Big Oil earnings are set to surge. Why investors may want to be cautious

That's not a reference to the reportedly amazing new documentary about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. It's about the next few days and next week: days that will be dominated by earnings, a massive conference, and more on Europe's energy woes.

I'll hit more on energy earnings in The Actionable Insider below.

Next week for me, it's multiple flights through multiple time zones. First up is one of the most important energy conferences in the world: ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi. It's a who's who of the energy world. I'll be speaking with some of the most influential energy executives in the world. You'll see some clips on CNBC about it and then I'll write about it here next week. I'll also be meeting privately with some of the biggest power players in energy and having great conversations with country and company leaders about oil, gas, commodities, Hormuz, and more - all ahead of what some fear may be another round of hits on Iran or Iranian energy infrastructure. It remains a tense time.

That will be followed later in the week by a deeper dive into Europe's slow-rolling energy crisis. The Iran war and Hormuz risk have added another layer to an already risky situation, but let's be clear: it is not the reason why Europe is in an energy bind. Russia's horrible invasion and now four-year war on Ukraine added gasoline to a fire that began burning with bad policy decisions years ago. I have been covering the European energy story for five years - from the UK, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands - and next week I'll be in Italy highlighting where Europe is right now. Hint: it's not good. Natural gas storage levels are below their recent average, and prices are near record highs for imported LNG.

Of course, there is a risk that travel plans change, much as they did a few weeks ago around a planned trip to Riyadh. That was scuttled after the Houthis launched cowardly and deadly attacks on civilian targets in Riyadh and other Saudi Arabian cities.

Speaking of the Middle East, on my X account I posted a rather blurry picture sent by a friend of mine in Dubai a few days ago. On a morning swim, he spotted a U.S. Navy ship standing guard in the distance in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. It's blurry because he had to zoom in from a distance, but regardless, I think it tells a thousand words. Oil is flowing through Hormuz in part because the great U.S. Navy is making sure ships get through. This ship and the brave men and women on it are part of that. But there's also the risk that the Iran war heats back up, with new U.S. assaults on Iranian targets. If that happens, oil is likely to pop. We live in a day-to-day, or even hour-by-hour, world.