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The Real Inflation Fear – US Food Prices Are Up 19% In 2014

  We are sure the weather is to blame but what happens when pent-up demand (from a frosty east coast emerging from its hibernation) bumps up against a drought-stricken west coast unable to plant to meet that demand? The spot price (not futures speculation-driven) of US Foodstuffs is the best performing asset in 2014 – up a staggering 19% …     h/t Bloomberg’s Chase van der Rhoer   Comment viewing options Flat list – collapsed Flat list – expanded Threaded list – collapsed Threaded list – expanded Date – newest first Date – oldest first 10 comments per page 30 comments per page 50 comments per page 70 comments per page 90 comments per page 150 comments per page 200 comments per page 250 comments per page 300 comments per page Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes. Laws, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil: “Show-Stoppers”

Freshly fracked wells sent U.S. oil production soaring 39 percent since 2011. That’s the steepest climb in history, and if production continues apace, the U.S. would become the world’s biggest source of oil by 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information  Administration. Rapid well declines threaten to spoil that promise. The average flow from a shale gas well drops by about 50 percent to 75 percent in the first year, and up to 78 percent for oil, said Pete Stark, senior research director at IHS Inc. ‘The decline rate is a potential show stopper after a while,’ said Stark, a geologist with almost six decades in the oil patch. ‘You just can’t keep up with it.’ [1] That’s an interesting comment, given that the company Mr. Stark works for is more commonly known for its sunny optimism about our future fossil fuel supply. FRACKING ISN’T FREE OR EASY The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Crude Becalmed Ahead Of U.S. Stockpile Data

Crude-oil prices are becalmed Wednesday, with no clear direction emerging. Brent crude for May delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange was up 12 cents at $107.11 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May were up 15 cents at $99.34 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, Tuesday reported another massive weekly build in U.S. crude stocks. If these figures are confirmed by the Energy Information Administration later, U.S. stock levels will even faster approach the record levels seen last year "and is a good 5% above the five-year average," JBC Energy Markets said. "The easing political tensions in Ukraine will prompt market participants to switch focus back to the macro picture, with U.S. durable goods orders expected later today, initial jobless claims tomorrow and the University of Michigan confidence index on Friday," said Kash Kamal of Sucden Research. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Prices Jump on Profit-Taking, Late-Season Cold Snap

Natural-gas prices jumped 3.2% Tuesday as short-sellers took profits from three straight losing sessions, and as another Eastern snowstorm boosted expectations of increased demand. Natural gas for April delivery settled up 13.5 cents at $4.411 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The April contract expires Thursday, and the majority of the volume in the market has shifted to the May contract, which ended up 14.2 cents, or 3.3%, at $4.414/mmBtu. Market prices declined 4.6% over the prior three trading days, and analysts and brokers said Tuesday’s uptick was the result of traders locking in profits by closing out bets that the market would fall. Prices have declined to the lowest level […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Angolan oil will peak in 2016, IMF says

Economic growth in Angola will slow in 2017 as oil output declines, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The economy is forecast to expand by 5.3 percent this year, and by 5.5 percent and 5.9 percent in the following two years before the rate slows to 3.3 percent in 2017, IMF figures show. Crude oil production in Africa’s second-largest producer is set to decline to 1.77 million barrels a day in 2017 from 1.9 million barrels a day in 2016. “This reflects the expectation that oil production from currently known reserves will peak and then start to fall,” Nicholas Staines, the IMF representative in Angola, said last week. “The timing of this turnaround could well be pushed back as new reserves are discovered.” Angola produced 1.69 million barrels of oil a day last month. The country is attempting to diversify its economy away from oil, which accounts for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Protesting in Venezuela, With Antipathy Toward Cuba’s Government

Enraged as they are by their nation’s leaders, many of the protesters who have spilled onto Venezuela’s streets have their eyes fixed on another government altogether, one they resent perhaps just as bitterly as their own: Cuba’s. The Cuban government and its president, Raúl Castro, they contend, have leeched off Venezuela’s oil wealth, grafted Cuba’s rigid brand of socialism onto their country and helped choreograph a broad crackdown on dissent. Their rancor is echoed by the Cuban opposition, which has thrown itself behind the Venezuelan protesters’ cause with gusto, sharing photos and videos of protests and police abuse on Twitter, urging Venezuelans to resist and even rapping an apology for what they call Cuba’s meddling. The fixation with the influence of Cuba in Venezuela’s affairs reflects how meshed the two countries’ economic and political realities remain a year after the death of Venezuela’s longtime president, Hugo […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Asia needs all the gas it can get, Chevron says

Expanding Asian economies will need to tap into as many sources of liquified natural gas as they can to meet growing demand, a Chevron official said from Seoul. "My view is that we’re going to need all sources of natural gas supply to meet Asian gas demand in the years ahead and LNG will be the key to delivering sufficient supply," Pierre Breber, a vice president in charge of midstream operations for Chevron, said at a gas conference in Seoul. South Korea has no international natural gas pipelines and therefore relies on LNG shipments to meet its demands. It’s the second-largest importer of LNG in the world. "Not all gas consumers in Asia have sufficient domestic resources to draw from," the vice president said. "That leaves the balance of Asian natural gas demand — over 40 percent — to be met through imports, by pipeline and LNG." As a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine Crisis Spells Opportunity for Asian Gas Buyers

;As Europeans fret about the stability of their natural gas supply from Russia amid a standoff over the latter’s , gas buyers in Asia are looking to benefit from a situation that may improve import opportunities. The possibility that sanctions imposed by Western countries may eventually extend to Russia’s gas exports is prompting a cautious stance among buyers of Russian gas and investors in Russian projects, but many are optimistic that gas will continue to flow. "We hope that this will pass in a way that doesn’t impact business and that we are able to continue our current operations and our future projects," said Maarten Wetselaar, executive vice president at Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s integrated gas business. "Our business is to deal with it and not to walk […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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South Korea takes on more Iranian crude

The South Korean government said Tuesday its February imports of Iranian oil more than doubled year-on-year to 8.1 million barrels. Iran secured relief from some international sanctions in exchange for agreeing in November to curb some of its nuclear research activity. The U.S. government said oil restrictions remain in place, though Iranian customers can secure relief from sanctions if they show a decline in crude oil purchases. South Korea secured a six-month extension to the sanctions waiver in November. Data published Tuesday by the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. show imports of Iranian crude oil doubled last month when compared with February 2013. Year-on-year, South Korean imports of Iranian crude declined in January by 66 percent and by 34 percent in December. Iran has touted its investment potential since brokering an interim nuclear deal with Western powers in November. Representatives from French energy company Total […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple