The Energy Report for Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Over hill, over dale, the economy hit a rocky trail and the money keeps rolling along. Tax cuts in, spending out, hear them shout, Stimulate! to spread jobs about and the money keeps rolling along. And the money keeps rolling along.
The oil market felt less than stimulated, giving up early gains and failing to close above $40 a barrel. I guess talk of the Senate on the verge of passing a major hurdle on the mother of all stimuli was not enough to overcome the weight of the current massive supply.
Oil was strong early on from comments from OPEC's Secretary-General Abdalla el-Badri who said that OPEC members delayed 23% of oil and gas production projects. Abdalla el-Badri said that if prices keep at current levels then you would see a decline in investment. Right now we are postponing 35 of our 150 projects. These delays mean that OPEC will not hit their target to increase capacity 5 million barrels a day by 2012.
Yet as bullish as that is for the longer term, short term it is very bearish. This is just more evidence how bearish things are in the near term. I keep hearing arguments by people still living in a world of denial saying that demand is not as bad as it seems. The truth is it is probably worse.
Bloomberg News reported that BP was having trouble selling a supertanker of oil that they have been trying to sell from last December. Are there any takers out there? Dow Jones reported that Chevron is looking for a buyer for part of its stake in the Big Foot Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil supplies at a record at Cushing, Oklahoma and record amounts of oil held on tankers. At some point the stimulus and OPEC action will have an impact but not anytime soon unless Washington has another trillion dollars lying around.
Do not forget about tonight's American Petroleum Institute - API for short -energy supply report! Bloomberg is looking for crude supply to increase by 2.75 million barrels gasoline up 500K, distillates down 1.5 and runs steady.
Gas prices are up but diesel hit the lowest level since 2005! We are still short oil and riding down the biggest break in oil history! Make sure you are part of history! Call me at (800) 935-6487 or email me at pflynn@alaron.com to open your account! And tune in to see history being made today on the Fox Business Network where you can see me every day!
We're short March crude from approximately 4354 on what is a quadruple rollover! Lower stop to 5050
Sell March heating oil at 14000 - stop 14600
Sell March RBOB at 13300 - stop 13900
Sell March natural gas at 500 - stop 540
Phil Flynn is vice president of Alaron Trading and a Fox Business Network contributor. He can be reached at (800) 935-6487 or pflynn@alaron.com.
