Crude Oil
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Four Things Suppressing Crude Oil Prices Today
The collapse of talks between Iran and the "Big 6" (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) should have accelerated international crude oil prices.
And yes, they are higher.
But the real spike hasn't hit. Not yet.
The rising crisis atmosphere in the region and the genuine possibility that a fourth round of talks between the two sides will not even take place should have renewed the upward movement.
That hasn't taken place yet, either.
Oil prices are caught between the normal dynamics of geopolitical concerns - which push prices north - and continuing concerns over a global economic slowdown - which results in lowering expectations.
Now, this limbo is a delicate balance; it could change in a matter of hours.
We are likely to see a short-term rise Monday evening if the Norwegian oil and gas sector strike is not averted. Labor negotiations between Norway's oil workers and employers over pay and pensions failed - yet again - yesterday. The country is now just hours away from the first complete shutdown of its oil industry in decades. (Already, the strike has cut oil output by 13%, according to Reuters.)
Then there are the figures coming out from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday, which will almost certainly show a drawdown on U.S. inventories. Normally, that would also push up prices.
However, absent an Iranian move against the Strait of Hormuz or a major refinery accident somewhere in the world, the rise will be less than usual.
That's because right now, four things are tempering the oil price rise:
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Why Crude Oil Prices are in Steep Retreat
Oil prices sank to their lowest level in eight months Wednesday and the trend continues.
Crude oil for August delivery fell yesterday (Thursday) below the $80 line to $78.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil prices breaking the $80 line can have a psychological impact on traders, which could send oil spiraling even further.
"Oil is participating in the broad decline of equities and commodities," Rich Ilczyszyn, chief market strategist and founder of Iitrader.com in Chicago, told Bloomberg News. "We broke an extremely key level for oil, the previous monthly low around $81."
Oil prices fell more than 3.5% the day after the Fed announced a disappointing extension of Operation Twist.
The commodities market, measured by the S&P GSCI Spot Index, entered into a bear market yesterday, off 22% from its highest close of the year on Feb. 24.
Many experts think oil is reaching a bottom - but there are other factors still in play.
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My Strategy for Uncertain Times in Energy
There has been no shortage of red ink in the market lately.
Paltry new jobs figures (69,000 new jobs, less than half of what was expected) have combined with the ongoing mess in Eurozone and lagging figures from China to sap investor confidence.
This latest action will further depress oil prices, as the rash of bad news translates into even more knee-jerk projections of reduced demand.
Of course, it's much too early to make such predictions based on the news, but the pundits do it all the time.
In any case, we are now in a downward movement that will end only when the market manipulators say so.
When this happens, individual investors always take it on the chin.
That's why I want to take a moment today to outline for you the strategy I use for my Energy Advantage and Energy Inner Circle subscribers.
Of course, if we could time the market, or invest in perfect hindsight, we wouldn't need an investment strategy.
But while some of the largest investment banks are getting it (very) wrong these days, crystal balls seem to be in short supply.
So what should we do?...
Well, there are three overriding considerations you must keep in mind when approaching the energy sector in an environment like this.
- First, know that this, too, shall pass. Take a deep breath and relax.
- Second, keep your power dry. There is no point in chasing uncertain shares in an uncertain market, simply because some talking head on TV says they are undervalued. In the current situation, almost 80% of the shares I follow are well below market value. However, until the market finds equilibrium (something it always does, by the way), the undervaluation means little. Nibble when you feel targets are cheap enough, but never go all in.
- The third point is the single most important thing to remember here. A situation like this one demands that you preserve your investment capital. Uncertainty is always the mother of discretion. The energy sector has been hit harder than the market as a whole for much of the last six weeks. That means you need to set up an exit strategy and stick to it.
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Oil Price Forecast: Expect Oil Prices to End the Year Higher
Forecasts for oil prices in the second half of 2012 and on into 2013 are varied, but there's one point on which virtually all agree: Oil prices won't be going down.
One reason is that oil prices have already dropped substantially in recent weeks.
In fact, oil futures - as measured by the July New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude - closed below $90 per barrel last week, the lowest level for an active contract since October 2011. That's down $17 a barrel since the beginning of May.
Two factors have contributed to the decline in oil prices:
- A modest increase in U.S. crude supplies - up 3.8% in April from March levels and 1.5% from a year ago - primarily due to continued low demand as a result of the slower-than-expected economic recovery.
- Increasing strength in the U.S. dollar - the global pricing currency for crude oil - due to safe-haven buying in response to continued concerns over Eurozone instability.
Oil Prices Continue to Climb
Longer-term, however, both of those situations should stabilize, and then reverse - meaning current oil price levels will likely serve as a base for a rebound in the second half of the year, continuing into 2013.
Even so, the leading "official" sources for oil-price forecasts aren't projecting major spikes, either.
The U.S. Energy Information Association (EIA), in its most recent report issued May 8, predicted prices for WTI crude will average about $104 a barrel for the rest of the year, and that costs to refiners for all crude - domestic and imported - will average $110 a barrel.
The WTI number is down $2 a barrel from March estimates, but $9 a barrel higher than the 2011 average, while the refiners' cost figure is up $8 from 2011.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade organization of more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, didn't issue price forecasts for crude in its most recent (May 18) report, but noted that increased domestic production, slightly higher crude oil stocks (374.8 million barrels) and lower imports in April should serve to keep prices stable to modestly higher going forward.
API also expressed optimism that rising crude production in North Dakota, which hit 551,000 barrels per day in March, and a possible reversal of President Obama's rejection of the Keystone Pipeline project could keep price hikes in check for the remainder of the year.
Such optimism wasn't nearly as prevalent among many private analysts and industry commentators.
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Three Oil Stocks to Watch as Drilling Activity Soars
North America oil drilling is on the rise, and many oil companies - and their stocks - are following.
The Oil and Gas Journal reported for the week ended May 18 there were 12% more oil and gas drilling rigs active in the United States from the same period a year ago, totaling 1,986.
Just look at the Texas Eagle Ford shale region, the largest U.S. shale oil deposit, which is booming more than expected. Shale oil production has increased nearly seven-fold from 2010 to 2011, from an average of just less than 12,000 barrels a day to about 83,400 barrels a day.
And that could explode to 500,000 barrels a day by the end of 2012, according to Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) CEO Bill Klesse, with output expected to double to 1 million barrels a day "in the next few years."
Eagle Ford isn't the only area exploding with activity. More than 475 rigs are working across the Permian in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Those areas are already producing close to a million barrels a day. By decade's end, that daily total could double to nearly the total oil output of Nigeria.
"We're having a revolution," G. Steven Farris, chief executive of Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), one of the basin's most active producers, told The New York Times. "And we're just scratching the surface."
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High Oil Prices: Worries Escalate Over $200 Oil and $6 Gas
Could new sanctions against Iran spark a crisis that drives oil prices to $200 a barrel?
The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) economies certainly hope not.
Even still, they recently unveiled plans to tap into global emergency strategic oil reserves -- just in case.
Citing their "grave concern" over Iran's nuclear program and the "likelihood of further disruptions in oil sales" G8 leaders put the International Energy Agency (IEA) on standby to tap the reserves at a moment's notice.
"Looking ahead we...stand ready to call upon the IEA to take appropriate action to ensure that the market is fully and timely supplied," said the statement summing up their meeting last weekend.
But the G8 may just be trying to calm the markets before the storm. History shows that tapping into the reserves won't do much to prevent higher prices.
And there's no reason to believe this time will be any different.
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Oil Price Manipulation: What President Obama Doesn't Understand About Oil
If you think gasoline prices are volatile now, stay tuned. President Obama's plan to clamp down on oil speculators is going to make things worse.
I'm sure you've seen the news by now.
The president wants to clamp down on so-called "oil price manipulation" and has proposed a $52 billion plan to increase f ederal supervision of oil markets.
What the p resident doesn't understand is that the oil markets already have this function built in.
Speaking from the Rose Garden last Tuesday, President Obama noted specifically that we can't afford to have "speculators artificially manipulating markets buy buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher - only to flip the oil for a quick profit."
Evidently, the president hasn't passed Econ 101.
If he had he would know that prices on everything from eggs to houses are by their very definition self regulating.
Speculation, as opposed to manipulation, is a vital part of the markets - they are not the same thing despite the fact that the p resident is interchanging the terms.
If prices are too high, people stop buying. If prices are too low, they stop selling. By authorizing $52 billion in oversight, he's chasing a ghost that he'll never catch.
The Real Problem with Oil Prices
The real problem is that the United States consumes 20% of the world's crude but only produces 2%.
It comes a time when oil demand is expected to rise more than 25% (to 105 million barrels a day) by 2015, according to a new report titled Oil and Gas: A Global Outlook by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
If you want the biggest piece of the pie from the deli, you have to pay a premium.
There is no hocus pocus and there's no additional oversight necessary. Rather, we need to enforce the laws we already have on the books.
Sure the $10 million fines he's jawboning about (up from $1 million) sound great but they're really a non-starter. In fact, given that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) alone generated an average of $1.33 billion a day in 2011, they're little more than an acceptable cost of doing business. Nice try.
Take gasoline, for example.
Prices have jumped 78.2% since the p resident took office and that doesn't sit well with the party faithful who are convinced that evil oil price speculators are responsible.
They are distraught that traders put hundreds of billions of dollars into energy every month because that may cause prices to rise.
This is not complicated. Any time there are more buyers than sellers, prices go up. Any time there is more demand than supply, prices go up.
Contrast what's going on in the oil markets with what's happening in natural gas.
Prices for natural gas are at ten- year lows. Demand has risen but supply has risen faster. There are more suppliers than buyers. So natural gas prices drop.
Natural gas, by the way, is traded by many of the same traders who trade oil.
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