James Passin, co-founder and manager of Firebird Global Fund and Firebird Global Fund II, recently spoke with The Energy Report's Karen Roche, discussing beryllium and its energy, military and industrial applications, as well as a burgeoning beryllium-uranium mix oxide fuel technology with the "potential to revolutionize nuclear power by creating a safer and more efficient fuel." Admittedly pro-uranium, Passin mentions two uranium miners he likes, and some exciting developments in copper in Mongolia.

The Energy Report: James, last December, you commented on the low interest rates that the government had on bonds. You said you thought that would spur inflation and an increase in commodity prices. Now that we're in the last quarter of '09, how do you feel about your predictions and what do you see going forward into 2010?

A shining example of using the sun's energy to heat, cool and light the homes and businesses of a desert community in California is poised to power up next year. It's due in part to the emergence of a technology that uses refraction rather than reflection to produce solar power on a utility-size scale at half the price of photovoltaic technology. But major credit also goes to the pioneering efforts of REDCO, a privately held company, which Ryan Davies established last year to unite free-market concepts with sound environmental policy. The Energy Report caught up with Ryan in the midst of Solar Power International 2009, North America's largest B2B solar industry event. The event in Anaheim was about 250 miles from the forward-thinking community of Needles, where Ryan's company is awaiting permit approvals to build a solar thermal plant that will provide peak power to some 2,500 homes.

The Energy Report: Let's begin with a little thumbnail of REDCO—what your company is and what you do.

With the oil-and-gas price link weaker than it's been in over a decade and with natural gas too dependent on a fierce winter to fuel demand and drive pricing up, CRT Capital Group Senior VP Duane Grubert likes oil better than gas. Consistent with that stance, he also prefers producers that are leaning more toward oil than gas. In the gas arena, he tells The Energy Report in this exclusive interview, he's sticking with players who are diversifying and tends to choose those that are involved in exploration as well as production.

The Energy Report: Basically, Duane, we'd appreciate a top-down overview of where you see natural gas and oil going in the short run and then long term, and where you see the markets both domestically and internationally.

S&A Resource Report editor Matt Badiali covers a broad expanse of ideas as well as geography in this exclusive interview with The Energy Report. He discusses the immense potential of Iraqi oil, and the smaller but surer resurrection of old oil fields in Illinois. In addition to sharing views about areas within the oil industry worthy of investors' attention, he talks about the promise—and problems—associated with major oil finds that have been making the news. These discoveries may postpone peak oil by a decade or two, but they will take a long time to bring to production, too. Matt also points out how data reporting metrics (BOE) manage to hide the extent of dwindling oil production.

The Energy Report: When we interviewed you six months ago, you were talking about some new oil finds in the Tupi field off the coast of Brazil. Since then another big oil field has been identified offshore of Sub-Saharan Africa. Can you speak to these finds and what they will mean to the oil sector?

Shifting gears from gold to energy, Mercenary Geologist Mickey Fulp focuses on the latest rage: rare earth elements (REEs). In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Mickey discusses China's monopoly on REEs and the resultant shock waves still rocking Western industrialized countries and Japan. While fear of China protectionism looms, Mickey sees plenty of opportunity in "cream-of-the-crop North American companies" that are presently undervalued.

The Energy Report: You've been traveling quite a bit this summer. Can you highlight some of the places you've visited?

Ranked #3 on Forbes' Best Brokerage Analysts for 2009, Oppenheimer Senior Analyst Fadel Gheit sat down with The Energy Report to shed light on existing conditions in the oil and gas sector. In terms of oil prices, "financial players are more in control now than oil companies or OPEC," according to Fadel, who is currently more bullish on gas than on oil. "Despite the fact that gas stocks gained significantly this year," he says, "we think the upside potential remains great."

The Energy Report: Why is there such a high ratio and differential between natural gas and oil right now?

Renaissance Capital oil and gas analyst Alex Burgansky, who ranks at the top of the list of sector analysts in Russia, shares his insights on the industry and its issues in this exclusive Energy Report interview. Russia's 2009 oil production is up a bit, but issues remain. Alex worries that Russia's oil production will decline unless its tax regime stops discouraging investment that taps into the strong reserve base in core producing areas. He also explains how Europe's infrastructure affects the gas it imports from Russia and other parts of the world.

The Energy Report: You focus on the oil and gas markets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Can you give us your perspective on the oil market there?

Demand for lithium is on the rise, as hybrid car batteries and portable electronic devices often require rechargeable lithium batteries. Analyst Merrill McHenry, MBA, CFA, in this email interview, gives The Energy Report readers the lowdown on automakers racing to see how many cars they can get into the market, and the importance of project economics in looking at investment opportunities. Some excerpts:

The Energy Report: Merrill, can you comment on how the recession is impacting the price of lithium?

Back for another enlightening interview with The Energy Report, Marin Katusa, Chief Investment Strategist for Casey Research's Energy Division, shares some timely investing strategies for the ever-changing energy markets. Ultra-bullish on uranium, Marin foresees a great shakeout in the sector. "The key is being with just the right select players," he says. The seasoned strategist also covers oil, natural gas, coalbed methane and geothermal, emphatically encouraging investors to get—and stay—ahead of the herd.

TER: Marin, can you give us your thoughts about natural gas in the U.S., both short term and long term. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Encompass Fund managers Malcolm Gissen and Marshall Berol sat down with The Energy Report to share their views on energy investing and what they believe are the strongest subsectors in the mix. While bullish on coal and natural gas, both are strong advocates of uranium, citing a "definite supply-demand imbalance."

The Energy Report: Malcolm and Marshall, you started the Encompass Fund in June of '06 with the intent of investing in a wide array of sectors, "to minimize or avoid sharp declines in the market," as it says on your site. However, according to your stock chart, you had a fairly dramatic decline in Q4 '08 with a pretty dramatic recovery since then. Tell us a bit about what happened there.

The exogenous events significantly boosting uranium demand for China and India are far greater than the minimal and distant "ifs" of private sector reactor delays. Not to mention China has actually boosted reactor construction, while India made no delays and entered the world market. "Investors need to look at the big picture of the sector," says analyst Merrill McHenry, MBA, CFA, who presents Energy Report readers with an educational and thought-provoking overview of U308's fundamentals and future in this exclusive written interview.

The Energy Report: There's a lot of "news" swirling around uranium (i.e., Russia has a moratorium, China is building dozens of nuclear facilities, recession is pausing development of nuclear facilities and more.) What is the truth regarding uranium? What should investors in this sector be watching?

The Energy Report checked in with Barbara Thomae, Senior Mining Analyst with the MineralFields Group, who says that they believe the economic recovery will spur re-investment into the uranium sector, especially once uranium prices strengthen in line with other commodities. She says her firm's prudent portfolio picks (overweight in uranium and heavily overweight in gold juniors) have enabled them to have the best performance track record among all flow-through limited partnership groups for the past four years. Read on.

The Energy Report: There's a lot of "news" swirling around uranium (i.e., Russia has a moratorium, China is building dozens of nuclear facilities, recession is pausing development of nuclear facilities and more.) What's the truth regarding uranium? What should investors in this sector be watching?

Primevest Capital Corp. President Ryaz Shariff reaffirms his long-held status as a commodity bull in this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, telling us to expect significant upticks in the markets once demand resumes. Having shifted somewhat from the mining sector last year, he also talks about some of the energy plays he likes these days—from natural gas in India to oil in South America to uranium in East Africa.

The Energy Report: When we interviewed you back in December 2007, you mentioned an analytical tool and techniques that you felt would apply not only to small caps but also the international marketplace. Have those served you well since then?

The outlook for oil seems to be brightening amid scant new reserve discoveries and declining reserves at the world's large oil fields. "We believe we're in a fundamentally positive market for oil in the 21st century," says Art Smith, president of Triple Double Advisors, who anticipates oil moving back into the three-digit price range within three to five years. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, the 35-year veteran of oil analysis shares his knowledge of energy markets and reveals some of his own investment strategies.

From drill rig counts to oil/gas ratios and renewables, Pierce Points author Dave Forest shares his thoughts on the direction the energy sector is headed in this exclusive Energy Report interview. Since predicting commodity prices in the short to medium term is almost impossible, Dave looks for companies with a solid track record and the potential for discovery, which is where the real money investing in the exploration sector is made.

The Energy Report: Dave, one of the popular investing theories that you'll see in energy is that there should be a 6:1 ratio of oil to natural gas and that we're starting to see that ratio rise, which makes natural gas look like a great play. Can you give us your perspective on that investment theory?

Why all the buzz about rare earths elements (REEs)? In this exclusive Energy Report interview, industry expert Clint Cox, The Anchor House, tells how he separates the hype from reality, and what a challenging and complex market it is. It's estimated that 25% of new technologies such as hybrid cars use rare earths, and that demand is increasing. Clint talks about China's current market dominance and the potential for production in North America. In a companion article, Alternative Energy Becoming a Little Less Alternative, Victor Goncalves of The Green Money Report examines how the growth of hybrid vehicles on the road will affect the rare earth market.

The Energy Report: Clint, can you please clarify the difference between rare metals and rare earth?

The Energy Report 06/11/2009

Last week, The Energy Report brought you Casey Research Investment Analyst Marin Katusa's outlook for uranium and nuclear energy. In today's edition, Casey Research colleague Dr. Marc Bustin joins Marin to talk about major forces driving prospects for other segments within the energy sector—solar, hydro and geothermal, as well as coal, oil and natural gas.

Investment Analyst Marin Katusa, senior editor of Casey Energy Opportunities (CEO) and Casey Energy Confidential (CEC), brings uranium's prospects into focus for The Energy Report readers in this exclusive interview. He waxes enthusiastic about potential 10-baggers in the U.S. (and one 10-bagger already in the U.S. uranium portfolio) and the five companies he ranks among the top players in Canada's Athabasca Basin—"the best real estate in the world for uranium." Next week, Marin will return with colleague Dr. Marc Bustin to talk about other sectors in the energy market.

The Energy Report: Some folks consider the outlook for uranium cloudy if not stormy. For others, it's just plain clouded, with too many factors at play to get a clear picture. What is your outlook for uranium?

The "Sell in May" situation could arrive right on time this year, according to Roger Wiegand of Trader Tracks, who anticipates that all the economic machinations of the last year could create not only inflation, but potentially hyperinflation. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Roger suggests some alternate market plays for the lean summer months and explains why he believes the prices of oil and gas are going to get very interesting if we have hyperinflation and low oil production and shortages.

The Energy Report: Roger, last week in your newsletter you talked about seeing two "flying wedges" in the Dow in the technical charts. Do these wedges have anything to do with the proverbial "Sell in May and go away"?

Roger Wiegand: Those two little wedges can be either continuation triangles, which go straight sideways, or they can be bull flags, which occur when the end of the pennant points in an upward direction. As I recall, the two wedges we saw were pretty much straight sideways.

Source: The Energy Report 05/07/2009 (http://www.theenergyre...)

As Stansberry & Associates Investment Research founder Porter Stansberry sees it, cap-and-trade legislation is sure to drive up the price of coal. Coal-bed methane wells are producing so much natural gas that the economic incentive of shutoffs to sustain prices has vanished. The upshot, he tells The Energy Report, is continued weakening in natural gas prices and thus continued strengthening for companies that use natural gas for power generation.