, welcome back.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: The 26th Louisiana Energy Conference wrapped up at the four seasons in New Orleans on May 28th.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Can you give us your view and how the event turned out from a top-down perspective?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: We were very pleased with how the conference went.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: So great attendance and needless to say, higher oil prices got people pretty excited.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that there was definitely a more positive mood this year than last year, because as you recall, last year prices were in the 60s and people thought they were hitting lower.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we're not seeing anything like that right now, at least.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: So we're just kind of optimistic for the future.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Coming into the conference, the conflict in the Middle East and volatility and commodity prices with front and center.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Did the conversations on the floor match the urgency you anticipated?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: And was there consensus among management teams on how they're navigating turbulent markets?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we were uh certainly well positioned time-wise to have the conference while all of that was still going on.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: So we knew that that was going to be a central part of pretty much every discussion because I thought almost every panel came back in some kind of way.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think everybody acknowledged the impact that such a historical disruption in supply was going to have on short-term prices.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: It was certainly different than any of the disruptions we may have had in the past.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that what we saw is that most of the small and mid-cap companies at the conference are waiting to see where prices are going to be a little bit late in the year before they make any changes in their activity levels.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, keep in mind they are in getting the benefit from higher prices, but most all of those small cap ENPs had RBLs that require them to have hedges.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: And those hedges certainly were in a much lower pricing environment that carried on through probably mid this year.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I think we're going to be waiting to see what happens later in the year as far as pricing before uh these smaller companies ramp up, whatever their activity levels will be.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Day one was focused on Gulf of America, offshore EMP and oil services.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: What were the standout moments or themes from those opening panels, Al?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, Gulf of America has always been uh my favorite sessions because, you know, we've been having Gulf of America from when people liked it to when they disliked it, and now they're loving it again.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: So real happy that we stayed with it because we have a good uh contingent of companies that participate every year.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: And our first session that we started with launch was our public company, ENP companies.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: And so we had quite a range.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: We had uh Chevron that talked about all the activity they're doing in the Gulf.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: We had Log Exploration, which now is a part of a large public uh ENP.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: They were private for many, many years, and now they're part of Harbor Energy.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then we had Tracy Crone, who's been involved with the Gulf for over 40 years.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: And Tracy always has good stories that he can tell and kind of this outlook for things.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: So then after that, we had five private ENP companies, which I think you'd be hard pressed to find five um Gulf of America companies anywhere.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: And so that really gave us a good insight into things like uh what Beacon Offshore is doing with 20K drilling, which you know that has majors participating with uh projects they've initiated.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: And we have Cantium that's using AI to further develop Aymar Shan.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: So, all in all, I think you know, the Gulf America is the uh second largest producing basin in the in America, and I think it's going to stay that way for quite some time.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Al.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'll now turn the podcast over to Jeff Robertson to continue the conversation.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Richard.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Al, day two, despite the the name of the conference, day two shifted into other on U.S.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: onshore basins and uh international areas as well as Willfield Services.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: You followed this space closely for decades.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any conversation or day conversations or data points that really stood out to you from uh the second day?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you know, uh we probably have heard from some of the larger uh domestic onshore guys that don't necessarily come to our conference that, you know, they have the financial capacity to ramp up uh drilling uh because they don't have the same hedging issues that the smaller guys have.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I think what we saw as standouts is that the companies are certainly ready and willing to ramp up, but you're not gonna see that happening until they have confidence that the prices are gonna stay there long enough to uh to meet their goals of what they want to do as far as spending uh, you know, within their cash flow.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: So definitely no not seeing any type of a slowdown from what they plan to do.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: But we didn't really see, except for a few uh uh exceptions, that the companies are really ramping anything up.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now, international is different.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, international, certainly over the last two years or so, has been really the standout as far as activity is concerned.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: So they tend to have longer-term projects that are not as uh uh subject to oil price variants.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: So they had plans for drilling this year, and they're very happy with the higher oil prices uh because that makes their projects even more economic.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I think particularly some of the companies that did rent pricing did really well uh in the first quarter.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I think those guys uh uh are definitely going to move forward with their plans and maybe ramp those up sooner than maybe some of the onshore guys will do.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Al, to your point about U.S.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: onshore, is it safe to say that that onshore producers are watching the shape of the futures curve and as it looking out 12 to 24 months before they um decide to allocate more capital towards short cycle drilling programs?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I think that's definitely the case because you know, most of them they they probably had$60 type crude hedges in place for the first half of the year, but they're getting encouraged by seeing you know the the futures uh looking good, certainly at the end of this year and into 2027.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that'll give them some encouragement to uh build more into their uh drilling programs.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: But keep in mind these companies want to keep their balance sheet as clean as possible.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: And this is giving them an opportunity to do that even faster than they expected to.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of the benefits I've found of attending the LEC, especially in recent years, is it's a pretty, it's a very diverse cross-section of the energy industry and not just EMP or oil field services focused.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Al the debt, the third day of the conference, you're really focused on future energy, including LMG, carbon capture, power generation, and all the infrastructure that will be required to support the ability to grow, grow demand or meet demand expectations over time.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: The LNG export build-out and AI data centers are among the most anticipated topics.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Did those sessions live up to your expectations?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And did you hear anything special from those executives?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, thanks for bringing it up, uh Jeff, because you know, we we're trying to make that third day be something that kind of looks forward uh to see, okay, where is the industry heading?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, you and I have been to conferences for 30 years, probably.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: And in the past, you never would see uh traditional oil and gas conferences ever talk about power, for example, or infrastructure.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: That was always considered something totally different.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, thanks to the uh huge uh demand for LNG now data centers that nobody thought about three years ago, much less 10 years ago, we're seeing a lot more demand for energy.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it's becoming clear that these new projects have to get uh natural gas in particular directly from the producers.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that's why it really is a good way to kind of bring all that together.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so what we saw from LNG is we had three of the large producers that are building facilities in Louisiana that were there.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, Louisiana will be the top LNG export in the world by 2028.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I know we're gonna have even more uh emphasis on that going forward.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: And carbon capture is part of uh those projects as well.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: So something that has been done in Europe for many years is now getting deployed by the large companies here, and it really is part of any new project, whether it's uh, you know, a steel mill in South Louisiana or the LNG facilities or anything else that they're doing uh with uh trying to make sure that what they're doing going forward does uh minimize emissions as much as they can.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I think uh that is an area that we're happy the way it turned out.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: We look to continue to get more.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, next year we're probably going to do something with nuclear energy because that's becoming a bigger thing now, too.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: As I alluded to, the LEC is pollinated by a very broad cross-section of the energy industry.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: It includes capital uh providers, policymakers, and investors.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Did you pick up on any particular cross-sector conversations or connections that you think would not have happened at a more narrowly focused conference?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you know, one of the things that they were particularly proud of with our conference is that, you know, thank goodness we're able to attract senior management to our event.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: So we have CEOs, CFOs, COOs go on these panels.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we try to make the event as nice as we can with all of these different evening activities and everything else, that the CEOs, if they can, they'll spend at least one night.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things that I have found, and it's already happening for this year, is those CEOs will sit in some of the other sessions in between their one-on-ones, and they'll hear something that makes them want to talk to somebody else uh about something that hurt on those panels.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not unusual, and I'm hearing it already, saying, Oh, can you connect me with the CEO who was on that panel?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think there's some things we can do together.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: And that that makes us feel particularly good because that's what our conference really is all about, is trying to create networking opportunities and allow traditional energy companies to interact with these new technologies and new uh types of programs where you know the experience and knowledge that the people have done traditional is very valuable.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: From our perspective, Water Tower has been a proud sponsor of the LEC this year and for the last several years.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think you mentioned in the remarks last week at the conference that you had over 40 sponsors now for the 2026 edition.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: The sponsors include brokerage firms, large banks, big four accounting firms, and energy advisory firms, as well as uh the EMP or some of the industry companies that participate.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Al, what feedback do you hear from sponsors uh with respect to the value that they see in participating in the Louisiana Energy Conference?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: Sure, Jeff.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: And actually, we had over 50 sponsors this year, which was 13 more than last year's record.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, when we see that type of response, and we get people that reach out to us saying they were at the conference as just as an attendee or they heard about it, and they want to help us to make this as good as possible.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's good because we don't ever want our conference to become just an advertisement for those sponsors.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: So they get it really well because you won't see any hard sales pitches, anything, but they're able to help us to get some really good panelists that I may not know myself that they deal with.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so it helps it that they can bring some of their own clients.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: We had one of our large sponsors, I think brought 12 different companies this year for the first time.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that's terrific because those are all people that'll be there for the first time.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: And from we heard, they really enjoyed it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: So we again we try to uh, thanks to our sponsors, we can have some very nice evening events that uh in great venues, and people seem to really like that and the opportunity they have to network and see one-on-one the CEOs and CFOs that are on our panels.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's one of the more unique aspects of your conference, Al, the networking events that you organized uh in the evenings before people go off to dinners.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: The evening events this year coincide with the Sale 250 activity along the riverfront in New Orleans.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk a little bit about the response from attendees on those events and some of the hospitality and networking uh interactions that are available to attendees at the conference?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you know, every year we look at the venues that that we've used in the past uh and say, okay, we want to keep this fresh and different for people because in New Orleans, thank goodness has quite a wide range of uh event venues.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, all of them are really good.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: And this year, we tried to have them more focused along the river, somewhere near the river, because we had that Sale 250 that brought in well over a dozen of these tall ships from all over the world.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: So it was a great backdrop because two of our events were right there on the river.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure what we'll be able to do to get uh something like that quite that good for next year, but the Mississippi River has always been a focal point for the city.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: And the four seasons is perfectly located for that.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: And it enables us to do things that have a view of the river.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: People can then have dinners after our social events uh in the French quarter.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll continue to do that in the future because you know, when we get to the point where we had one venue, they said we maxed out the number of people they could handle.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: That makes us feel good that we're getting that number of people that want to come to these evening events, and we do our best to get really good food and um libations as well.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Alison putting a bow on the 2026 event and trend, trying to pique in uh potential attendees' interest in the 2027 event.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any potential themes from this year that that you think or are really stand out and also that kind of carry through as you start to think about 2027?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I think you know what we saw, and you know, because we have such an emphasis on the Gulf of America, I think it was particularly well-timed because when you have companies like Harbor that make a very large move into the Gulf, you're hearing BP wanting to do more, you have uh Chevron Shell, you know, clearly the Gulf of America is gonna be the key to uh America's energy dominance that the Trump administration wants.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I think all those activity levels that we've seen are gonna pay off because we're able to provide energy for the world more so now than I think we ever expected.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's gonna be a big thing is for the future is how do we continue this momentum uh starting with the Gulf.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then for onshore, we're certainly seeing how technology is allowing these uh producers to get more out of uh the assets they already have.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I think uh, you know, I'm seeing from what we heard from people that they're drilling different benches, they're using unconventional technology and in conventional reservoirs.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that combination of new technology, AI uh services that are being provided, all of that has a lot of good things coming up that we'll continue to discuss for next year.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm pretty optimistic about the industry and certainly optimistic about our conference for the future.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think, as Mary Landry said in her session, there's an awful lot of smart engineers in that in that room trying to figure out innovative solutions to the world's energy problems.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's absolutely right.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: And it always was annoying in the past when we were considered not high tech, where in fact the tech that uh has been developed in the energy industry is as good a better as any industry right now.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: For people starting to think about 2027, Al, uh, have you set dates for next year's event yet?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you know, we definitely are planning on back to the four seasons because it seems like it's as good a venue as we could ever want to have in New Orleans, and they did a great job for us.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: So we're looking at next year because Memorial Day flips to the following week.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: Memorial Day is on May 31st.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: So we traditionally have done our conference always that week.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: So right now, that means our conference next year will be June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that's happened, you know, every six or seven years it flips to the different week.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: So uh we're looking forward to all of that and working with the hotel to get it all set up.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Al.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate all that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll flip it back to Tim to wrap us up today.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for that, Jeff.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And Al, thank you so much for coming back on the podcast to share these post-conference insights.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise, thanks to my WTR colleagues for joining as well to ask several thought-provoking questions as well as share their own takeaways from the conference.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: For our listeners, if you missed this year's Louisiana Energy Conference, we encourage you to visit www.Louisiana Energy Conference.com for updates and to put the 2027 edition on your calendar, which Al just referenced.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And Al, as sure as the sun rises and sets daily, I'm highly confident we will be back here in 12 months having another LEC recap podcast.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Tim.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: And also let me end by saying how much we appreciate all the support that your entire team has given us.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: We value the partnership that we have now with Richard working with your team as well with his weekly report that he puts out and also everything that you do to help us with the conference.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: So we look forward to seeing all of you back in New Orleans next year.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know I speak for all of Watertower Research and saying we highly value the relationship as well.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And don't forget to subscribe, as well as visiting wwwwatertowerresearch.com to stay up to speed on the company's small cap written research reports, podcasts, fireside chats, industry specific symposiums, and conference schedules.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: We will see you next time for another edition of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, a special thanks to the producer and editor of the podcast, Krista Fitzpatrick.