December 19, 2008

Oil has crashed from $140 down to $40 a barrel. Oil companies with proven reserves are cheap. So shouldn't the US be buying it all up - FAST?


Remember just a few weeks ago when people were clamoring for the US to release oil from the strategic reserve?

Remember predictions of $200 a barrel by year-end?

Remember peak oil?

Anyone?

Anyone?

As the market goes crazy - to the downside - a smart country would take advantage. Because this won't last.

Here's some more thoughts on oil

1) The US should triple the size of the strategic reserve as fast as it can, and fill the sucker up with cheap oil

2) Any company involved in transportation should be out buying up cheap oil hedges for the next five years

3) Congress should send cake and pie and an apology to the US oil company CEOs they stupidly eviscerated just a few weeks ago for "gouging"

4) US oil companies should deploy their cash as fast as they can and buy up beaten-down energy companies around the world. Go buy stakes in Lukoil and Gazprom. Go buy Petrobrasil. Go buy solar companies and wind companies. Go buy everything you can.

5) The US should impose an immediate $1 a gallon gas tax to pay for new roads and bridges

6) Change the world. Add 1 MPG to the fuel efficiency standard every year for 20 years. Ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2030.

I could go on. This is simply the last-in-your-lifetime opportunity when it comes to oil. It will never, ever be cheap again.

Never.

Wars will be fought over oil in the near future. Oil panics will set in. Suburbs will be razed. Lifestyles will change. Gas-powered cars will be banned. Industrial production will be jeopardized. And then one day, it is a mathematical certainty, the world will run out of oil.

It hath been foretold.

24 comments:

Lost Cause said...

Texas will become a God forsaken wasteland filled with yahoos and hillbillies.

$10 a barrel oil.

Anonymous said...

No I don't want the US government betting on oil with my tax dollars. That's a decision I can make for myself thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

The single best investment right now is oil. Get out of the dollar into oil. Within a year supply destruction will have caught up with demand destruction.
Exotic oil projects have been shelfed (deep sea, tar sands, artic, etc) and traditional resources decline at 7-9% a year without sufficient investment. Mexico will stop exporting soon due to declines in production. Canda's & Russia's output are declining since it';s not worth putting in major investments @ $40/barrel. This is probably about the cheapest oil we'll see in our lifetime.

Anonymous said...

You got it right, Keith. Oil was and is king, but that reign is heading into permanent decline -- especially since low prices now prove that long-term investment by the oil companies in new supply may not be profitable, so they will just say "no" to expensive projects.

The automobile as we know it is dead. Long live GM/Ford/Chrysler! BTW, has anyone seen my bailout check?

Anonymous said...

"...The US should impose an immediate $1 a gallon gas tax to pay for new roads and bridges..."

No, no, no. It should be a floating tax. The tax will rise and fall with oil prices. The purpose of the tax is to ensure that the price at the pump remains at a level to encourage energy conservation and the development of alternative fuels. To choose a number, say that the price at the pump must be no less than $3.00 per gallon. If oil is cheap, then the amount of the tax would increase to ensure that this is the price at the pump. If oil goes back up, then the tax goes down, if not disappears altogether.

We need this because if oil stays low for a few months more, people wil forget and suddenly the USA!USAUSA! will be a nation of SUV-buying morons again.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be all to confident about oil.

"They aren't making any more land"

"The world is running out of oil"

So what?

Soon, and much sooner than anyone thinks, a new source of energy will be implemented and you won't be able to even give oil away.

Think I'm crazy?

I thought this was a forward-thinking blog. It seems to only pretend to be.

Keith now thinks it's a good time to buy stocks, oil move contrary to the prevailing winds. But it's all still a bet on the same tired and corrupt system. Just because it's cheaper to buy now doesn't mean it will be worth anything in the future.

Nothing lasts forever and this system is dying very quickly. You'd be better off using an ancient system of trading money which is not used in the majority of the "developd" world if you really want to cover your bases.

Now what was the name of that system again? Anyone?

Anonymous said...

we are just going to have to keep bashing our head on that low hanging ledge until we either learn our lesson...or cause permanent brain damage

so yes - we will scrap research projects for alt energy, scrap the search for new oil, scrap the demand for better fuel efficiency and fall further behind the curve when oil invariably takes off again...

and the oil producers will ensure that happens - they love the good life we afford them. Dubai needs another indoor ski-slope and air conditioned beach, (maybe some more of those man made private islands) and a some Russian billionaires need their jets and Bentleys

ow my head!

Anonymous said...

Keith, if Obammy and the tree hugging dems get their way there will be oil wars. Those wars will kill off millions of Americans which is exactly what the tree hugging nazis want. Fewer vile humans to befoul their mother the earth the better.

Fortunatly Americans are waking up to the trillions of barrels of oil we have in shale not to mention the Bakken reserve. (The next middle east.) We don't need to buy arab oil to boost our reserves so they can use that money to destroy us. In two years the dems who have blocked oil production here for 30 years will be run out of office for the damage their tree hugging bullshit has wrought on an already devastated economy.

There will then be a Manhatten project for domestic oil production. (No one will want that toilet paper we call a doller at that point.) AT THAT POINT THE ARABS CAN DRINK THEIR OIL.

Orrrrr maybe we can run the US economy on a new and improved magic flashlight battery Obammmmmmy style. (I personally favor the magic popcicle.)

Next week we should discuss the fact the US holds 73% of global coal reserves. I know, we can invent the magic popcicle but we can't burn coal cleanly. This wacked out bullshit will end when people are hungry and freezing!!!!!!!, that is just around the corner.

Anonymous said...

The oil companies will not allow gas-powered cars to be be banned. Not until they plow down every last tree, to extract every last drop of oil. They are greedy beyond belief.

Thing is, I don't know how we are going to survive when we run out of oil. It's not something I'm looking forward to. We will have to go back in time and live like we did in 1800 A.D.

Anonymous said...

Get the FUCK on board the DIG, USO & ERX express or get left behind!! Personally, I think we may touch $30-32/barrel but no way in hell it goes lower, and if it does, it's Armageddon time and there won't be any need to worry about your future cuz you're probably going to die from starvation in the fetal position.

I'm a greedy prick so I'm waiting for DIG et al to dip a bit lower so I can really maximize, but make no mistake, oil is absolutely going back to 100+ barrel sooner than later. I'm going to drop about 60K into a combination of USO, DIG & ERX and sit out the next five years and wait for my investment to mature. Do the same and you won't be sorry.

Anonymous said...

You are so smart.

Why aren't YOU rich?

Think about it.

DIE

Anonymous said...

Lost Cause: Texas is already that which you describe.

Paige Turner said...

RE: The price of oil.

George Bush cautioned the American people: "Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories..."

Don't listen to those who claim that 9/11 was an inside job!

Only a fool would believe that the global economy is being systematically imploded by a small group of elitist bankers!

There's no such thing as a New World Order being set up by sociopathic criminals!

But, doesn't it seem odd that the price of oil went up to $150 per barrel just long enough to totally destroy GM, Ford and Chrysler?

Outrageous conspiracy theory or not, it still happened.

P.T.

Anonymous said...

If you think that people worldwide are going to sit around and not do anything about declining oil availability, you're mistaken.

Some countries will be stupid and shortsighted, but not all.

With more nuclear power, we can do plug in hybrids. How does the world change when these plug in hybrids, use one gallon of gas for every 300 miles of use?

How does the world change when companies start using telecommuting in a big way?

How does the world change with the production of algal biodiesel and biojetfuel? Cellulose-based ethanol?

Anonymous said...

I think oil is a bad investment from here on out. Sure it might go up, but its going to be volatile and unpredictable. And that is BECAUSE of peak oil.

We're in the middle of the move away from oil as our primary source of energy.. there are so many alternative and better technologies emerging right now and everyone knows that we can't sustain an oil based economy forever. Duh.

You think the auto industry is failing because of credit or the housing crash? They're failing because there is no demand for gas guzzling cars these days. If GM put out an affordable all electric car that plugs into a normal outlet and is at least as good as their last electric.. then I have no doubt they would sell. If they can't do it, another company is going to step in take their place (if our corrupt government allows the free market to work). Or maybe someone will come out with something even better. Who knows.

Don't buy into the peak oil end of the world investment hype. The world is not going to end because of oil and there will not be apocalyptic resource wars. Get over it. The Iraq war just proves that going to war for oil is one massively bad move that is doomed to fail.

There are defeatists/destructionists who like to carry big guns and stock up on canned food (or oil lol) because they have no vision and live their lives in fear.. and then there are people that innovate, work hard and drive our economy with new ideas and totally unheard of progressive technology. It has always been that and will always be that way.

This economic turmoil is painful but good because it's going to finally change the status quo up a bit and allow new companies and technologies to come out of the ashes. A little chaos goes a long way.

Anonymous said...

Some thoughts on oil...1) Saudi Arabia and Russian oil interests cannot afford for oil to be this low. They will have to start a war somewhere to create some uncertainty and raise oil prices. 2) On a local level, I've seen 2 instances of gas stations not letting customers pump regular..instead, they only make plus or supreme octane available (more profitable grades of oil)

Anonymous said...

Next week we should discuss the fact the US holds 73% of global coal reserves. I know, we can invent the magic popcicle but we can't burn coal cleanly. This wacked out bullshit will end when people are hungry and freezing!!!!!!!, that is just around the corner.

Amen Anon. The Liberaltards have got a shock coming to them.

Professor Ichiro Vader said...

My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior.

The man we called "Max". To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time. When the world was powered by the black fuel. And the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing.

They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed. Men like Max. The warrior Max.

In the roar of an engine, he lost everything. And became a shell of a man, a burnt out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again...

Mammoth said...

Anon 6:23 said,
"We're in the middle of the move away from oil as our primary source of energy."
-----------------
You are joking, right? We are not nowhere near the 'middle of the move' away from oil yet.

If the oil spigot for the US was shut off tomorrow it would bring this country to its knees.

Many, if not most people would be unable to heat their homes, for one. And for another, the grocery stores would be empty in two days, then next spring many of America's farms would not be able to plant much of their crops. Meat producers would not be able to feer their livestock, process it or deliver it to the end user.

No, we still have quite a ways to go before we are anywhere near the 'middle of the move' away from oil.

Mammoth

Anonymous said...

In the roar of an engine, he lost everything. And became a shell of a man, a burnt out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again...


I think AL Gore wrote that crazy shit. I can't remember if that was before or after he invented the internet.

Signed
Magic Popcicle

Anonymous said...

Check, check, 1,2 1,2

blogger said...

Anyone doubt Jim Cramer reads HP/S&A?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/28319722

Roccman said...

Oh keef...

I lost you.

You drank too much.

Sorry bro.

Enjoy the die off.

Anonymous said...

Same reason I'm not at the supermarket stockpiling TP and soap.

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