Encompass Capital Advisors
Encompass Capital Advisors is a New York hedge fund, founded in 2012, that invests across energy and the energy transition. Its water angle runs through that transition: Encompass backs International Battery Metals, whose direct lithium extraction draws lithium from brine while returning most of the water to aquifers. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional as of 2026.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Encompass Capital Advisors is, first and foremost, an energy fund, and that is the honest place to start. Todd Kantor founded it in New York in 2012 after a career spent reading the energy markets from the inside, first in JP Morgan's oil and gas banking group, later as an analyst at funds like Touradji Capital, and the strategy he built is a global long/short equity book, meaning he can bet on the energy companies he likes and against the ones he thinks will fall. Water never shows up in that pitch, and I want to be straight about it: Encompass is an energy investor whose water exposure arrives sideways, through the energy transition.
Encompass touches water in the plumbing of that transition. The fund backs International Battery Metals, a company building modular plants for direct lithium extraction, or DLE, which is the water story hiding inside every electric-vehicle battery. The old way of getting lithium floods huge ponds of salt brine and lets the sun evaporate them, consuming the water for good, while International Battery Metals pulls the lithium straight out of the brine and, by its own account, returns roughly 90% of the water to the underground aquifer it came from. That gentler-on-water lithium is the thread that earns Encompass a place in a water directory at all.
As of 2026, Encompass has been leaning harder into that battery and lithium supply chain, with its public filings showing it building bigger positions in the companies that make and feed the cells, so the energy-transition tilt is getting more pronounced, not less. For a newcomer trying to place this fund, the read is simple: Encompass is not a water fund, and it does not pretend to be, which is exactly why (don't) Waste Water marks its water commitment Occasional. The question worth watching is whether an energy manager who already understands brine and lithium keeps drifting toward the water-intensity of the whole transition.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Frequently asked
- What does Encompass Capital Advisors invest in?
- Encompass Capital Advisors is an energy-focused hedge fund that invests across the energy sector and the energy transition, from traditional oil and gas to renewables, batteries and lithium. Its water relevance comes through that transition, notably its stake in International Battery Metals and water-conscious lithium extraction.
- Is Encompass Capital Advisors a water investor?
- Encompass Capital Advisors is not a dedicated water investor; it is an energy and energy-transition manager. Its water angle is indirect, through direct lithium extraction, a method that draws lithium from brine while returning most of the water to underground aquifers. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
- Who runs Encompass Capital Advisors?
- Encompass Capital Advisors was founded in 2012 by Todd Kantor, its Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer. Kantor built his career in energy, starting in JP Morgan's oil and gas investment banking group, then analyst roles at funds including Touradji Capital, before launching the New York firm and its global long/short energy strategy.
- Where is Encompass Capital Advisors based?
- Encompass Capital Advisors is based in New York City, with offices on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The firm is a US-registered investment adviser founded in 2012, running a global strategy that invests in energy and energy-transition companies from its New York base.
- Is Encompass Capital Advisors the same as Encompass Health or other Encompass companies?
- No. Encompass Capital Advisors is a New York energy-focused hedge fund founded by Todd Kantor in 2012. It is unrelated to similarly named firms such as Encompass Health or wealth-management practices that use the Encompass name. This profile covers only the energy-transition investment manager.