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Occupation: Private Investor

Interests: Oil, Stocks

I'm an active private investor specialising in the oil and gas sector. I decided to focus on this area after having a disastrous experience 10 years ago when I naively delegated investment to a "professional" who subsequently lost most of my life savings and my pension. That experience taught me that it was foolhardy to invest in industries/companies you don't understand properly and that many "professionals" are doing just that, often based on the most superficial analysis and the most inadequate understanding of the underlying business. I decided that I'd take my financial destiny into my own hands.

 

I chose oil as a specialist focus partly because it was the industry I'd spent most of my career in over many years in >25 countries all over the world. That prior experience gave me a good  understanding of E&P from an operational perspective and I've subsequently leveraged that into an appreciation of the sector from an investment perspective - quite a different thing. But the one really helps the other.

 

I find that my background and my specialist focus help me get access to management and help me talk to them when I get in.  I've been seriously astonished at the open-ness and responsiveness of many top managers in this industry. Sensible questions, asked in a sensible manner almost always receive a very full response. (I have to single out Tom Cross of Dana for his readiness to go the extra mile to help small PI's understand his business).

 

Of course the other reason I chose to specialise in oil was that ten years ago it was very easy to figure out that the price was going to rise in a sustained manner over a long period. I still find it hard to believe that everybody else didn't see that coming at that time. I certainly can't claim any credit for doing so. It was just too obvious to miss - provided that is you looked at things from the right perspective. (there's an article to be written on this topic when I can find time........)

Risk Appetite: Risk-Taker

Avg. Holding Period: > 3 years