Philip Obal

Why "Drill, Baby, Drill!" Does Not Translate Into Effective National Energy Policy

Even with higher crude prices, there are major time delays before a well is spudded. First, find it and make sure has good prospective reserves (time), Second, get leases (times). Third, get the equipment, people, roads, infrastructure to begin drilling (time).

There is NOT an infinitie number of rigs to go around... So you have two major constraints (rigs available for that type of operation) AND time it takes to get permits and permission.

Big Oil Looks to Cash in on Crude Oil Prices

Refining Margins Should Improve... ExxonMobil XOM will also be helped significantly when oil prices go down. It is a major buyer of oil, as well as a producer, that refines much more than it produces.

Is Valero a Better Buy than Exxon Mobil?

Do NOT worry about the truckers and the speed at which they go. Either the HOS rules are forcing minimal driving hours (fast speed, beam me up Scotty) or the trucking company is strugling financially (mandate to drivers is drive slow and maximize fuel efficiency). Will probably see two groups and nobody in between.

ConocoPhillips: Why the Sell-off?

COP and other majors that have refineries are stuck with many times buying oil at high prices, refining the product, and barely making a few cents at selling it. Case in point - is XOM, which has to buy oil on the market, as it refines more crude, than it produces (from the wellhead) each month.

The majors that do NOT have refineries, but just have E&P (exploration and production), will actually have better margins - since they just sell the oil & gas from the wellhead.

In Light of Peak Oil, Financial Diversification Is a Bad Idea

You might be LUCKY to be in the OIL, Precious Metals.... but if the "demand" for these goes down... your portfolio will go down. I say you are LUCKY, since CHINDIA & emerging markets are keeping the demand up. So, you can keep your course for a year or two, but what are you going to do then?????

One area, I like RIGHT NOW is technology stocks (especially software). We should see CVLT, ORCL, SAP, GSB, AMSWA/LGTY, and numerous others... accelerate in their stock price. MSFT is too large (like XOM) to make major moves. Let's see what happens in TECH STOCKS during the next 6 months (in comparison to your portfolio).