T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire chairman of BP Capital LLC, is lobbying for a congressional bill that will provide incentives to trucking companies that switch to 18-wheelers that run on natural gas instead of oil. Pickens have been pushing hard and personally spent tens of millions of dollars to promote his “Pickens Plan” to alleviate U.S.’s foreign oil dependency problem.
We like Pickens’ plan too. U.S. has huge natural gas reserves and it is much cheaper and cleaner than oil. Pickens is asking for incentives that will help to build the natural gas fueling stations all over the country. The incentives are set to end after five years.
Boone Pickens is betting his money where his mouth is. He owns 41% of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE). SAC Capital, D.E. Shaw, and Peninsula Capital are investors in CLNE too. Pickens also have several natural gas-related stocks in his hedge fund, BP Capital. Pickens has been consistently advocating for a solution to our oil problem.
“You've got a similar situation to 2008, with extra supplies available in this market possibly less than 1 million barrels (per day) now. The Mideast is in real turmoil. It's on fire. The price can go anywhere. You're gonna see oil go up from here, and how high up I can't tell you, but if it went to 120, if it went to 150, that could all happen.” He warned a couple of months ago.
Pickens is extremely bullish about the following stocks, most of which are energy companies:
CompanyName | Ticker | Value | Activity |
A B B LTD | 2700 | New | |
APACHE CORP | 20109 | New | |
APPROACH RESOURCES INC | 3434 | New | |
CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LTD | 14607 | New | |
MURPHY OIL CORP | 13685 | 284% | |
NOBLE CORP BAAR | 31674 | 107% | |
OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP | 12871 | 65% | |
SANDRIDGE ENERGY INC | 24783 | 0% | |
EOG RESOURCES INC | 23572 | 10% | |
DAWSON GEOPHYSICAL CO | 11507 | 0% | |
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP | 29610 | 0% | |
HALLIBURTON COMPANY | 13419 | 0% | |
OCEANEERING INTERNATIONAL INC | 13552 | 0% | |
GASTAR EXPLORATION LTD | 6023 | 6% | |
B P PLC | 26677 | 18% | |
NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO INC | 13317 | 0% | |
SUNCOR ENERGY INC NEW | 16058 | 0% | |
DEVON ENERGY CORP NEW | 13620 | 0% | |
PLAINS EXPLORATION & PROD CO | 21890 | 0% | |
WEATHERFORD INTL LTD NEW | 22043 | 11% | |
MCMORAN EXPLORATION CO | 20750 | 0% | |
A123 SYSTEMS INC | AONE | 2955 | 0% |
CONSOL ENERGY INC | Sold Out | ||
DYNEGY INC DEL | Sold Out | ||
Q E P RESOURCES INC | Sold Out | ||
CLAYTON WILLIAMS ENERGY INC | Sold Out | ||
TRANSATLANTIC PETROLEUM LTD | Sold Out |
Pickens sold his entire stake in Consol Energy (CNX), Dynegy (DYN), QEP Resources (QEP), Clayton Williams Energy (CWEI), and Transatlantic Petroleum (TAT). He made new bullish bets on ABB, Apache Corp (APA), Approach Resources (AREX), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), and Murphy Oil (MUR). Pickens’ biggest position was in Noble Corp (NE). Pickens doubled his stake in Noble during the first quarter of 2011. The stock gained 18% so far in 2011. Glenn Dubin’s Highbridge Capital, Robert Rodriguez’s First Pacific, and David Gallo’s Valinor had large positions in NE at the end of December too.
Pickens’ second largest position in his portfolio is Chesapeake Energy (CHK). He didn’t buy or sell any shares in CHK during the first quarter. Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital and Curtis Macnguyen’s Ivory Capital had large positions in CHK as well.
Pickens’ third largest position, which he increased by 18% during quarter, is British Petroleum (BP). Ken Garschina’s Mason Capital, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, and Whitney Tilson’s T2 Partners also have large BP bets.
Boone Pickens is an experienced oilman and if investors are interested in investing in this sector, they should consider Pickens’ favorite stock picks first.
Disclosure: I am long CHK.
