Drill Baby Drill, One Year Later: Oil Prices, AI, and the Oilfield

Unleashing California: How Mike Umbro Is Turning Depleted Oil Fields Into the Grid's Biggest Battery

California is importing 70% of its oil while shutting down its own refineries. Mike Umbro has been watching it happen from the inside. In this episode, Peter Brecht and Wade Spear sit down with Mike Umbro, founder and CEO of Californians for Energy and Science, to talk about what's really happening on the ground in California's oil patch. They cover the near-standstill in Kern County drilling, the closure of Valero Benicia, the Sable offshore opportunity in federal waters, and Mike's pioneering GEOTES technology that turns depleted oil reservoirs into long-duration thermal batteries. If you work in California oil and gas, energy markets, field operations, or you just like real shop talk from people who care about the industry, this episode is for you. Topics discussed: * Activity in Kern County and the economic impact of oil and gas * CEQA and California's regulatory environment * The Sable offshore opportunity in federal waters * Refinery closures and what they mean for fuel supply * GEOTES: turning depleted oil reservoirs into thermal batteries * Educating the next generation of energy workers Show Notes: GeoTES Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6imPjOZe8&t=3s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6imPjOZe8&t=3s] Californians for Energy & Science: https://www.energyandscience.com/ [https://www.energyandscience.com/] Mike Umbro X: https://x.com/MikeUmbro [https://x.com/MikeUmbro] Mike Umbro LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeumbro/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeumbro/] Website: https://localenergy.com [https://localenergy.com] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio [https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio] Local Energy is an oil and gas podcast hosted by Peter Brecht and Wade Spear, covering drilling, production, field operations, energy markets, oilfield careers, insurance, LNG, power, and the people who actually do the work.

Offshore Distributed Control System (DCS) with Joey Johnston | Industrial Design Solutions

Offshore platforms only look like steel and hardware from the outside. Underneath, they run on logic, alarms, timing, and people who understand exactly how the process is supposed to behave. In this episode, Peter Brecht and Wade Spear sit down with Joey Johnston to talk about life offshore, Distributed Control Systems (DCS), safety instrumented systems, startup and commissioning work, and the role control engineers play in keeping platforms running. They talk about why he made the jump from Emerson to offshore work, how DCS logic connects to real equipment, where AI may fit into analytics and monitoring, what people get wrong about offshore safety and environmental discipline, and how Joey is using AI to organize his wine collection. If you work in controls, automation, instrumentation, operations, offshore production, or you just like real shop talk from people who care about the industry, this episode is for you. Topics discussed: * Offshore DCS and control systems * Industrial Design Solutions and mission-critical support * Platform culture and crew routines * Startup, commissioning, and troubleshooting * AI in process control and cybersecurity * Offshore safety and environmental discipline Connect with Joey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephjohnston1/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephjohnston1/] Industrial Design Solutions: https://idspower.com/ [https://idspower.com/] Connect with Peter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht] Connect with Wade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wade-spear-05995b54 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wade-spear-05995b54] Website: https://localenergy.com [https://localenergy.com] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio [https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio] Local Energy is an oil and gas podcast hosted by Peter Brecht and Wade Spear, covering drilling, production, field operations, energy markets, oilfield careers, insurance, LNG, power, and the people who actually do the work.

Wireline, Workovers, and Oilfield X with Tejano Brown

Nosotros estamos tan de vuelta. Tejano Brown joins Local Energy for a real oilfield conversation about wireline, workovers, the Permian Basin, Oilfield X, and training the next generation. In this episode, Peter Brecht and Wade Spear talk with Tejano Brown, also known as Andy De La Rosa, a manager at Underdog Wireline. They cover his path into oil and gas, what it takes to move from hand to engineer to field service manager, the pressure of running a wireline truck, and why workover operations remain such an important part of the business. They also get into pump down perforating, getting stuck deep in a lateral, reputation in the oilfield, loyalty between operators and service companies, the Midland oilfield community, and how social media can help recruit and teach people who are curious about the industry. If you work in wireline, completions, production, workovers, service companies, or you just like real shop talk from people who care about the industry, this episode is for you. Topics discussed: * Wireline career progression * CDLs and getting started in oil and gas * Underdog Wireline's growth * Pump down perforating and workover operations * Getting stuck in a lateral * Permian Basin market signals * Service company loyalty and crew retention * Oilfield X and recruiting * Training the next generation of hands * Charlas and the Midland oilfield community Follow Tejano on X [https://x.com/Tejanobrown]Visit Charlas Restaurante [https://www.charlasrestaurante.com] Connect with Peter [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht]Connect with Wade [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wade-spear-05995b54]localenergy.com [ https://localenergy.com]Follow on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio]Email your questions [peter@localenergy.com] Local Energy is an oil and gas podcast hosted by Peter Brecht and Wade Spear, covering drilling, production, field operations, energy markets, oilfield careers, insurance, LNG, power, and the people who actually do the work.

Drill Baby Drill, One Year Later: Oil Prices, AI, and the Oilfield

One year later, Peter Brecht and Wade Spear are going back to where Local Energy started: Drill Baby Drill. In this anniversary episode, Peter and Wade look back on the first 51 episodes of Local Energy and revisit the same question that kicked off episode one: what does “Drill Baby Drill” actually mean when you’re looking at it from the oilfield? They talk about oil prices, rig contracts, why activity does not always move as fast as the headlines suggest, and how the industry has changed over the last year. The conversation also covers AI in oil and gas, AI-generated music, favorite guests from year one, weird oilfield market indicators like the Raptor Index and audit activity, and what Local Energy should cover in year two. If you work in oil and gas, drilling, production, service, insurance, energy markets, or you just like real shop talk from people who care about the industry, this episode is for you. Topics discussed: Drill Baby Drill one year later Oil prices and drilling activity Rig contracts and operator budgets AI in oil and gas AI-generated music Oilfield market indicators The Raptor Index Audit activity as an industry signal Energy stocks and market volatility Future Local Energy guests and deep dives Operations, wireline, production, and drill bits Connect with Peter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht] Connect with Wade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wade-spear-05995b54 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wade-spear-05995b54] Website: https://localenergy.com [https://localenergy.com] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio [https://www.youtube.com/@localenergyio] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0huYDWqFYOjJScHi26l7Q9 [https://open.spotify.com/show/0huYDWqFYOjJScHi26l7Q9] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-energy/id1885425019 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/local-energy/id1885425019] Email Us: peter@localenergy.com [peter@localenergy.com] Local Energy is an oil and gas podcast hosted by Peter Brecht and Wade Spear, covering drilling, production, field operations, energy markets, oilfield careers, insurance, LNG, power, and the people who actually do the work.

This Cambridge Engineer Says We're Solving the Easy Problem Last | James Macnaghten, Caldera CEO

Industrial heat causes 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions — and almost nobody's working on the easy part. James Macnaghten is a Cambridge-trained engineer with 20+ patents who shut down his first energy storage company after realizing it's often cheaper to throw renewable energy away than store it. Now as CEO of Caldera, he's converting cheap electricity into industrial steam using recycled aluminum and volcanic rock — and deploying units into hospitals and factories without requiring grid upgrades. James breaks down why the energy world keeps chasing steelmaking and cement while ignoring brewing, food, and pharma. He makes the case for hybridization over going 100% clean, shares why he thinks oil demand is headed for a crash, and questions whether the AI energy boom can survive its own economics. Caldera's first appearance on the show — and our first guest from across the Atlantic. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:57 Meet James Macnaghten 2:52 Have humans landed on the moon? 3:22 Tourists or engineers — which gives more grief? 3:35 20+ patents and what James learned about filing 5:09 From Cambridge to Isentropic to Caldera 7:48 The epiphany: cheaper to throw energy away 9:31 Never use air as a heat transfer medium 15:53 Industrial heat — the overlooked 20% 16:17 Why we're solving the wrong problem first 18:51 Hybridization over 100% clean 20:02 The 1,000-hour rule for surplus renewables 21:04 Caldera alongside factory gas boilers 23:02 Diesel prices and R&D cycles 27:58 GEA's investment in Caldera 29:34 Heat pumps and managing peak demand 31:36 First deployments going into a hospital 33:31 Oil demand crash prediction 35:23 Will the AI energy bubble burst? 37:15 Where to find James Guest links: James Macnaghten — https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-macnaghten-7aaa65a/ Caldera — https://www.caldera.co.uk/ Connect with us: Website — https://localenergy.com Peter Brecht — https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrecht/ Wade Spear — https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadespear/ Guest inquiries — peter@localenergy.com