Tag: oil prices

Government Sells Low

Posted on by Adam Feik

Adam Feik - INO.com Contributor - Energies


What will oil prices be when the U.S. government begins selling tens of millions of barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in 2018?

The House passed a federal budget on Wednesday – which is reportedly on its way to likely Senate passage and Presidential signature – calling for the government to sell at least 58 million barrels of oil from the SPR over an 8-year period beginning in 2018. The SPR currently holds about 695 million barrels in 4 sites along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Per the budget bill, the U.S. may sell up to an additional $2 billion dollars’ worth of oil from the reserve to build new pipelines and otherwise modernize infrastructure. That program would represent an incremental 43.5 million barrels based on today’s prices, bringing the total number of barrels to be sold up to a possible 101.5 million. At today’s rates, that could add about $4.7 billion into the US Treasury.

Or… Continue reading "Government Sells Low" →

Is It Time to Take Profits on Oil Refining Stocks? (re-visited)

Posted on by Adam Feik

Adam Feik - INO.com Contributor - Energies


I wrote on February 24th about whether the time had come to take profits on oil refining stocks like Tesoro, Valero, and others. (My conclusion was to hold the stocks for the time being, but to keep a close eye on them).

Since then, oil refiners have continued rising (generally), as oil prices have showed continuing weakness – especially in the last 30 days. Crude oil, of course, is the key input for refiners, so refiners benefit when its raw materials prices are low. Nymex crude fell below $50/bbl Wednesday, having fallen from $61 on June 23, 2015, and from $107 on June 20, 2014 (data from eia.gov).

Here's an updated table showing performance of selected refiners through July 22:

On Thursday, July 23rd, oil and refining stocks both fell. But more often recently, it's been… Continue reading "Is It Time to Take Profits on Oil Refining Stocks? (re-visited)" →

3 Ways To Profit From Oil - No Matter Where The Prices Are

Posted on by admin

By: Dave Forest of Street Authority

I recently returned from a three-week stint in Asia. After a long trip I always take time to go through my e-mail and catch up on news and reports coming in from across the commodities world.

One small but revealing item caught my eye.

No, I'm not talking about the collapse in oil prices. In fact, as I'll explain in a moment, the way my Scarcity Real Wealth readers and I will profit from this has nothing to do with oil prices at all.

Let me explain... Continue reading "3 Ways To Profit From Oil - No Matter Where The Prices Are" →

Middle Eastern politics begin to affect oil prices again

Posted on by Adam Feik

Adam Feik - INO.com Contributor - Energies


For months, the big story behind plummeting oil & gas prices has been the U.S. and Canadian on-shore shale boom. The resulting supply glut has caused WTI crude to fall from about $107 on June 20th, to a low of about $45 recently. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and OPEC have held firm to their Thanksgiving weekend decision to continue pumping at a steady rate. Finally, lackluster demand from emerging countries like China hasn't had enough kick to cause prices to rebound significantly.

So… OPEC countries have been the "steady" ones in all this.

In recent days, however, focus has turned to the Middle East (of all places). Can you imagine? Middle Eastern geopolitics affecting oil prices? It's been awhile since the Mid-East has been the center of attention. Continue reading "Middle Eastern politics begin to affect oil prices again" →

There’s Still Hope for the Fed

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


The minutes of the December 16-17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting offer some hope that the Fed is finally getting over its seven-plus years’ worry that the U.S. runs the risk of falling into a deflationary spiral, similar to what we encountered during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

While deflation, or even disinflation, might be a legitimate concern now in Japan and the Euro Zone, the idea that we face a similar threat seems a little hard to swallow. Perhaps this was a real concern during the panicky days of the global financial meltdown in 2008, but even then it seemed to be a stretch. Now, seven years later, it just looks ridiculous.

According to the minutes of the December meeting, released last week, the Fed’s monetary policy committee brushed off the idea that inflation would remain below the Fed’s 2% target due to the declining price of oil, which it calls “transitory,” and remaining slack in the labor market. Continue reading "There’s Still Hope for the Fed" →