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Crude Inventory Below 5 Year Average

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valueplays
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“Davidson” submits:

[REITs]

Q2 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc

1st:

US Crude Inv drops to 405mil BBL vs 5yr mov avg of 426mil BBL. With the market focus on this relationship, I am surprised by this week’s price response to the 12mil BBL decline in US Crude Inventory. I think the issue is that algorithms are tied inversely to US$ strength and this is confusing when we have had both oil prices and US$ trending in the same direction At some point we experience a sudden shift as algorithms are found to not be working as expected. The effect is a price change which does not appear to make economic sense with the headline.

My guess is oil prices should resume their rise as global demand continues to rise and traders adjust the algorithms. We are in the seasonal down-trend for US Crude Inventory as we convert to inventories of Refined Products sufficient to meet demand during the Fall seasonal catalyst-change-over period.

With some focused on 5yr mov avg of US Crude Inventory, I think it likely we will hear some issue bullish price expectations in coming weeks.

Crude Inventory Below 5 Year Average

2nd:

Horizontal rigs as a percentage of the Baker Hughes No American Rig Count continue to inch higher with this week’s report 88.2% of all rigs vs. last week’s all-time high of 88.4%.

Interesting that the overall rig count has stalled last ~30dys. Is this about fewer rigs doing more, not enough crews, a decision about rising costs hurting returns? The reason is not clear at the moment.

Crude Inventory Below 5 Year Average

Crude Inventory Below 5 Year Average

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Todd Sullivan is a Massachusetts-based value investor and a General Partner in Rand Strategic Partners. He looks for investments he believes are selling for a discount to their intrinsic value given their current situation and future prospects. He holds them until that value is realized or the fundamentals change in a way that no longer support his thesis. His blog features his various ideas and commentary and he updates readers on their progress in a timely fashion. His commentary has been seen in the online versions of the Wall St. Journal, New York Times, CNN Money, Business Week, Crain’s NY, Kiplingers and other publications. He has also appeared on Fox Business News & Fox News and is a RealMoney.com contributor. His commentary on Starbucks during 2008 was recently quoted by its Founder Howard Schultz in his recent book “Onward”. In 2011 he was asked to present an investment idea at Bill Ackman’s “Harbor Investment Conference”.