Please introduce yourself.
I'm Boone Pickens at the New York Stock Exchange.
Can you tell us about your history with energy trading and investing? When did it begin?
It really began when I was with Mesa Petroleum. And that was back in 1986. And we took $2 million dollars in 1986, and in ten years, we made $151 million. Which, ironically, our G&A was $15 million dollars per year, so we covered the G&A off my desk, over that 10 year period.
Why should one support a North American Energy independence plan?
Well the Pickens Plan was developed in July 2008. America is the only country in the world without an energy plan. And we have resources in North America. I want to bring Canada and Mexico into the play, with the United States – that’s the Pickens Plan. We should do a North America Energy Alliance. And that would help Canada, of course, because we’d be the market for their oil and gas, as well as Mexico.
Most importantly it would give the United States energy security indefinitely.
Can you talk about how this impacts national security?
National security is the number 1 issue, as far as energy’s concerned. And that’s what this plan provides.
But natural gas would be used as a transportation fuel just like gasoline and diesel. Cummings has come up with a new engine that is 90% cleaner on nox emissions than anything before. It actually is cleaner than the grid. So it would be very good from an environmental standpoint plus natural gas would be about half the price of diesel.
Why should U.S. investors consider an energy strategy that focuses on the theme of North American Energy Independence?
Well, energy independence, today, we are the biggest users of oil in the world. Twenty million barrels a day, we use. Ninety-five million barrels a day is produced for the world, we’re using about 20% of it, and China is second to us. But they use about half what we do. So we are, by far, the largest user.
And we do not want dependence on oil. We do not want to be dependent on Mid-East Oil – that is out of the question. We would not have the energy security that we do. We came to North America to get away from the Mid-East.
What are your thoughts on why clean energy and renewable energy should be part of an energy strategy.
Well clean energy is, of course, good from an environmental standpoint. But renewable energy is also good.
Anything that’s American is fine with me. It doesn’t have to be fossil fuels. It just so happens that we have to use fossil fuels because renewables do not do anything for transportation. Renewables are wind and solar. That's power generation, good, use it. But use anything that’s American. Do not be dependent on any place else in the world for your energy.
How has the U.S. shale revolution changed the global energy landscape? Is it sustainable?
It is sustainable because one more time, the industry in the United States has come through for Americans. When I got out of school in 1951, over 90% of the oil found in the world had been found by Americans. We’re at the same point again. America has come through again. We have the best engineers, geophysicists and geologists of any place else in the world.
And cheap energy trumps cheap labor.
Why did you choose the New York Stock Exchange as your partner for this index?
What would be better than the New York Stock Exchange? My first company that I brought on the New York Stock Exchange was in 1969. I brought seven companies on here. The New York Stock Exchange – it’s the premier exchange in the world. Why wouldn’t you want to be here?