T. Boone Pickens’ BP Capital Concentrates on Energy, Drops Basic Materials

August 23rd, 2009		\| More
BP Capital Management’s second quarter SEC filing shows that the hedge fund manager is focusing solely on energy companies these days. While the firm’s founder and Chief Investment Officer T. Boone Pickens has been publically supporting clean energy technologies, his stock portfolio suggests that he is still a strong believer in dirty energy. After selling-out of its basic materials sector holdings, the fund now holds 100% of its portfolio in the energy sector, specifically oil and natural gas companies. BP Capital’s top holding, offshore oil drilling and exploration company Transocean Inc (RIG), was trimmed over the quarter by 125,000 shares / $9.2mm. Even after the share sales, the company still accounts for 22.6% of the hedge fund’s portfolio, representing $26.7mm or 360,000 shares. The firm’s other top 5 positions included: Suncor Energy Inc (USA) (SU) - $18.81mm; 620,000 Shares, 15.9% of Portfolio Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY) - $17.11mm; 260,000 Shares, 14.5% of Portfolio Devon Energy Corp (DVN) - $15.28mm; 280,400 Shares, 12.9% of Portfolio (Purchased 30,400 shares) Cabot Oil & Gas Corp (COG) - $8.43mm; 275,000 Shares, 7.1% of Portfolio (Purchased 75,000 shares) Independent oil and gas companies account for 51% of BP Capital’s portfolio. These companies should be the first to rebound (in the form of higher prices) when demand picks up, including the aforementioned Occidental, Devon, and Cabot, as well as: Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK) - $6.64mm ; 335,000 Shares, 5.6% of Portfolio Forest Oil Corp (FST) - $3.88mm ; 260,000 Shares, 3.3% of Portfolio XTO Energy Inc (XTO) - $3.62mm ; 95,000 Shares, 3.1% of Portfolio Denbury Resources Inc (DNR) - $3.17mm ; 215,000 Shares, 2.7% of Portfolio Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC) - $2.27mm ; 50,000 Shares, 1.9% of Portfolio Selling Activity Besides Transocean, BP Capital also trimmed its exposure to oil and gas equipment services provider Schlumberger Ltd (SLB) by selling 75,000 shares, bringing down its holdings to 100,000 shares or $5.4mm. Of the eight positions BP Capital exited, five were basic materials stocks. The remaining three exited positions included oil and gas equipment manufacturer Halliburton Co (HAL), industrial equipment manufacturer Shaw Group (SGR), and independent oil and gas company McMoran Exploration Co (MMR). Although an obvious departure from the fund’s general sentiment towards independent oil and gas companies over the quarter, BP’s divestment of MMR does not come unwarranted. Over the past year, the stock has fallen from a peak of $34 in August 2008 to a recent low of $8, which has been fueled by unsustainable operating margins within the company. BP Capital exited the following positions over the second quarter: Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR) - Change -230,000 Shares / $-4.08mm Consol Energy Inc (CNX) - Change -150,000 Shares / $-3.79mm Fluor Corp (FLR) - Change -219,000 Shares / $-7.57mm Foster Wheeler Ltd (FWLT) - Change -222,000 Shares / $-3.88mm Halliburton Co (HAL) - Change -200,000 Shares / $-3.09mm Massey Energy Co (MEE) - Change -325,000 Shares / $-3.29mm McMoran Exploration Co (MMR) - Change -200,000 Shares / $-0.94mm Shaw Group Inc (SGR) - Change -80,000 Shares / $-2.19mm As reported in July, T. Boone’s BP Capital Energy Fund II and Energy Equity Fund II posted 79% and 14% returns, respectively, through the first half of 2009. For more information on BP Capital, please click here. For more information on top hedge funds and portfolio managers, please see, HedgeTracker’s Complete Hedge Fund Directory