Yael Pipano

Oil & Gas Industry Leaders, Investment Opportunities

This is a portion of an article I read today, that just says it all, from seeking alpha, quoting Byron Wein (I copied short bio on him for you readers out there):
" My view is that people underestimate the seriousness of the energy situation. We are only finding oil at a rate equivalent to replacing the oil production that erodes every year as a result of the existing wells getting tired.

In addition to that, China and India are consuming less than two barrels of oil per person per year while we consume 26 barrels, Western Europe consumers 13 to 15 barrels, Japan, Korea the same amount. As China and India increase their consumption, even if the two and a half billion people there only increase their consumption a quarter of a barrel of oil per year, there's no way the world can meet that demand. So I think the price of oil is going a lot higher."

Byron Wein's updated bio a/o 9/27/07: Westport’s Pequot Capital Management, Inc., today announced that Byron R. Wien, managing director and senior investment strategist at Morgan Stanley, will join the firm Dec. 1 as chief investment strategist.

Wien will work closely with Arthur J. Samberg, Pequot chairman and CEO, and the firm’s investment team to develop global macro-investment strategies, an announcement said. He Mr. will work out of Pequot’s New York office.

Wien is a seasoned strategist who brings over 40 years of experience in the global financial markets. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1985, he was a portfolio manager for 20 years, primarily at Weiss, Peck and Greer, where Samberg was also a partner.

Oil Drilling Stocks: 14 Ways to Strike It Rich

STO especially! StatoilHydro was chosen by Gazprom to be a partner in the development of the massive Shtokman gas project, joining France's Total. Gazprom is one of 4 operators controling 20% of the arctic which has a potential prize of 109 Bboe (98 fields were discovered to date). The other 3 largest arctic operators are BP with 18%, Statoil with 16% and Exxon with 14%. STO has has 7,000 kilometers of pipeline from the Norwegian continental shelf to Europe, and is highly involved in deepwater exploration in the Barent's sea which contains an estimated +300 MMBbl of recoverable oil. Nearly $25 billion is projected to be the annual deepwater capital expenditure by 2012 (a 30% growth rate for the next 4 years). Deepwater oil production will account for almost 20% of total offshore production (a 5% increase) by 2011.

Oil & Gas Industry Leaders, Investment Opportunities

Everything stated here is true, especially the Asia factor. Oil production has been essentially flat - about 85 million barrels a day - for the past two years, despite soaring prices. Strong demand growth in India and China was accommodated only because poorer African and Asian countries were priced out of the market. There is a growing realization that it's not going to be cheap or easy to grow either capacity or production much beyond the present rates.