paa

Blood from a Stone and Oil from Shale

There's a saying in western Colorado, where Exxon's oil shale project closed in the late 1980s:

Oil shale is the fuel of the future -- and always will be.

That is still true.

The Economics of Political Spin

You write:
j>>So, one question pops into my mind: how on Earth can US economic policy possibly get worse than the last 8 years of George Bush's "leadership"?<<

Elect McCain and find out.

Atlas Pipeline & Atlas Energy's Positive Synergy

MLP's like APL must grow to keep those payouts coming. APL's debt equals their market cap. How can the fund organic growth? How can they borrow to buy more assets? It's not clear to me.

Save Money on Gas - Drive More Slowly

Why has no one, not George Bush, Barack Obama, John McCain, or anyone else who fancies himself/herself a leader gotten behind lower speed? It is the single thing that US consumers can do to reduce gasoline consumption, and theoretically, gasoline prices in the near term. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Blame It on Oil Speculators

True.

tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav...

Atlas Pipeline Holdings: Accelerated Growth in the Pipeline

The secondary offering of 5 million common units is a device to get the public to pay off the $250 million APL expects to lose on their derivatives. This sort of three-card monte is typical of all the pipeline MLPs. ADH of course wins no matter what, so your recommendation is sound.

Personally, I can not see why anyone would purchase any of the new stock issue. Let APL and ADH find the money someplace else. I'm eager to see if this issuance works. If it does, more for current holders. If it doesn't, the general partner still makes out okay and everyone else loses.

Is Oil a Bubble? Part Two

Roger H., the answer to your question is, "There is no black goop." That was Masters's point: the 848 million barrels exist only on paper contracts. Because index speculators roll their contracts every month, the paper is never converted to black goop, just longer term contracts that have, so far, been increasing in price. In the oil biz, that's called contango. This is a good time to remember Stein's law: if something can not go on forever, it will stop.