Allen's blog

We were intrigued by the results of the recent CNBC poll of money managers on the question of what oil prices would be in 2009. According to the responses, only 2% of respondents think oil prices will average less than $30 a barrel. In contrast, no one believes they could average $75. Some 42% of those polled say prices will average $30-$50 while 56% say it will be between $50-$75. =>Continue Reading

An article in today's Financial Times discusses the latest data on automobile sales in the United States. The data for November from Autodata showed a 53% decline for hybrid car sales compared to an overall auto industry sales drop of 37%. On Monday, Autodata is scheduled to announce December auto sales figures and expectations are that the trend in falling hybrid sales will continue. The reason is simple - lower gasoline prices. =>Continue Reading

StatoilHydro (STO-NYSE) announced it is ending a rig procurement effort that began this summer. The reason for the termination signals lower rig day rates in the future along with reduced earnings for offshore drilling contractors such as Transocean (RIG-NYSE), Noble Corp. (NE-NYSE), ENSCO International (ESV-NYSE), Diamond Offshore (DO-NYSE) and Atwood Oceanics (ATW-NYSE)to name a few. =>Continue Reading

The WSJ article about Russian professor Igor Panarin who is predicting the breakup of the United States in 2010 reminds us of the discussion in the 1970s about Texas' ability to secede from the union. =>Continue Reading

Today's Sunday New York Times carried two columns in its Op-Ed section - one by Tom Friedman and the other by Art Laffer and Bob Inglis. Both columns dealt with the issue of emissions and energy prices, but through different approaches. Both columns reflected a certain degree of frustration about what was happening to the environmental and energy saving efforts in America due to weak oil prices. =>Continue Reading

We read The New York Times award-winning columnist Thomas Freedman's latest missive. He stated that the world was happy with the election of Sen. Obama, but they should show their support with troops, money and trade. =>Continue Reading

After the meeting of the G7 finance ministers over the weekend and the agreement by major economic powers to undertake a rescue of the world's financial system, crude oil prices rose. But Tuesday, when more investors were back in the market, fears of the impact on economic activity from a major recession next year took hold and drove oil prices back down under $80 a barrel. Many investors may be thinking that $80 a barrel is the new base price, but if we have a significant decline in energy demand prices could head well below this new marker. =>Continue Reading

Last Friday, crude oil futures prices dropped by $9 a barrel. This was the same day the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced revised estimates for oil demand for this year and next. It cut both forecasts due to weak global economic conditions stemming from the global credit crisis. =>Continue Reading

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported today that oil demand fell 8.5% between January and February this year. It also reported that gasoline consumption fell by 6.2%. Some of the decline is do to February being a shorter month, although 2008 was a leap year. =>Continue Reading

Today, crude oil futures prices hit an intraday record price of $105.97 per barrel, continuing the climbing price trend of the past several weeks. Oil is now well established beyond the old 1980 inflation-adjusted price achieved during the Iranian hostage crisis. So what's behind this recent price surge and is it sustainable? =>Continue Reading