Oil and Natural Gas:  Going their Separate Ways?

In 2009, we witnessed a period in which the oil and natural gas prices followed markedly different paths.  The ratio of the oil price to the natural gas price, which historically has traded in a band between 6 and 10, rocketed to over 20.  While many observers consider this an anomaly, PFC Energy believes that there are good reasons for why the ratio behaved the way it did and why it may return to those  levels in 2010.  If it does, this will have major implications for energy producers and consumers and create a variety of winners and losers. Consolidation.

Raoul LeBlanc is Senior Director of PFC Energy's Financial Advisory practice. Raoul is responsible for helping to develop and grow PFC's emerging relationship with a wide range of financial institutions and to tailor PFC's research and consulting to meet their needs. 

Raoul joined PFC Energy in January 2007, bringing fifteen years of experience in strategic and industry analysis. From 1997-2006, Raoul worked at Anadarko Petroleum. During his tenure there, he directed the company's Strategic Planning effort, which assumed responsibility for strategy formulation, portfolio optimization, scenario planning, and competitor analysis. He contributes a strong background on issues related to North American independents and natural gas market developments, and has experience in mergers and acquisitions, evaluation and modeling of financial results, and E&P corporate valuation.

Prior to Anadarko, Raoul was a senior oil analyst at Energy Security Analysis, a market analysis consulting company in Washington, D.C. where he led coverage of Asian markets and worldwide distillate fuels.  Raoul has worked and studied in Japan, the Western Pacific, and Britain. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an M.A. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.