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Here’s Why Warren Buffett Is Betting Billions On Natural Gas

Here’s Why Warren Buffett Is Betting Billions On Natural Gas

Last spring, when the coronavirus sent financial markets into a tailspin, many investors expected Warren Buffett would go bargain hunting. Instead, the legendary investor actually sold billions of dollars’ worth of airline, banking and other economically sensitive stocks into the market panic. By May of 2020, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had accumulated a record $137 billion cash hoard. When shareholders questioned this stockpiling of cash, rather than buying into the market, Buffett simply responded:

We have not done anything because we don’t see anything that attractive to do.

Fast forward a few months later, and the Oracle of Omaha finally found something attractive – Dominion Energy, a Virginia-based electric utility company. Specifically, Berkshire (NYSE:BRK.A) acquired Dominion’s (NYSE:D) natural gas pipeline and storage assets in a $10 billion transaction, giving the conglomerate control over 18% of all interstate natural gas flows in the U.S. The transaction also provided Berkshire with significant exposure to liquefied natural gas (LNG), including 25% stake in Cove Point LNG – one of only six U.S. LNG terminals.

But Buffett’s gas buying spree didn’t stop there…

A few months later, in August, Berkshire spent another $7 billion buying up stakes in five Japanese commodities trading companies. This included Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which own stakes in the Cameron and Cove Point U.S. LNG export terminals. The deal also provided Berkshire with exposure to U.S. natural gas assets that feed into these terminals.

At the time of these purchases, gas prices (NYSEARCA:UNG) were hovering around multi-decade lows, and countless journalists and financial pundits were declaring the “Death of Fossil Fuels.” But as you’ll see in today’s article, it’s now clear what Buffett knew when he put billions of dollars to work betting on natural gas, even despite the economic uncertainty of a global pandemic, which is…

The outlook for U.S. natural gas is brighter today than at any time since the dawn of the shale revolution.

Not only is natural gas economically resilient, but it will enjoy decades of future demand growth as part of the world’s transition to a cleaner economy. Meanwhile, the supply side of the equation has never looked more bullish – both in the short and long term. As I’ll show in today’s article, the U.S. natural gas market has entered into a structural deficit, setting the stage for sustained higher prices ahead.

Finally, I’ll explain how I’m capitalizing on this new bull market, while avoiding many of the pitfalls involved with ETFs, futures and E&P companies. First, let’s begin by winding back the clock to this time last year, to see how the U.S. gas market fared in the wake of the 2020 pandemic and what’s driving the market into a deficit in 2021.

Natural Gas – an Economically Resilient Commodity

When the Coronavirus lockdowns began in March of 2020, energy markets crashed across the board, including natural gas. By June of 2020, prices for the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub natural gas fell to as low as $1.44 per million cubic feet (Mcf). Before the Coronavirus, Bill Clinton was President the last time gas prices traded so low. Now, here’s the thing…

You don’t typically see gas prices take such a big hit during economic slowdowns. Why? Because most natural gas is used for heating and electricity. And during an economic downturn, most people find other places to cut expenses before they stop heating their homes or using electricity. Compare this with oil demand, which is primarily used as a feedstock for transportation fuels like gasoline and kerosene (i.e. jet fuel).

During economic downturns, travel is one of the first places consumers and businesses cut spending on – especially during a global pandemic. That explains why U.S. oil consumption collapsed by nearly 30% when the economy shut down in April of 2020, whereas natural gas consumption remained stable – actually increasing by 2%:

25351933 16158433641044252

So if domestic gas consumption actually held up during the economic shutdowns last year, what explains the price crash? Three words: liquefied natural gas (LNG). This supercooled, highly compressed form of natural gas can be transported around the world on specially designed ships. Thus, LNG exports have facilitated a growing global gas export trade, connecting energy-hungry economies with low-cost gas producers. Given the abundance of low-cost U.S. gas reserves, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that…

America Becomes a Global Gas Superpower

The growth in U.S. LNG exports is perhaps one of the greatest, and largely untold success stories of the shale revolution. As recently as 2015, the industry was virtually non-existent. But in just five short years, U.S. LNG exports have surged to an average of 6.5 Bcf/d last year – making America the third largest exporter of liquefied gas in the world:

25351933 16158433641372669

The key factor fueling this trend is the transition from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas in power plants around the world. In China alone, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently pushed to convert over 7 million households from coal to gas-powered electricity, as part of a three-year “Blue Sky Defense” plan proposed back in 2018.

Similar movements are playing out in other major energy-hungry economies, like India, Japan and all across Europe. This trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, with more than a decade and a half of runway. A recent McKinsey research report projects that global gas demand will continue growing through the mid-2030s – more than any other fossil fuel.

LNG exports will provide a critical linkage between gas producing and consuming countries. McKinsey projects that LNG demand will grow at 3.4% per year out to 2035, while noting that “supply in key gas markets will not keep up with demand growth…with more than 200 million metric tons of new (LNG) capacity required by 2050.”

America’s position as one of the lowest-cost gas producers on the planet will make it a leading provider of cleaner burning fuel to the planet in the decades ahead. The International Energy Agency projects that the U.S. will become the world’s largest LNG exporter by 2025. And if you read the tea leaves, that’s the same bet Warren Buffett is making with his multi-billion-dollar exposure to U.S. gas pipelines and export infrastructure.

With that long-term backdrop in mind, let’s zoom into the shorter-term picture over the last 12 months.

LNG Surplus Transforms into Deficit

Despite the positive long-term demand story for gas as a power source, it’s role as a heating fuel means winter weather fluctuations can dominate the supply/demand picture in the short run. The extremely mild 2019/2020 winter in both Europe and Asia is a perfect example – when plunging demand for gas heating created a short-term LNG supply glut. This made the LNG market particularly vulnerable going into the spring of 2020, when the Coronavirus outbreak only exacerbated the situation.

Facing an oversupplied market, U.S. LNG exports plunged by over 60%, from 8.1 Bcf/d in January 2020 to 3.1 Bcf/d in July 2020. That single factor alone caused a roughly 5% drop in U.S. gas demand, offsetting the modest increase in domestic consumption, and thus sending prices into a tailspin. However, winter weather fluctuations can go both ways. Fast forward to the 2020/2021 winter season, and unseasonably cold weather in Asia flipped the LNG market from oversupply into a deficit- sending Asian LNG prices to record highs. As the market balanced, U.S. LNG exports recovered towards new record highs of 10.8 Bcf/d by December 2020 – or roughly 10% of domestic gas supply:

25351933 1615843492929728

So despite the short-term disruption from mild winter weather, compounded by the Coronavirus, LNG exports have already recovered to new record highs in recent months. Meanwhile, U.S. domestic consumption remained resilient throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the bottom line is that U.S. natural gas demand is not only resilient but will also enjoy a secular growth tailwind from LNG exports in the years ahead.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the supply side of the equation.

Falling U.S. Gas Production Creates Supply Deficit

As the old saying goes in commodities markets, “the cure for low prices is low prices.” With natural gas falling well below the marginal cost of production in the spring and summer of 2020, drilling ground to a halt across the U.S. By May of 2020, producers had removed 9.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) from the market – nearly 10% off the prior peak of 97 Bcf/d reached in December of 2019.

Gas output started coming back online in June, recovering to 92.4 Bcf/d by December 2020 (the latest official data from EIA). Despite this recovery, U.S. production remains 4.6 Bcf/d below the prior peak of 97 Bcf/d reached in December 2019 – exiting 2020 down roughly 5% on a year-on-year basis:

25351933 16158435358942304

Putting it all together… stable domestic consumption plus new record high LNG exports against declining production has shifted the U.S. gas market from surplus into deficit. We can measure this supply deficit via gas inventories versus the five-year average. The chart below shows the evolution from an oversupplied market in the first half of 2020 into a persistent deficit exiting 2020, and accelerating into early 2021:

25351933 1615843365098833

Of course, the million-dollar question going forward is…

Is this Time Different?

Specifically, can we trust shale drillers not to unleash a flood of new production that will oversupply the market, and keep prices depressed going forward? After all, anyone making this bet at virtually any time in the last decade turned out to be dead wrong. I’m the first to admit falling into this trap, and I’ve got the brokerage statement scars to prove it. As a brief bit of background for those new to the shale patch, here’s what happened…

During the last decade, hundreds of billions of dollars went up in smoke in America’s shale patch. Both outside investors and shale insiders share in the blame. In search of the next great growth story in a world of zero interest rates, Wall Street allocated a seemingly endless supply of cheap capital to shale producers – a situation that never ends well, regardless of which industry the easy money flows into. Meanwhile, corporate boardrooms crafted compensation schemes that rewarded management teams for reckless growth, with little consideration of economic returns.

In public companies, C-suite bonuses were often tied to top line production. This incentivized growth and acquisitions, with no penalty for the negative cash flows and bloated balance sheets created along the way. In private markets, rapid production growth made you a juicy acquisition target, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of capital destruction. Much of the innovation that boosted well productivity over the last decade came with the cost of pouring ever more money downhole. Thus, the rise of 10,000-foot drilling laterals and “super fracked” wells, blasted with thousands of pounds of sand and other proppants. So while many oil and gas producers achieved impressive top line revenue growth, if often meant spending $1.10 to generate $1 in cash flow.

But that which can’t go on forever, typically doesn’t.

After a lost decade of negative returns in the shale patch, investors are no longer willing to throw good money after bad. Many have simply thrown up their hands and given up on the sector. Others have exited oil and gas for ESG reasons. The few remaining investors will not tolerate the previous “growth at all costs” business model. Instead, the new mantra in today’s shale patch is “show me the money”. But before shale producers can begin returning capital to shareholders, they must first redress their capital allocation sins of the past decade, by repairing broken balance sheets.

Lenders Force the Shale Patch into Submission

Unlike the last market downturn in 2016, lenders now find themselves stuck with the bill of unpayable debt, as the Wall Street Journal explains…

During the last oil-market downturn in 2015 and 2016, banks came out largely unscathed as producers sold off their assets or handed control over to bondholders… This time around, some bank lenders are finding out their collateral in the form of oil and gas assets isn’t worth enough to cover their debts as oil prices have decreased.

As a result, lenders have tightened credit standards, starving the shale industry of the critical capital needed for growth. This means leveraged E&Ps can no longer simply pay lip service to fiscal prudence. With credit no longer freely available, repairing broken balance sheets has now become a matter of survival. Gone are the days of abundant external capital available for chasing growth; many shale drillers must now divert any excess cash flows towards working down debt.

You can find clear evidence of this new industry reality in the latest quarterly conference calls among public E&P companies. Across the board, capital allocation discussions are now dominated by three priorities:

  1. Living within cash flows
  2. Shifting from growth towards maintenance levels of production and capex.
  3. De-leveraging balance sheets

To cite a few examples, let’s start with America’s largest dry gas producer – EQT (EQT) – whose management team noted the following strategic focus on the company’s Q4 conference call:

Our strategy remains unchanged, execute a maintenance program, enhance margins, grow free cash flow and de-lever the business… We will continue to paydown additional debt in 2022, until we are constantly trending below two times leverage.

Likewise, executives of Southwestern Energy (SWN) reiterated the same priorities on their latest earnings call:

Remaining financially disciplined, optimizing free cash flow at maintenance capital investment levels, reducing debt and achieving sustainable two times leverage… and we will continue to allocate free cash flow to debt reduction until we reach that goal.

Meanwhile, the capital allocation plan at Antero Resources (AR) involves flat capex spending for the next five years:

It’s a maintenance capital program for AR for the next five years. That is the plan certainly for now to generate maximum pre-cash flow and paydown our debt profile.

Finally, management at Range Resources (RRC) remain committed to holding production flat, per their Q4 2020 conference call:

The capital plan for 2021 is projected to maintain production (unchanged) at approximately 2.15 Bcf equivalent per day.

I could keep going, but you get the point. These are four of the largest gas-focused E&P companies, in the heart of Appalachia – America’s lowest-cost gas play. If they’re slamming on the brakes of capital investment, you can bet the same thing is happening with higher-cost producers in the Haynesville and other gas basins around the country.

Meanwhile, the few remaining companies with the balance sheet capacity to weather the storm – the supermajors like Chevron and Exxon – are also throwing in the towel on their previous growth ambitions.

The End of an Era: Supermajors Retreat from Shale Gas

Long time energy investors will recall Exxon’s bold foray into shale gas with the $36 billion XTO acquisition in 2010. The deal made Exxon the largest gas producer in America… and that was only the start. Over the next five years, XTO pursued an aggressive acquisition spree that tripled its asset base.

Fast forward a decade later, and Exxon now finds itself taking multi-billion-dollar asset impairments and slashing its exposure to shale gas. Investors in the company paid the price – with a decade of negative returns, and an increasingly fragile balance sheet, as net debt exploded from a pristine $4 billion in 2011 to nearly $70 billion today. So it’s perhaps unsurprising that Exxon is flipping the script, and now retreating from shale gas. This includes the company’s recent announcement to slash its North American capital expenditures towards dry gas production by half. As Natural Gas Intel reports:

The once-prized dry gas assets had been included in future development plans, but under the revised strategy there are no plans to develop ‘a significant portion’ of dry gas assets in Appalachia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and the Rocky Mountains, nor in some gas resources in Western Canada and Argentina.

Likewise, Chevron didn’t escape the shale boom without its share of multi-billion-dollar blunders. In 2010, Chevron acquired Atlas Energy in a $4.3 billion deal to acquire 1.1 million net acres in the Appalachian basin. At the time, with gas prices trading between $4 – $5 per Mcf, gas-rich Appalachian acreage traded for a premium. Fast forward to 2019, perpetual oversupply had kept gas prices trapped below $3 per Mcf for nearly half a decade. Thus, Chevron found itself taking an $8.2 billion impairment charge, largely from marking down its shale gas assets. In 2019, the company cut its losses and sold its half-million net acreage position in Appalachia to EQT for just $735 million – a small fraction of the original price per acre.

Novels could be written detailing the full scope of capital destruction in the shale patch over the last decade. But here’s the bottom-line going forward: the independent pure play gas producers are being forced into submission by their lenders. Most of these independents will be working for the banks and bondholders for at least the next couple of years and will thus be in no position to raise external financing for growth capex.

Meanwhile, supermajors like Chevron and Exxon are throwing in the towel and scrapping development plans for much of gas acreage altogether. These companies aren’t facing capital starvation from lenders, but their management teams are under just as much pressure from shareholders to maintain their dividends instead of chasing growth.

So, returning back to answer the original question…

Yes, it’s Different this Time

The capital impairment facing the U.S. energy industry is unlike anything we’ve seen since the dawn of the shale revolution. The rig count provides the single best metric for capturing this new reality, providing an indicator of the capital deployed for oil and gas production. In the chart below, note the striking difference between the V-shaped recovery in rig counts from the 2016 collapse versus the much more muted recovery in today’s capital starved environment:

25351933 16158433652151577

After the rig count bottomed in mid-2016, within nine months, U.S. drilling activity was approaching a full recovery. This time around, nine months after bottoming out in the summer of 2020, the U.S. rig remains depressed near the lows of the 2016 bottom. And that’s despite prices recently recovering above $60 per barrel of oil and $3 per Mcf of gas.

In the old shale regime, freely available capital gave rise to a “lower for longer” price environment. Today, capital starvation is now translating into “lower for longer” production and drilling activity. The EIA confirms this view, with their latest energy outlook calling for just 91.4 Bcf/d in U.S. dry gas production in 2021. If this projection holds…

2021 will mark the first back-to-back annual declines in U.S. gas production since the dawn of the shale revolution.

Given the ongoing stability in U.S. domestic gas consumption, plus new record highs in LNG exports, reduced supply should continue tightening the U.S. gas market through 2021 – 2022. Of course, weather will be the wildcard. Throw a cold winter into the mix, and the market could easily fall into a substantial supply deficit, requiring a spike in prices to balance the market. At the very least, all signs point towards sustained support for gas prices above $3 for the next couple of years. The EIA currently anticipates U.S. gas prices will average $3.14 in 2021 and $3.16 in 2022.

This leads to the final question – how to play it?

How I’m Playing the Coming Natural Gas Bull Market

Broadly speaking, the two most common approaches for expressing a view of higher natural gas include: 1) exchange traded funds (ETFs) and futures or 2) gas-focused E&P companies.

When you own a natural gas ETF, you really own continuous exposure to front month gas futures contracts. During a bull market, you will normally incur the cost of carry imbedded into the contango spread that develops across the futures curve (i.e. continuously selling out of expiring near-month contracts at lower prices and buying further-dated contracts at higher prices). At the moment, the natural gas curve is in backwardation, so it’s not a problem today. However, if the market begins pricing in tighter supply balances going forward, we should expect an inversion towards a contango term structure in gas futures.

If you buy into this view of a curve inversion towards natural gas contango, alongside a broader bull market in prices, it may present an interesting speculative opportunity to purchase individual futures contracts in the further out months in 2021 – 2022, as an example. The problem with this approach is that you’ll need mother nature to play ball. Recall from our earlier discussion that, during the winter months, weather becomes the dominant factor in shaping short term gas supply/demand and thus prices. Thus, an unusually mild warm winter could overwhelm an otherwise tight market, and crush prices. The challenge of navigating unpredictable weather fluctuations is one reason why natural gas trading is known as “the widowmaker” – it’s not an easy game.

For these reasons, most investors looking to express a long-term view on natural gas will likely find E&Ps as their preferred vehicle. Since these companies reflect the discounted cash flows over lifetime of the company, short-term price fluctuations become less meaningful. Of course, E&P investing comes with its own unique and equally daunting challenges, including…

Inventory – since buying shares in an E&P company means buying into the next 10-20 years of well inventory, that means making several critical assumptions regarding the value of that inventory. Can you trust management’s forecast regarding well spacing, drainage, and interference between parent and child wells? Can you trust that management is not extrapolating results from their Tier 1 inventory into lower-quality Tier 2 acreage?

Valuation – maybe the underlying assets are great, but are you buying them at a good enough price to earn a high return on your invested capital? This has become particularly challenging after the recent price rally across the energy complex.

Capital allocation – is management incentivized to act in the best interest of shareholders? Can you trust the C-suite to return capital to shareholders, instead of making an ill-timed acquisition, or recycling cash flows back into growth at the wrong point in the cycle? Are bloated G&A costs, including stock compensation, excessively eroding shareholder value?

Capital structure – given the bloated balance sheets across the sector, many E&Ps are now working for the banks and the bondholders. Only after leverage gets worked down over the next few years will shareholders start receiving a slice of the cash flow pie. In the meantime, without the prospect of direct shareholder returns, investors will need to rely on stock price appreciation. Again, after the recent rally across the energy complex, the prospect of buying low and selling high has become more challenging.

In other words, E&P investing presents a high hurdle between a gas bull market and your bottom line as an investor… and to quote Warren Buffett:

I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.

In the past, regular readers will recall that I’ve focused a lot of my research on jumping over the 7-foot hurdle that is E&P investing. Now, I’m not saying that this approach can’t work… but when it comes to putting capital at risk, why engage in such a difficult game?

In today’s world of digital platforms and democratized access to alternative asset classes, individuals have an increasingly diverse array of options for oil and gas investing, beyond public equities. Now, you can…

Become Your Own Energy Company, Minus the Corporate Baggage

I’m talking about tapping into partnerships that provide direct access to the cash flow returns coming off the wellhead. Instead of buying into all of the corporate baggage of E&P companies, these partnerships can bypass the balance sheet risks and bloated cost structures often standing between shareholders and the cash flow streams from individual wells.

For example, partnership agreements can be structured to avoid risking your capital on the long line of expenses incurred before the well is ever drilled – including leasehold acquisitions, well-site infrastructure, corporate SG&A and other costs. Instead, you can lock in specified hurdle rates from the cash flowing directly from the wellhead. Meanwhile, you have the choice of investing into single or multi-well projects, with varying risk profiles and return targets. In this way, you can self-direct your energy exposure.

Of course, direct oil and gas investing alone doesn’t guarantee investment nirvana. Proper due diligence is required to vet project operators and the deal terms of any offering. That said, if you can find the right deal structure and proven operators – preferably ones that have a lot of skin in the game alongside you – then you can tilt the odds in your favor.

Personally, this type of direct energy exposure feels a lot more like the proverbial 1-foot hurdle to step over versus ETFs, futures and public E&P companies. That’s why I’ve exited 100% of my exposure to these instruments and will instead self-direct my energy exposure with this partnership approach. That said, monitoring the trends among public producers will remain critical for understanding the broader industry supply/demand dynamics, and thus the outlook for oil and gas prices.

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  • Pipe Exchange is also entitled to transfer or share anonymous, statistic or aggregative information with companies or organizations connected to Pipe Exchange, and with suppliers, business partners, advertisers, and every third party, according to Pipe Exchange’s absolute discretion; however, Pipe Exchange will not disclose your identity to them, knowingly or deliberately, without receiving your consent.  

Children’s Online Privacy Information

Pipe Exchange does not knowingly collect personal information from minors who are under the age of 16 through the Website and/or the Services thereon. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with personally identifiable information without his/her consent, then he or she should contact Pipe Exchange at the information described below. If we become aware that a child under the age of 16 has provided us with personally identifiable information, we will delete such information from our files. Further, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) requires parental consent for collection of data from children younger than the age of 13 years old. For tips on protecting children’s privacy online, generally, please view the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) website at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens.html.

Cookies 

  1. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is stored in your web browser that allows Pipe Exchange or a third party to recognize you. Cookies might be used for the following purposes: (1) to enable certain functions; (2) to provide analytics; (3) to store your preferences; and (4) to enable ad delivery and behavioral advertising.

Cookies can either be session cookies or persistent cookies. A session cookie expires automatically when you close your browser. A persistent cookie will remain until it expires or you delete your cookies. Expiration dates are set in the cookies themselves; some may expire after a few minutes while others may expire after multiple years. Cookies placed by the website you’re visiting are sometimes called “first party cookies,” while cookies placed by other companies are sometimes called “third party cookies.”

  1. What cookies are used when I use the Pipe Exchange Website?

When you access and/or use the Website, Pipe Exchange or a third party may place a number of cookies in your browser. Some of the cookies will only be used if you use certain features or select certain preferences, and some cookies will always be used.

Each cookie serves one of four different purposes:

  1. Essential Cookies: These first party cookies allow users to use a feature of the Website such as: (i) staying logged in, or (ii) making purchases.
  2. Analytics Cookies: These cookies track information about how the Website is being used so that we can make improvements and report on our performance. We may also use analytics cookies to test new ads, pages or features to see how users react to them. Analytics cookies may either be first party or third party cookies.
  3. Preference Cookies: These first party cookies store your Website preferences.
  4. Ad Targeting Cookies: These third party cookies (also known as “behavioral” or “targeted” advertising) are placed by advertising platforms or networks in order to: (i) deliver ads and tracks ad performance, and (ii) enable advertising networks to deliver ads that may be relevant based upon your activities.

Finally, we may set cookies within emails we send to you (if you have consented to receiving emails from us). These cookies are used to track how often our emails are opened and clicked on by our customers. You can manage email cookies in the same way as website cookies, as explained above.

  1. How do third parties use cookies on the Pipe Exchange Website?

Third party companies like analytics companies and ad networks generally use cookies to collect user information on an anonymous basis. They may use that information to build a profile of your activities on the Website and other websites that you’ve visited.

  1. What are my cookie options?

If you don’t like the idea of cookies or certain types of cookies, you can change your browser’s settings to delete cookies that have already been set and to not accept new cookies. To learn more about how to do this, visit the help pages of your browser. Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or do not accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

You may also opt out of third party cookies by following the instructions provided by each third party in its privacy policy.

  1. Do you use any other user tracking technologies?

We use additional technologies to help track user activities and preferences. For example, we use Google Analytics and when you visit the Website via Facebook, we use tracking pixels.

  1. Interest-Based Advertising

We and third parties engage in interest-based advertising provided by vendors in order to deliver advertisements and personalized content that we and other advertisers believe will be of interest to you. To the extent third-parties are using cookies or other technologies to perform these services, Pipe Exchange does not control the use of this technology or the resulting information for online, mobile, or email advertising, and is not responsible for any actions or policies of such third parties. Advertisements, emails, and other messages may be delivered to you by Pipe Exchange or its service providers based on your online or mobile behavior, your search activity, your geographic location or other information that is collected by us or obtained from third parties. Some of our vendors and we may use our own or third-party aggregated or anonymized personal information, demographic data, and other inferred commercial interests to assist in the delivery of our advertisements to you.

In addition, we and our business partners use third parties to establish deterministic or probabilistic connections among devices (such as smartphones, tablets, and computers) to deliver more relevant advertising to you and for advertising analytics and reporting purposes. This means that information about your use of websites or applications on your current device may be combined with information from your other devices. We also may share this information and other inferences with third parties to allow them to target advertising, personalize content, or analyze behavior. This allows, for example, advertisements you see on your tablet to be based on activities you engaged in on your smartphone. These business partners may share and combine information from cookies with identifiers (such as device IDs assigned by Google or Apple) and IP addresses to make connections among related devices. This also allows for a more personalized experience across the Website.

If you have any questions about our Cookie Policy, you may contact us by sending an email to privacy@pipexch.com or by writing to us at:  14025 West Road, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77041

 

Social Media Features

The Website includes social media features, such as the Facebook and LinkedIn buttons/icons. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on the Website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it. 

 

Links to Third Party Sites

The Website may contain links to other sites that are not owned or controlled by Pipe Exchange. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by the Website. 

 

How We Store Your Information

Data Security

Pipe Exchange implements data security systems and procedures to secure the information stored on Pipe Exchange computer servers. Such systems and procedures reduce the risk of security breaches, but they do not provide absolute security. Therefore, Pipe Exchange cannot guarantee that the Website and Services are immune to unauthorized access to the information stored therein and to other information security risks.

 

Our Commitment to Data Security. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the correct use of information, we have applied reasonable and appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. We also limit access to personal data and confidential information on our systems to only those employees with a specific need to access this information. However, due to technological limitations and the risk of unlawful interceptions and accessing of transmissions and/or data, we cannot completely assure you, and you should not expect, that your personal information, and any other electronically communicated information, will be absolutely confidential.

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive financial information via our Website, the transmission of that information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

Please remember that you play a valuable part in security as well. To the extent you have created an account on our Website, your password to access our site, which you select at registration, should never be shared with anyone and should be changed frequently.  After you have finished using our site, you should log off and exit your browser so no unauthorized persons can use our site with your name and account information.

Information Retention and Access to Personal Information. We’ll retain information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you the Services, to comply with applicable law, resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements.   If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire to use and access our Services, you may correct, update, delete/deactivate your information by emailing Pipe Exchange via the contact information listed below. Before Pipe Exchange is able to provide you with any information or correct any inaccuracies, however, we may ask you to verify your identity and to provide other details to help us to respond to your request. But please note: (1) there might be some latency in deleting this information from our servers and back-up storage; (2) we will not delete anonymized data and may continue to use it as describe in this Privacy Policy; and (3) we may retain information if necessary to comply with our legal, tax or accounting obligations, resolve disputes, manage security risks, or enforce our agreements. Even if you cease your use of the Services, we may retain certain information in order to meet our obligations.

Under California Civil Code Sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to ask us for a notice identifying the categories of personal information which we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes, and providing contact information for such affiliates and/or third parties.  If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to: privacy@pipexch.com

International Transfer of Information Collected

We are a global company, with customers around the world and it is important to note that the Services, and the Website, may be operated via servers situated in the United States and elsewhere. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any information which you supply to Pipe Exchange (including, without limitation, personal information (e.g., your name, phone number, email address, etc.) may be transferred to, processed, and used in the United States and elsewhere. To provide you with the Services, you irrevocably and unconditionally consent that we may store, use, process, transfer and transmit such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy in the United States and locations around the world – including those outside your country which may provide different rules, regulations, and protections regarding privacy. Information may also be stored locally on the devices used to access the Services, which may be mobile.

We have taken appropriate safeguards to ensure that your personal data will remain protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, whether your personal data is within our control or has been entrusted to our third party service providers and partners.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time, Pipe Exchange may change the terms of this Privacy Policy. Changes will take effect once they are posted online and by accessing and/or using the Website or Services after we make any such changes to this Privacy Policy, you are deemed to have accepted such changes.  If you do not agree with any of the amended terms, you must avoid any further use of the Website and/or Services offered by Pipe Exchange.

 

Inquiries or Concerns?

You may contact Pipe Exchange by emailing us at privacy@pipexch.com and we will do our best to provide a prompt response to your question.

PIPE EXCHANGE TERMS OF USE

Last updated: August 2019

Welcome to https://pipexch.com/Pipe Exchange (the “Website”). The Website is owned and operated by Pipe Exchange LLCPipe ExchangePipe Exchange including its related companies, affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively “Pipe Exchange,” “we,” “us,” “our”). We make the Website available to you, subject to the following Terms of Use (these “Terms of Use”). PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE WEBSITE. By using the Website, you agree to these Terms of Use and agree they create a legally binding agreement between you and Pipe Exchange. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you may not use the Website. These Terms of Use are effective unless and until terminated by Pipe Exchange.

Minors are not authorized to access or use the Website for any purpose.

CHANGES TO TERMS OF USE

Pipe Exchange reserves the right, at any time, to modify, amend, alter or update these Terms of Use. These changes will be effective as of the date we post the revised version. By continuing to use the Website following such modifications, amendments, alterations or updates, you agree to be bound by such modifications, amendments, alterations or updates. Therefore, you should periodically visit this page to review our most current Terms of Use.

You may access the current version of these Terms of Use at any time by clicking on the link marked “Terms of Use” at the bottom of each page of the Website.

PRIVACY POLICY

In the course of your use of the Website, you may be asked to provide certain personalized information to us (such information referred to hereinafter as “User Information”).  Our information collection and use policies with respect to the privacy of such User Information are set forth in the Website’s Privacy Policy which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.  You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for the accuracy and content of User Information, and you agree to keep it up to date. 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Pipe Exchange respects the intellectual property rights of others. As between you and Pipe Exchange, and except any User Information which you provide, all rights, title and interests in the Website, including all the content (including, for example, audio, photographs, illustrations, graphics, other visuals, video, copy, software, etc.), code, data and materials thereon, the look and feel, design and organization of the Website, and the compilation of the content, code, data and materials on the Website, including but not limited to any copyrights, trademark rights, patent rights, database rights, moral rights, sui generis rights and other intellectual property and proprietary rights therein (collectively the “Content”) are owned by Pipe Exchange or by third parties who have licensed or provided their Content to us. The Website is protected under Trademarks (as defined below), copyright, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property rights laws, and your use of the Website does not grant to you ownership of any Content you may access on the Website. You are prohibited from using the Website to infringe or violate any intellectual property rights. Pipe Exchange may terminate your right to access the Website if it believes you are using the Website in a manner that infringes the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property rights of another.

We may investigate occurrences that may involve violations of the security of the Services or of the law and we may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations.

The trademarks, logos, service marks and trade names (collectively the “Trademarks”) displayed on the Website or on content available through the Website are registered and unregistered Trademarks of ours and others and may not be used unless authorized by the trademark owner.  All Trademarks not owned by us that appear on the Website or on or through the Website’s services, if any, are the property of their respective owners.  Nothing contained on the Website should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on the Website without our written permission or that of the third-party rights holder.  Your misuse of the Trademarks displayed on the Website is strictly prohibited.  Pipe Exchange will aggressively enforce its Trademark rights to the fullest extent of the law, including the seeking of criminal prosecution.

PERSONAL USE ONLY

The Website and the Content are intended for your personal use.  You may access and view the content on the Website via your computer or other internet compatible device, and make single copies or prints of the content on the Website for your personal, internal use only.   The Website and the services offered on or through the Website, including Pipe Exchange’s e-publication and any other content and materials thereon, are only for your personal, non-commercial use. Except as otherwise provided on the Website, you may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, sell, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Website. Use of the Website to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your website for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales is expressly forbidden.

PROHIBITED USE

Any commercial distribution, publishing or exploitation of the Website, or any content, code, data or materials on the Website, is strictly prohibited unless you have received the express prior permission of Pipe Exchange or the applicable rights holder.  You may not otherwise download, display, copy, reproduce, distribute, modify, perform, transfer, create derivative works from, sell or otherwise exploit any content, code, data or materials on the Website.  If you make other use of the Website, or the content, code, data or materials thereon, except as otherwise provided above, you may violate copyright and other laws of the United States, other countries, as well as applicable state laws and may be subject to liability for such unauthorized use.  Pipe Exchange will aggressively enforce its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law, including the seeking of criminal prosecution.

SECURITY

You are prohibited from violating, or attempting to violate the security of the Website. Any such violations may result in criminal and civil liabilities to you.  You warrant and agree that, while using the Website and the various services and features offered on or through the Website, you shall not: (a) impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any other person or entity; (b) insert your own or a third party’s advertising, branding or other promotional content into any of the Website’s content, materials or services, or use, redistribute, republish or exploit such content or service for any further commercial or promotional purposes or take any action that would constitute or could be interpreted as an endorsement or sponsorship by Pipe Exchange of any third party site, content, information or other materials, or in any manner that would violate the terms and conditions of any such third party sites; (c) attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network; or (d) attempt to gain unauthorized access to data not intended for you and/or other computer systems through the Website.  You shall not: (i) engage in spidering, “screen scraping,” “database scraping,” harvesting of e-mail addresses, wireless addresses or other contact or personal information, or any other automatic means of accessing, logging-in or registering on the Website or for any services or features offered on or through the Website, or obtaining lists of users or obtaining or accessing other information or features on, from or through the Website or the services offered on or through the Website, including, without limitation, any information residing on any server or database connected to the Website or any services offered on or through the Website; (ii) obtain or attempt to obtain unauthorized access to computer systems, materials, information or any services made available on or through the Website through any means; (iii) use the Website or the services made available on or through the Website in any manner with the intent to interrupt, damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Website or such services, including, without limitation, sending mass unsolicited messages or “flooding,” “spamming,” or “crashing” any systems; (iv) use the Website or the Website’s services or features in violation of Pipe Exchange’s or any third party’s intellectual property or other proprietary or legal rights; or (v) use the Website or the Website’s services in violation of any applicable law.  You further agree that you may not attempt (or encourage or support anyone else’s attempt) to circumvent, reverse engineer, decrypt, or otherwise alter or interfere with the Website or the Website’s services, or any content thereof, or make unauthorized use thereof.  You agree that you will not use the Website in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Website or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Website. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made publicly available or provided for through the Website. Pipe Exchange will investigate any alleged violations and will cooperate with law enforcement agencies in their investigations.

THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

Some of the information and material available through the Website are provided to Pipe Exchange by third parties (“Third-Party Material”). In some instances, the source of the Third-Party Material is identified. Third-Party Material is provided for your convenience only and Pipe Exchange does not endorse these materials or the parties who supply them to us. Pipe Exchange does not warrant or represent that these Third-Party Materials are current, accurate or reliable.

COPYRIGHT AGENT

We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and require that the people who use the Website do the same.  If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please forward the following information to Pipe Exchange’s Copyright Agent, designated as such pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2), named below:

  • Your address, telephone number, and email address;
  • A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
  • A description of where the alleged infringing material is located;
  • A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  • An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest; and
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
  • For all email submissions please include the subject line: DMCA Takedown Request.

 

Pipe Exchange has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, accounts of users of the services or the Website who are deemed to have repeatedly uploaded content that infringes the intellectual property rights of others.

 

Copyright Agent:

Pipe Exchange Legal

c/o Pipe Exchange LLC

14025 West Road.
Suite #100
Houston, TX 77041

Phone: + (713) 934-9480

Email: dmca@pipexch.com

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

THE WEBSITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER. PIPE EXCHANGE, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES RIGHTS, AND THE WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE. PIPE EXCHANGE MAKES NO WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE MATERIAL, SERVICES, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS, AND LINKS FOUND OR CONTAINED ON THE WEBSITE. PIPE EXCHANGE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE, THE CONTENT, OR ITS SERVERS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU OBTAIN MATERIAL THROUGH THE USE OF THE WEBSITE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS.

ALL MATERIAL CONTAINED IN THE WEBSITE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY, HAS NOT BEEN INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED, HAS NOT BEEN RECOMMENDED BY ANY FEDERAL OR STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OF MATERIAL INFORMATION. THE MATERIAL AND INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE WEBSITE SHOULD NOT, THEREFORE, BE USED OR RELIED UPON FOR ANY SPECIFIC REASON OR APPLICATION WITHOUT INDEPENDENT COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION AND VERIFICATION OF ITS ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, SUITABILITY AND APPLICABILITY. ANYONE MAKING USE OF THE MATERIAL DOES SO AT HIS/HER/ITS OWN SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE RISK AND ASSUMES ANY AND ALL ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL DAMAGE OR LIABILITY RESULTING FROM SUCH USE.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT SHALL PIPE EXCHANGE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE MATERIAL ON THE WEBSITE OR SITES LINKED TO THE WEBSITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT PIPE EXCHANGE IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TERMINATION

Pipe Exchange may terminate, change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Website or the Website’s services at any time.  Pipe Exchange may restrict, suspend or terminate your access to the Website and/or its services if we believe you are in breach of our terms and conditions or applicable law, or for any other reason without notice or liability.  Pipe Exchange maintains a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of the Website use privileges of users who are repeat infringers of intellectual property rights.

USER’S REMEDY

If you are dissatisfied with any portion of the Website or with any of these Terms of Use, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Website.

GOVERNING LAW AND VENUE

These Terms of Use and the relationship between you and Pipe Exchange shall be governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Florida without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You hereby irrevocably submit and consent to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within Miami-Dade County, Florida and agree that any cause of action that may arise under these Terms of Use and all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the Website shall be commenced and be heard in the appropriate court in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The failure of Pipe Exchange to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of these Terms of Use is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of these Terms of Use remain in full force and effect. 

QUESTIONS ABOUT TERMS OF USE

If you have any questions regarding these Terms of Use, please either:

Send an email to sales@pipexch.com

Write to Pipe Exchange at the following address:

14025 West Road

Suite 100

Houston, TX 77041