JEM

GM's Bondholder Pillaging Plan

No - the White House needs to keep the bondholders on board long enough to turn over operational control of the company to the UAW. This is all about saving union jobs, nothing more. If I were a bondholder I would vote no - and take my chances on the liquidation of assets.

GM May Hit $200 Before Oil Does

Peak oil? That is a theory, and then all of a sudden our known reserves expand, so the science surrounding the actual arrival of peak oil is as suspicious as that of global warming.

Alternative energy has been getting a free ride on subsidies throughout the world, particularly the US and western Europe. Wind cannot survive without it and now new studies suggest that due to generation fluctuation on windmills (the wind sometimes doesn't blow) the required infrastructure to back up a reliance on wind is almost as much as if you didn't use wind in the first place. Without any evidence I still like solar way long term, but we have some time to go. Nuclear power is the obvious choice for power generation, which would leave more and more oil available for transportation fuel until battery technology comes around. No way doe this all happen in 5 years. Oil will be around for awhile. And we will keep finding more of it until we find something cheaper, which eventually we will.

SemGroup's Fall and the Impact on Oil

"Natural gas futures rose 9.9 cents to $8.825 per 1,000 cubic feet. On Monday, natural gas plunged 66.3 cents, or 7 percent, to $8.726 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest level in nearly six months. Prices have closed lower in eight of the last 11 sessions and have dropped 36 percent from the contract's all-time trading high of $13.752, reached July 2.

The pullback is double the size of crude's recent slide. That has fed speculation on Wall Street that a large hedge fund or something like it may be near collapse and has dumped a vast amount of natural gas contracts to free up cash. Last month, SemGroup LP, based in Tulsa, Okla., folded after losing $2.4 billion in bad bets on oil futures. SemGroup's collapse came amid a massive sell off in the oil market."

Oil below 120 and falling. The speculation is finally getting shook out of the market.

SemGroup's Fall and the Impact on Oil

Actually, the article tried to say that the price of oil is not really that related to speculation, so I don't know if you really agree with it or not!

Don't make this man out to be some kind of martyr. He played with fire and got burned. He couldn't cover his bet. If you cannot cover, don't play.

Crude Reality: Big Oil's Purposely Restricting Supply

Agreed - a political opinion piece - zero facts - what attempts at argument that are presented are misleading and in direct contradiction with well established facts. The only truths I saw are that yes, oil companies have no motivation to lower prices, and both candidates are talking about alternate fuels. What comes next, water is wet? Come on.

SemGroup's Fall and the Impact on Oil

I will believe that energy fundamentals are driving the commodity price after we see a few more companies have some interesting financial transactions. Thanks "leacabrerra" for identifying some potential next SemGroups. This entire article is guilty of speaking of an essential truth in a very misleading manner. The rules of supply and demand were not largely responsible for the run up in oil prices. yesterday's gain is almost all gone by 1PM EST. We are headed down, maybe faster than anyone could imagine. That just makes all of these bull positions that much more tenuous. More failures are coming.

SemGroup's Fall and the Impact on Oil

Actually despite inventory reductions in gasoline, there is no fundamental support for oil at $150. Maybe the inventory numbers are due to barge traffic issues. Energy usuage as the price of oil has increased is declining in the US as well as the fast growing economies of China and India. I am not sure how far it has to fall, but if you cannot get pump prices closer to $3 in the US, I am not sure you will see a change in behavior. People have begun replacing the heavy car fleet for a lighter more gas efficient one. Something needs to change that buying behavior - and $3.80 gas isn't going to do it more than $4.00 gas started it. The bulls are wayyyy out in front and will seize on any issue to try and keep the price up. As the bears come in under them watch the cards begin to fall. Another SemGroup will appear.

There are more SemGroups out there that were allowed to hedge positions without any verification they had the financial wherewithal to cover them. Speculation is fine, but if I am not forced at the time of placing my "bet" to declare my financial support for that bet, why do we wonder why all these hedge funds seem to keep going under. I am loathe to invite government regulation because that invites its own kind of hell, but if the market is unwilling to police the "money down" requirements, we are going to get regulation we don't want to begin to invite.