Lacking Shale Investment a Huge Obstacle, Major Investor Says

Energy transition technologies receiving double the investment compared to oil and gas is becoming a major problem for the shale sector and for global supply-demand balances, said Quantum Capital Group Chief Executive Officer Wil VanLoh who manages $25 billion.

Public shale companies have become more attractive to investors after turning to a business strategy in the last two years of returning cash to shareholders after years of chasing production growth at all costs, but there still isn’t enough money flowing to oil and gas development to meet the world’s demand for it, VanLoh said.

“And the change in private company land is even more profound in terms of shrinking capital,” VanLoh said Wednesday at Hart Energy’s Super DUG shale conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

The world’s biggest oilfield services providers have warned investors of a slowing market for shale activity in 2024. At an estimated $170 billion this year, North American spending is still 33% lower than the $252 billion spent in 2014 at the peak of the shale boom, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a March note to investors.