bindlepete

Why ExxonMobil Took the Nat Gas Plunge Now

Toby:

Shell bought Duvernay for a peek under the covers on their JV partner PetroBank and the THAI process. Exxon has been shifting quietly to natural gas (NG) since it made the big play in the Persian Gulf and started to get into the LNG business. Note it has sold it's domestic Service stations and European refineries.

Exxon is also into the " deep gas", AKA geopressured, with some patents on production technology, Horn River is a great play as we all know although they missed out on the Bakken for it's light oil.

In a year or so they will be calling fro price controls on NG as we had in the 60's and 70's in order to get a "stable" market and assure investment. For Trading purposes they will submit to a Federal Tax and the dummy congress will consider themselves hero's for the new gas users flow of funds into the Treasury.

The new tax ( call it carbon if you will) grease the skids for the price controls. I can see it coming but how to play it for fun and profit. Pipelines? Steelmakers?

Do something on PetroBank

Disclosure: I own a wad of PetroBank as I do Exxon.

ConocoPhillips Facing Tough Talk in Effort to Unload Oil Sands Stake

The open question on the shovel and truck recovery method is:
Can they compete with cleaner and cheaper(?) In situ methods of delivering the bitumen and heavy oils?

PetroBank with it's THAI system could cut the legs out from under these surface mining techniques although it would help PetroBank to have them about to maintain a high marginal price to profit beneath.

Time will tell. A new age may be arriving.

Why Exxon Should Significantly Increase its Dividend

Is Exxon playing a game of low dividend =low stock price = more shares bought into their treasury? Is this manipulation? Is this good business and if so for whom? Management and their personal holdings until they decide to bump it and get out?

10 Dangerous Stocks to Avoid

This is a pretty silly analysis in one regard. True, leverage can work against you in hard times but when interest rates are well below the inflation rates it could well be a time to borrow as it is essentially "free" money. Pay it back with peanuts.

Now if you are in a regulated or solid business situation such as a utility or Rail Road (these rail roads folks are on the uptick due to the spiking energy costs of trucking and need for commodity exports coal grain etc) leverage at a less than zero cost makes a lot of sense. The utilities are guaranteed a profit if they are a regulated outfit so they will get their interest back no matter. ( This is not true for 3rd party producers.)

The rail roads do have pricing control outside their contractual agreements and here, unless they are fools, they should have themselves covered for inflation.

If you do not think we are in an inflationary environment google Shadowstats . what is going down other than housing ?

Food no, Medical no, education no, labor no, energy no, enertainment no, clothing perhaps a trifle, rent no, taxes, no . The BLS is cooking the figures. Since Clinton they have been lying to us.

Stick with Gold and the Oil Stocks

I am afraid of paper promises of gold and silver. The silver may be there but is the GOLD?

I think not and bankruptcy may well be the answer you get when you call it in. Just another Ponzi

I wonder what the Feds can do to those who own gold miners?

Any body got an answer? Tell [e-mail] Thanks.

Plug-In Natural Gas Hybrid Vehicles: A Game Changer

Funny paper simple.

Convert the natural gas to methanol, a simple partial oxidation (exothermic reactionan and use the heat for water or home heating) and run the methanol through an on board fuel cell or if you want add a little gasoline and make M-85 a good auto fuel that has has a natural octane of 114 for high compression efficiency.

Energy Stocks Are Too Cheap to Ignore - Barron's

If Reserves are the name of the game there are a bunch of Tar Sands operations that are about to come on line. Take a look at ECA, PCZ and CNQ and for technical investments PBT.to and NXY are interesting plays.

As a diversified resource play there is TCK if you like Canadian dollars.