Boone Pickens in L.A.

Bloomberg Video: Boone Pickens.

From last week. Yeah, I know, I'm a slacker. But it's not like the energy issue is going anywhere.

As I first watched this video, I was distracted and rather amused by the parade of generally high end cars passing by in the background, particularly the BMW 7 Series that nearly backs into another car behind it. Los Angeles, for anybody who's never been there, is a serious car town, and you literally are what you drive. The fun part is that along with an amazing array of the world's more expensive models, you'll also see a lot of older cars, many of them in relatively good condition and driven daily. The roads in LA are pretty gentle and the weather is supportive, so you'll see everything from old Volkswagon Beetles and BMW 2002s to 80's Japanese cars that would have rusted away in other areas, oh, circa 20 years ago.

The other bit of amusement in this video is the fountain running in the background. Ah, how nice it is to forget in LA that, technically, you're living in the desert.

Generally this interview covers familiar ground, but a couple of interesting data points come out: Mr. Pickens believes that the Chevron/Devon Gulf of Mexico deepwater discovery, Jack, will probably not be economical to produce, as it is too deep and had to be fractured to produce just 6,000 barrels a day. Additionally, he says that the breakeven point of Suncor's oil sands production is around $22 a barrel. [I had thought it was closer to $35 a barrel.] Suncor is his biggest single stock position.

Another interview with Mr. Pickens from the LA Times:

LA Times: A future with less oil and more hard choices.