July 21, 2025 • 11 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Kasey, it's been a while since we've checked in on
what's going on with the price of gas. Yeah, you
know what, I was just thinking about the sea other
day because I can remember filling up, oh a year
and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Ago, and it would cost me fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's not quite there, But I'm wondering will we get
back to that level?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I certainly hope not.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, lucky for us when it comes to oil, when
it comes to gas, when it comes to going on
with what's going on with your pocketbook? We got a guy.
We got a guy. His name is Bill Herrick. We
have dubbed him the oil Guy. He joins us now,
Bill Herrick.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hello, Good morning guys. How you do all right?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So you've got a whole bunch of good info for us.
But I want to start with because you run a
company called Midwest Energy Partners. Yes, and you get oil
out of the ground. That's what you do. That's why
you drive an automobile plated in gold. You live on
a ninety three acre Tommy sax. Yes, you're wealthy beyond
(01:01):
your wildest dreams. Right, but what has been going on
with Let's just start with oil. Since Trump took office.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Okay, great question. Well, you know when when he got
an office, oil is right at eighty dollars a barrel?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Is that good? Is that bad?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
That was good? Actually it's a user for Me's gasoline
at the time was about three and a quarter. Yeah, so,
you know, and then he mentioned the tariff word and
the whole world started going in shock, thinking the world
economy was going to crash, and so prices went down
in the upper fifties and it was good to me,
and gasoline I think went down around about two eighty
five or so, and then we bound our in and
(01:38):
prices shot back up. In the mid seventies, oil did
and then and now gasoline, you know, kind of started
going back up. And then once they realized that the
world world wasn't going to have World War three, you know,
oil prices have gone back down in the sixties, and
you know, and we're still bouncing around this three dollars
three in a quarter gas price.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Okay, I hate this because you seem like such a
wonderful guy, but what's good for me is bad for you.
So I really need you to fail, right, because you
obviously make money the hire the oil.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Right. Yeah, Well, So here's here, Mike. Here's the couple
of things I always do. I do a lot of
research for your show, believe it or not, because I
want to go on. I want to I want to
educate your listeners, even though they probably when they hear
me they want to turn the radio off. But you know,
one thing I found out was that actually the worldwide
demand for oil has increased by one percent every year
(02:30):
going back to the year two thousand. So every year
demand for oil is gone up one percent.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So we'd be up to public school math has me
like twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So right, thanks, very good, that's very good. And so
so it's the question for me more is anything else
is demands can always be there is a question more
of supply and and uh, you know, right now we're
doing about thirteen and a half million barrels a day
in the United States, but we are a number of
drill well drills that we're currently operating right now is
(02:59):
down to the low four hundreds, and that's the lowest
level it's been since twenty twenty one. So the bottom
line is we're not drilling new wells.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We don't have the price isn't good we're you know,
we're like I said, we're in the sixties. We really
need to have seventy five to eighty five dollars oil
to drill new wells. Kicher's just not gonna get a
return on We're not going to get the return we
need for our investors. They indivent know their independents aren't
going to get the return they need to get to
pay their cost and you know, like everything else, guys,
you know, our costs have gone up through the roof.
So you know, to drill well today is probably twenty
(03:32):
five percent more expensive than it was over years ago.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I have so many questions about that. So Bill Herrick
is our guest, he's our oil guy, Midwest Energy Partners,
that's his company. If he's doing well, you're doing bad.
That's all we like to say. No, we love Billy.
He's totally honest about that. Why is the cost of
drilling oil gone up? Doesn't the thing just still go
in the ground. What is more expensive about doing it now?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, it's all the parts, right, So it's labor. It's
steel for the for the tube that goes into the ground,
for the for the going on the well. It's it's
all all all the mechanical parts, all the liquids, all
the chemicals, everything's up twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So what you're saying is that the use worldwide has
gone up about twenty five percent and the cost to
get it has gone up twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Absolutely, yep.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay. So there was a bunch of changes made under Biden.
They did the Green Dreams scam, areno stuff, and then
Trump came in as like I'm getting rid of all
of it. But then a bunch of Republicans got sideways
and we're like, well, our state is making a bunch
of money off the green scam. What happened with the
green dream as a part of the big bull crap bill?
And how's that go affect what I got paid for? Stuff?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right? Well, I was gonna I wanted to take
it one more and one more thing real quickly about
oil if I could.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's very good. You're a professional answer the question you
want to answer.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So again, my concern is that we're not Yeah, I know,
well we're not. We're not drilling any new wells, so
that means our production is going to start dropping. And
as supply drops and the demand stays strong, prices are
going to start increasing. So I do think we're going
to see higher oil and gas prices next year. Maybe
nothing crazy, but three fifty three seventy five a gallon
(05:05):
or gasoline is probably going to be the norm. Because
unless we listenings turn around, and we aren't, we don't
start drilling some new wells. As I mentioned before in
the show, every every well that's ever been drilled declines
about five percent a year. So just to make up
for that decline, you've got to be drilling a number
of new wells which were not so okay.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So tell me about the green stuff. So, yeah, sounds
like a rip off. Well, the green stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, we've the you know in your favorite your
favorite new bill that we just passed. What was the
name of it again, ever, the big bull crap bill,
Big bull crab.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, there I go.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
H there were some good things in there that I
think affect the green energy. Uh. And and basically the
undid the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden did. So, for example,
the maximum tax credit of seventy five hundred dollars for
buy an electric car ends on September thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So better get that pass.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, better go on and my one if you if
you're thinking about buying one, because it'll go away. A
lot of the energy credits for your house are going
to go away at the end of the year. So
a lot of times, you know, you put new windows in,
you put new new roofing on, whatever, a lot of
those credits are going to go away. The wind and
solar product projects are going to have to work on
a positive business model. I mean, they're gonna have to
(06:22):
cash flow on their own as opposed to getting these
huge tax subsidies, you know, and and and loan guarantees
and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Work on their own.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
That's exactly right. They should be and they should have
been doing that all along, but unfortunately that's not what's happened.
So so you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Can say it louder. Why can't they make it work
on their own? Is there just not a demand for
like why do you have any theory on that? Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Not really, it's just that just the volumes. Why why
the amount of energy that that that is produced, uh
is relatively minor compared to the cost that gets a
For example, let me just say this, since two thousand
and four, five point four trillion dollars have been spent
worldwide on solar and wind projects, and they have a
three percent market share in terms of providing energy in
(07:09):
the world.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Wow. Bill Herrick, the oil guy, is our guest, Midwest
Energy Partners. That's his company. We're talking about oil gas energy. Okay,
real quick question. I see a lot of these a
lot of pressure from these solar farms to just take
this beautiful farm land and put a bunch of solar
farms right here in Central Indiana, and some communities are
outraged about this. The legislature seems to be buying into
(07:32):
some of that bull crap. Should we be concerned about that?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Well? I think again that's the tax credits are gonna
go away. So most of these projects don't work. So
again I don't I think those problems are going to
solve themselves looking at them. But I know in one
particular case, actually, one of my partners was presented with
a case two years ago, first solar farm and they've
(07:55):
totally gone away. It's the number is just going to work.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Can you tell us about the recent survey that done
by the American Enterprise Institute.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, I'd love to, because I know you guys love
surveys you know. So, Yeah, there's an entity called American
Enterprise Institute canvas voters last October about global warming and
green energy, and.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
They asked people how they felt about it.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, And they also asked if people were considered themselves
as conservative or liberal, which I found as an interesting
question to start with. And the survey had a lot
of predictable results, right. One of them was that liberals
are not very smart when it comes about energy, you know. So,
for example, they survey found that fifty three percent of
the voters who identify as liberal believe we should phase
(08:38):
out all use of coal, natural gas, and oil, lying
entirely on renewable energy sources. Wow. So now keep in
mind again the solar doesn't work in the dark, and
wind doesn't work when it's not windy, so, you know, yeah,
good luck keeping your air conditioning on if that's going.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
To do those people think that through.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I don't. I don't have a clue. I mean, it's
beyond me. But only twenty nine percent of all the
voters in the survey though, believe that. So so again
just tells you how much out of line the liberals are.
But other predictable results and I thought were interesting. Forty
percent of the voters saw the climate change was a priority.
I should say only forty percent of the top five
(09:18):
they mentioned we're striking the economy, fighting inflation, preventing terrorism,
protecting her borders, and reducing health.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's only the green crazy people actually care about.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. Well, and here's the other thing. I think two things. Actually,
only thirty eight percent of the people that were canvas
were willing to pay a dollar one dollar a month
for climate change.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
What was the number one percent?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Thirty eight percent? So you got two thirds of the
people saying, no, I'm not going to even pay a
dollar for that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah. And then and then almost seventy percent of the
response we're against paying for green energy projects have meant
paying higher utile costs.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Hey question, Casey scribbled us down in her paper there,
and I thought that means she desperately wants it to
be asked, what do you know these small modular reactors,
brons trying to sell these this nuclear power stuff as
something end all, be all. I'm not aware of anywhere
this has actually worked in this country.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yet, right, I'm not I'm not really that intelligent about it.
I mean I read about it, and they're they're interesting.
You know, the data center issue is a big issue
that I have because it's going to cause us all
to pay significantly higher utility prices. It doesn't provide any
new jobs. It takes a bunch of land, it takes
a bunch of water resources. I don't understand what they
(10:29):
what the the excitement is about doing these things. But
but yeah, a lot of these would be requiring to
be building these little mini nuclear plants.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Okay, before I let you go, have a very important
question for you, because you know, in my mind, I
picture you like what you're like a JR. Ewing like
you've got a cowboy hat on the belt buckle check
how many? How many times when because you are John
Herrick's father, I know, we always like to preface a
news director at w IBC with your cowboy hat on,
(10:59):
or you standing out at the well and you looked
at John and as a boy and said you're just
a colossal disappointment. How many times did that happen?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Never? Never, He's a great kid.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You never looked at him once since said this could
all be yours one day.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, which is why he got into radio.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's right, he said, no, thank you. Yeah, we love John,
Midwest Energy Partners, Bill Herrick, you are the best.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thanks, thank you.
Kasey, it's been a while since we've checked in on
what's going on with the price of gas. Yeah, you
know what, I was just thinking about the sea other
day because I can remember filling up, oh a year
and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Ago, and it would cost me fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's not quite there, But I'm wondering will we get
back to that level?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I certainly hope not.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, lucky for us when it comes to oil, when
it comes to gas, when it comes to going on
with what's going on with your pocketbook? We got a guy.
We got a guy. His name is Bill Herrick. We
have dubbed him the oil Guy. He joins us now,
Bill Herrick.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hello, Good morning guys. How you do all right?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So you've got a whole bunch of good info for us.
But I want to start with because you run a
company called Midwest Energy Partners. Yes, and you get oil
out of the ground. That's what you do. That's why
you drive an automobile plated in gold. You live on
a ninety three acre Tommy sax. Yes, you're wealthy beyond
(01:01):
your wildest dreams. Right, but what has been going on
with Let's just start with oil. Since Trump took office.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Okay, great question. Well, you know when when he got
an office, oil is right at eighty dollars a barrel?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Is that good? Is that bad?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
That was good? Actually it's a user for Me's gasoline
at the time was about three and a quarter. Yeah, so,
you know, and then he mentioned the tariff word and
the whole world started going in shock, thinking the world
economy was going to crash, and so prices went down
in the upper fifties and it was good to me,
and gasoline I think went down around about two eighty
five or so, and then we bound our in and
(01:38):
prices shot back up. In the mid seventies, oil did
and then and now gasoline, you know, kind of started
going back up. And then once they realized that the
world world wasn't going to have World War three, you know,
oil prices have gone back down in the sixties, and
you know, and we're still bouncing around this three dollars
three in a quarter gas price.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Okay, I hate this because you seem like such a
wonderful guy, but what's good for me is bad for you.
So I really need you to fail, right, because you
obviously make money the hire the oil.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Right. Yeah, Well, So here's here, Mike. Here's the couple
of things I always do. I do a lot of
research for your show, believe it or not, because I
want to go on. I want to I want to
educate your listeners, even though they probably when they hear
me they want to turn the radio off. But you know,
one thing I found out was that actually the worldwide
demand for oil has increased by one percent every year
(02:30):
going back to the year two thousand. So every year
demand for oil is gone up one percent.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So we'd be up to public school math has me
like twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So right, thanks, very good, that's very good. And so
so it's the question for me more is anything else
is demands can always be there is a question more
of supply and and uh, you know, right now we're
doing about thirteen and a half million barrels a day
in the United States, but we are a number of
drill well drills that we're currently operating right now is
(02:59):
down to the low four hundreds, and that's the lowest
level it's been since twenty twenty one. So the bottom
line is we're not drilling new wells.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We don't have the price isn't good we're you know,
we're like I said, we're in the sixties. We really
need to have seventy five to eighty five dollars oil
to drill new wells. Kicher's just not gonna get a
return on We're not going to get the return we
need for our investors. They indivent know their independents aren't
going to get the return they need to get to
pay their cost and you know, like everything else, guys,
you know, our costs have gone up through the roof.
So you know, to drill well today is probably twenty
(03:32):
five percent more expensive than it was over years ago.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I have so many questions about that. So Bill Herrick
is our guest, he's our oil guy, Midwest Energy Partners,
that's his company. If he's doing well, you're doing bad.
That's all we like to say. No, we love Billy.
He's totally honest about that. Why is the cost of
drilling oil gone up? Doesn't the thing just still go
in the ground. What is more expensive about doing it now?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, it's all the parts, right, So it's labor. It's
steel for the for the tube that goes into the ground,
for the for the going on the well. It's it's
all all all the mechanical parts, all the liquids, all
the chemicals, everything's up twenty percent.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So what you're saying is that the use worldwide has
gone up about twenty five percent and the cost to
get it has gone up twenty five percent.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Absolutely, yep.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay. So there was a bunch of changes made under Biden.
They did the Green Dreams scam, areno stuff, and then
Trump came in as like I'm getting rid of all
of it. But then a bunch of Republicans got sideways
and we're like, well, our state is making a bunch
of money off the green scam. What happened with the
green dream as a part of the big bull crap bill?
And how's that go affect what I got paid for? Stuff?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right? Well, I was gonna I wanted to take
it one more and one more thing real quickly about
oil if I could.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's very good. You're a professional answer the question you
want to answer.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So again, my concern is that we're not Yeah, I know,
well we're not. We're not drilling any new wells, so
that means our production is going to start dropping. And
as supply drops and the demand stays strong, prices are
going to start increasing. So I do think we're going
to see higher oil and gas prices next year. Maybe
nothing crazy, but three fifty three seventy five a gallon
(05:05):
or gasoline is probably going to be the norm. Because
unless we listenings turn around, and we aren't, we don't
start drilling some new wells. As I mentioned before in
the show, every every well that's ever been drilled declines
about five percent a year. So just to make up
for that decline, you've got to be drilling a number
of new wells which were not so okay.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So tell me about the green stuff. So, yeah, sounds
like a rip off. Well, the green stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, we've the you know in your favorite your
favorite new bill that we just passed. What was the
name of it again, ever, the big bull crap bill,
Big bull crab.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, there I go.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
H there were some good things in there that I
think affect the green energy. Uh. And and basically the
undid the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden did. So, for example,
the maximum tax credit of seventy five hundred dollars for
buy an electric car ends on September thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So better get that pass.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, better go on and my one if you if
you're thinking about buying one, because it'll go away. A
lot of the energy credits for your house are going
to go away at the end of the year. So
a lot of times, you know, you put new windows in,
you put new new roofing on, whatever, a lot of
those credits are going to go away. The wind and
solar product projects are going to have to work on
a positive business model. I mean, they're gonna have to
(06:22):
cash flow on their own as opposed to getting these
huge tax subsidies, you know, and and and loan guarantees
and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Work on their own.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
That's exactly right. They should be and they should have
been doing that all along, but unfortunately that's not what's happened.
So so you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Can say it louder. Why can't they make it work
on their own? Is there just not a demand for
like why do you have any theory on that? Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Not really, it's just that just the volumes. Why why
the amount of energy that that that is produced, uh
is relatively minor compared to the cost that gets a
For example, let me just say this, since two thousand
and four, five point four trillion dollars have been spent
worldwide on solar and wind projects, and they have a
three percent market share in terms of providing energy in
(07:09):
the world.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Wow. Bill Herrick, the oil guy, is our guest, Midwest
Energy Partners. That's his company. We're talking about oil gas energy. Okay,
real quick question. I see a lot of these a
lot of pressure from these solar farms to just take
this beautiful farm land and put a bunch of solar
farms right here in Central Indiana, and some communities are
outraged about this. The legislature seems to be buying into
(07:32):
some of that bull crap. Should we be concerned about that?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Well? I think again that's the tax credits are gonna
go away. So most of these projects don't work. So
again I don't I think those problems are going to
solve themselves looking at them. But I know in one
particular case, actually, one of my partners was presented with
a case two years ago, first solar farm and they've
(07:55):
totally gone away. It's the number is just going to work.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Can you tell us about the recent survey that done
by the American Enterprise Institute.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, I'd love to, because I know you guys love
surveys you know. So, Yeah, there's an entity called American
Enterprise Institute canvas voters last October about global warming and
green energy, and.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
They asked people how they felt about it.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, And they also asked if people were considered themselves
as conservative or liberal, which I found as an interesting
question to start with. And the survey had a lot
of predictable results, right. One of them was that liberals
are not very smart when it comes about energy, you know. So,
for example, they survey found that fifty three percent of
the voters who identify as liberal believe we should phase
(08:38):
out all use of coal, natural gas, and oil, lying
entirely on renewable energy sources. Wow. So now keep in
mind again the solar doesn't work in the dark, and
wind doesn't work when it's not windy, so, you know, yeah,
good luck keeping your air conditioning on if that's going.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
To do those people think that through.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I don't. I don't have a clue. I mean, it's
beyond me. But only twenty nine percent of all the
voters in the survey though, believe that. So so again
just tells you how much out of line the liberals are.
But other predictable results and I thought were interesting. Forty
percent of the voters saw the climate change was a priority.
I should say only forty percent of the top five
(09:18):
they mentioned we're striking the economy, fighting inflation, preventing terrorism,
protecting her borders, and reducing health.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's only the green crazy people actually care about.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. Well, and here's the other thing. I think two things. Actually,
only thirty eight percent of the people that were canvas
were willing to pay a dollar one dollar a month
for climate change.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
What was the number one percent?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Thirty eight percent? So you got two thirds of the
people saying, no, I'm not going to even pay a
dollar for that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah. And then and then almost seventy percent of the
response we're against paying for green energy projects have meant
paying higher utile costs.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Hey question, Casey scribbled us down in her paper there,
and I thought that means she desperately wants it to
be asked, what do you know these small modular reactors,
brons trying to sell these this nuclear power stuff as
something end all, be all. I'm not aware of anywhere
this has actually worked in this country.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yet, right, I'm not I'm not really that intelligent about it.
I mean I read about it, and they're they're interesting.
You know, the data center issue is a big issue
that I have because it's going to cause us all
to pay significantly higher utility prices. It doesn't provide any
new jobs. It takes a bunch of land, it takes
a bunch of water resources. I don't understand what they
(10:29):
what the the excitement is about doing these things. But
but yeah, a lot of these would be requiring to
be building these little mini nuclear plants.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Okay, before I let you go, have a very important
question for you, because you know, in my mind, I
picture you like what you're like a JR. Ewing like
you've got a cowboy hat on the belt buckle check
how many? How many times when because you are John
Herrick's father, I know, we always like to preface a
news director at w IBC with your cowboy hat on,
(10:59):
or you standing out at the well and you looked
at John and as a boy and said you're just
a colossal disappointment. How many times did that happen?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Never? Never, He's a great kid.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You never looked at him once since said this could
all be yours one day.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, which is why he got into radio.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's right, he said, no, thank you. Yeah, we love John,
Midwest Energy Partners, Bill Herrick, you are the best.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thanks, thank you.
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The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.