Local Energy

What do well logs miss about shale reservoirs? Galen Dillewyn from NuTech joins the Local Energy Podcast to explain petrophysics, reservoir intelligence, water cut prediction, AI in oil and gas, and why the rock still controls everything. In this episode, Peter Brecht sits down with Galen Dillewyn, Vice President of Business Development at NuTech, for a practical conversation about how operators u...

Brian Davis has spent 30+ years in oil and gas, working across refinery operations, instrumentation, maintenance, turnarounds, yield accounting, and now fuels compliance. In this episode of the Local Energy Podcast, Brian joins Peter Brecht and Wade Spear to explain what actually happens inside a refinery, how crude oil becomes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other products, and why refinery work...

John Baez doesn't make sales calls. He doesn't need to. After 30 years of solving stuck pipe, running plasma cutters at 15,000 PSI, and building a reputation one clean cut at a time — operators across the Permian Basin wait 12 hours for him to show up. That's what uncommon sense looks like in the oilfield. In this episode of Local Energy, Peter Brecht and Wade Spear sit down with John...

What does it take to balance a career as a Production Engineer in the Permian Basin with the rigorous demands of being a U.S. Olympic bobsledder? In this episode of the Local Energy podcast, hosts Peter Brecht and Wade Spear sit down with Boone Niederhofer to discuss his incredible journey from a walk-on wide receiver at Texas A&M to competing on the world's biggest stage. Boone shares the...

Why does Australia raise more revenue on beer taxes than its massive gas exports? What You'll Learn: The Australian Energy Tax Paradox: Why independent Senator David Pocock is calling out the government for making more revenue on beer taxes than offshore gas exports. US vs. Australian Royalties: How onshore mineral rights and oil and gas royalty calculations differ between the United States an...

Corey Brown takes listeners inside the Cushing Tank Farms in Oklahoma, one of the most important crude oil storage and transfer hubs in the U.S. He explains how the site supports WTI benchmark pricing, how crude is measured and transferred through custody transfer systems, and why commodity traders monitor tank levels, rail activity, and pump heat signatures to track supply in real time. The conve...

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 drill...

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 rol...

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 engine...

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 act...

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 al...

The oil and gas industry is full of corporate talking points and "green energy theater"—this podcast is the antidote. Most energy content is produced by people who have never stepped foot on a rig. Local Energy is different. We bring you authentic shop talk from the people who actually move the needle: field hands, well-site supervisors, drilling engineers, CEOs, and geologists. From the logistics...

Two former Chevron professionals walked away from corporate energy to build something different. Matt Dangel (CEO) and Richard Ball (COO) of Red Stag Resources join Peter Brecht to explain how non-operated partnerships actually work — and why their conventional asset expertise gives operators something most non-op partners never offer. Matt holds degrees in petroleum, chemical, and electrical engi...

Leigh Haas ran a congressional campaign before she could legally rent a car. Now she runs Mockingbird Land Services and has managed 350 land agents across a 600-mile, 5-state pipeline project. She joins Peter Brecht and Wade Spear to talk about the side of the energy industry most people never see. From lobbying to land work, Leigh breaks down what landmen actually do, how to call a bluff in a neg...

A 3% loss in body fluid causes the same cognitive slowdown as a 0.08 blood alcohol level. Randall Arms of Epicore Biosystems joins Peter Brecht to explain why waiting until you're thirsty is already too late — and how wearable sweat-sensing technology is changing oilfield safety. Working in the Permian Basin or San Joaquin Valley means operating in extreme heat with real cognitive and physical con...

Discover how elite submarine discipline and cognitive psychology are redefining safety and operational excellence offshore. In this episode of  Local Energy , host Peter Brecht sits down with Michael Fry of  Core Kognition Global  to unpack why human error happens—and what it really takes to own your space in the oil patch. From a decade spent aboard U.S. Navy submarines to testifying during the ...

What happens when a third-generation oilman picks up a camera to tell the story Hollywood refuses to touch? Rickey Bird still works the drilling rigs of Taft, California — and he's making a documentary about it. In this episode, Peter and Wade sit down with Rickey to talk about Kern Oil, his upcoming film that puts a human face on the families and communities caught in the crossfire of California'...

Peter Brecht Facetimes with Safety Guy to separate fact from fiction on hydrogen sulfide in the oil and gas industry. After watching the dramatic H2S scene in the hit show Landman, Peter wanted to understand the real dangers, safety protocols, and life-threatening risks that oilfield workers face every day. Safety Guy brings firsthand experience to explain why H2S is comparable to cyanide, how it...

WTI oil prices are near $90/barrel — and this week marked the biggest single-week WTI price gain in the history of oil trading. Peter Brecht and Wade Spear recorded this impromptu Saturday episode to break down what's really happening, what it means for U.S. operators, and whether $150 or even $200/barrel is actually on the table. In this episode, we cover the Strait of Hormuz crisis (tanker traff...

Why are energy professionals canceling their SaaS subscriptions and building their own tools instead? In this episode of Local Energy, Peter Brecht (oil & gas insurance broker) and Wade Spear (drilling engineer turned AI Architect) show you exactly how they're doing it — and why it's changing everything. Peter walks through building a custom WordPress plugin and an automated PDF processing too...

Discover how the worlds of oil and gas, data centers, and AI are colliding to reshape the global energy landscape. Julie Thompson of Halper Strategies joins Peter Brecht to explain why the "bridge to grid" strategy is essential for the future of tech infrastructure. Episode Overview In this episode of Local Energy, Julie Thompson shares her journey from Oklahoma's midstream oil and gas sector to t...

Calyn Taylor joins Local Energy to break down one of oil and gas's best-kept secrets: factoring. If you've ever wondered how small contractors manage cash flow when operators take 90-120 days to pay, this conversation is for you. We dive deep into the world of invoice financing in oil and gas, exploring how factoring works, why it differs from traditional lending, and the unique challenges of coll...

This is a re-release of an episode from January 2026. Join hosts Peter Brecht and Wade Spear for a deep dive into oil and gas fundamentals! In this recap episode, we decode industry terms, analyze market indicators, and break down technical concepts from recent guest conversations. From tracking Ford Raptors in Midland to understanding collapsed casing, this episode covers everything you need to k...

In this episode of Local Energy, we sit down with Justin Bates from Echometer to explore how a small 18-person company became the global industry standard for acoustic fluid level measurement in oil and gas operations. From its 1962 origins, using 10-gauge blanks fired from .45 Long Colts, to today's sophisticated portable sensor systems, Echometer's story reveals the power of customer-focused inn...

Discover the fascinating transition from marketing to petroleum geology as Dylan Morton of MidCon Energy breaks down the technical science of detrital zircons and the economic reality of modern water flood optimization. In this episode of Local Energy, Peter and Wade sit down with Dylan Morton, a geologist who took an unconventional path into the oil patch. After realizing marketing wasn't his cal...