About US Energy Investing

US Energy Investing started in 2023 and was relaunched in 2026 with a deliberately narrow mission: to explain direct oil & gas investments — working interests, drilling partnerships, mineral rights, and royalties — the way an operator's finance department actually evaluates them. Plain English, primary sources, and risks stated before returns.

The problem this site exists to fix

Search almost any question about oil & gas investing and the "education" you find is marketing. Nearly every site ranking for these topics is run by a sponsor raising money for its own drilling programs, a broker earning placement fees, or an affiliate collecting a referral when you fill out the contact form. The content exists to make the phone ring — which is why it dwells on tax deductions and "monthly income," and goes quiet on dry-hole rates, sponsor markups, illiquidity, and decline curves. That's not education; it's a funnel with a glossary.

This asset class deserves better, because the honest version is genuinely interesting: real tax advantages written into the Internal Revenue Code, real income streams — and real, specific ways ordinary investors get hurt. This site explains how the numbers actually get built — because its author builds them for a living.

Editorial principles

• Risks before returns. Every strategy page states what can go wrong — dry holes, fees, illiquidity, decline — before what can go right.
• Every tax claim cited. Statements about IDC, depletion, or capital gains link to the Code section, Treasury regulation, or IRS publication behind them, so you can verify us.
• Skin in the game, disclosed. I evaluate and make these investments myself, and I'll show you real (anonymized where needed) examples — including deals I passed on and why. When I reference my own positions or North Pine Capital's, I'll say so plainly.
• No sponsor kickbacks. No drilling sponsor, mineral buyer, or platform pays for coverage, placement, or referrals on this site. Nothing here is an offer to sell you anything.

Who writes this

Casmir Mason — CFO, Pheasant oil & gas entities

Casmir is the chief financial officer of the Pheasant oil & gas entities — a family of operating companies with mineral, royalty, and working-interest positions across producing basins. That means the subjects on this site aren't research topics for him; they're his desk. He has built the well-economics models, reserve and royalty valuations, and investment screening systems — including the tax-focused ones — that decide where real drilling capital goes. The RESERVES framework this site teaches is the same discipline, written down.

He also invests personally through North Pine Capital, his family investment office, and writes The Nest Planner, a companion site on the tax side of retirement planning — Roth conversions, self-directed IRAs, and where energy deductions fit in a retirement picture. When this site references investments he has made or evaluated, they come from that portfolio and that operating seat.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback: [email protected]. We take accuracy seriously — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.