Tag: Crude Oil

Refinery Acquisitions Reduce Saudi Risks, Increase U.S. Energy Security Risks

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


A recent article noted that Saudi Arabia Is Buying Up America's Oil Assets. Saudi Aramco is buying U.S. refining and petrochemical assets as well as energy and technology companies through its Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures LLC fund.
Congress has recently received a Long-Term Strategic Review (LTSR) of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The SPR's mission is to protect the U.S. from severe petroleum interruptions. The LTSR was intended to identify the key challenges that could impact the ability of the SPR to accomplish its mission.

I submit that it ignores a key challenge, the foreign ownership of refineries and petrochemical plants, that could render the SPR crude supplies meaningless.

The existence of the SPR is a key factor determining oil prices because the market does not have to factor in large interruptions of crude supply into prices because it knows the government has the SPR and will use it. Continue reading "Refinery Acquisitions Reduce Saudi Risks, Increase U.S. Energy Security Risks" →

Copper Waits If Oil Keeps Upside; China Is In Focus

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

Aibek Burabayev - INO.com Contributor - Metals


Chart 1. Crude Oil-Copper Correlation: Gap Widened

Crude Oil-Copper Correlation
Chart courtesy of tradingview.com

Another attempt by oil to close above the psychologically important $50 level (black dashed horizontal line) has failed. This was the third and a good try, and it was after a good correction in July, which makes bulls nervous as they lose their patience. Copper couldn’t keep the correlation gains achieved in July as it didn’t follow the rising crude last month and on the contrary, it moved the opposite way below the $2.2 level. The gap between them widened.

It’s not all bad news. There are at least two positive factors: Continue reading "Copper Waits If Oil Keeps Upside; China Is In Focus" →

Energy-Focused Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) Require Risk Management

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


Energy-focused master limited partnerships (MLPs) have provided investors good returns over time, much better than owning crude oil futures. For example, from January 200 through July 2016, the Alerian Total Return Index (PACF:AMZX), a leading gauge of energy MLPs, provided a return of 867%, far exceeded the return from crude futures of about 63%.

However, there is reasonably strong correlation between AMZX and crude futures prices. As a result, AMZX has suffered some large drawdowns. It maximum drop from peak-to-valley (P2V) was 58% over the period mentioned above. I use P2V as my primary risk measurement because it shows how large a loss one may experience in a buy-and-hold strategy.

I tested hedging AMZX by maintaining a short position in crude futures. The risk-minimizing hedge ratio for crude futures was -17% but it only reduced the maximum P2V to 50% (see Hedged return in graph below).

Chart of AMZX, Crude Futures and Hedged

I therefore applied the risk management process I developed to determine when to be invested in AMZX and when to go to cash. I provide the citations for the mathematical formulae and back-tested results for anyone interested in utilizing this process below. Continue reading "Energy-Focused Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) Require Risk Management" →

OPEC Oil Export Revenues Lowest Since 2003

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


But No Agreement To Cut Production Likely

OPEC President, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, issued a press release August 8th announcing that an informal meeting of OPEC member countries would take place on the sidelines of the 15th International Energy Forum in Algeria from 26 to 28 September 2016. There was an initial price rise, but that faded on Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue reading "OPEC Oil Export Revenues Lowest Since 2003" →

2016: Current Market Themes

Posted on by The INO.com Team

A year ago almost to the day we began tracking a ‘Macrocosmic’ theme that would eventually see gold bottom and rise vs. stocks and bonds in 2016, joining its bullish status vs. commodities, which had been in place since 2014.

Nominal gold bottomed in December 2015 before silver, commodities and stocks as a counter cyclical environment birthed a new precious metals bull market.  We updated the progress here, here and here in 2016.

But markets, being the product of immeasurable moving parts, are always in motion and you cannot get too hung up on any one theme, ideology or habit.  When the Semiconductor sector began burping up its positive signals for the economy and for stocks, we listened intently and I for one, put my capital where my mouth was and noted as much each week in NFTRH.

Back in April, with the first improvement in the Semiconductor Equipment sector’s bookings, we went on bull alert.  By June 22, we had established a trend in the rising bookings and noted the Details Behind Semiconductor Leadership and the bullish implications that this Canary’s Canary in the coal mine carried. Continue reading "2016: Current Market Themes" →