Source: Financial Times, 14th March 2010

Before I deal with my principal subject for this week - the supposed infinite demand for metals, thanks to growth in China - let me assure all the people who wrote asking for more detail on the real economics of shale gas that I will be returning to the topic soon. My (perhaps over-ambitious) goal is to find out how big companies manage to bleed large amounts of cash, year after year, in this part of the energy business, and yet still appear to be highly attractive to investors. I know I'm missing something, perhaps faith in Divine Providence.