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by Ashraf Laidi
Posted: Feb 22, 2010 5:00
Comments: 8936
Posted: Feb 22, 2010 5:00
Comments: 8936
Forum Topic:
Gold, Oil & Indices (Equity & Bond Indices)
Discuss Gold, Oil & Indices (Equity & Bond Indices)
Jim Chanos Shorts Oil Companies Based on Diminished Reserves; Peak Oil Impact on GDP, Standard of Living, Geopolitical Tensions
Peak oil be damned, hedge fund manager Jim Chanos is betting against oil companies because they are not replenishing reserves.
Please consider Jim Chanos Shorts Oil Majors, Ford Shares, Hasnt Played BP
Jim Chanos, the hedge-fund manager who made money betting against Enron Corp., said he is short- selling shares of large oil companies because investment in drilling and exploration is eating up their cash flows.
The founder of Kynikos Associates Ltd. said in a Bloomberg Television interview from his office in New York that his bearish calls on some energy companies, which he declined to identify, pre-date the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. That incident led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history and sent BP Plc shares down 49 percent through yesterday.
If you look at their cash-flow statements relative to their income statements, you will see companies that havent replaced reserves in years, and havent seen any increase in revenues in years, he said. Theyre borrowing their dividend. Theyre in effect liquidating.
Chanos said hes adding to short-sales of Ford Motor Co. as the second-biggest U.S. carmaker will struggle to compete against General Motors Co. United Auto Workers, the union that owns holdings in GM and Chrysler Group LLC, may favor those companies over Ford when negotiating upcoming labor contracts, he said.
Its going to be very interesting to see how it is that the union, which controls the employees -- and I contend these entities are still run for their employees and retirees more than the shareholders -- are going to look in an environment going forward, where the UAW is a major equity holder in some of the other entities, the investor said. It adds a new dynamic to the twist.
Inquiring minds might be interest in a short Bloomberg video with Chanos.
GDP, Standard of Living, Geopolitical Tensions
My friend "BC" offers the following opinions...
Energy companies will be hit by both demand destruction of the product they sell but also the falling Energy Return on Investment (EROI) at peak production, reducing their ability to reinvest in capacity and exploration to sustain or increase reserves.
Because of Peak Oil, there is no mathematical possibility that China-Asia can achieve anything close to a Western per capita energy density, GDP, and standard of living without causing a dramatic decline or collapse of the Western economies.
The more Asians and others decide to compete with the Western economies for energy resources, the more likely Westerners will resort to desperate means to manage or try to prevent decline or collapse.
The post-Oil Age decline will not be a single collapse event. Rather, we are more likely to see a kind of stair step decline, like a ball bouncing downstairs, with increasing volatility of supply and price shocks from a positive feedback effect, reducing the very long-term trend of real GDP, per capita GDP, and population growth to 0% and negative.
Its a bit of touch n go here US equities are key here. The market is although and traders are on 50/50 at the moment....Sell oil Yen weakness, although gasoline prices are still drop in asia also seen and today my next post also shows weak demand in US which just suggests weak growth...... damn now i cant find the article now! But that wat i heard.
Is anyone inclined to short the dow jones.
Just 21 minutes before your post here, in the Commodity FX thread you posted this:
"The AUD USD is nearing a key resistance level at .8727. The current rally looks tired which could mean that another round of weak economic data will send it lower. The chart indicates there is room to the downside with .8377 the next likely downside target."
So which is it?
Crude oil pulled back a little over 1% on Thursday, but prices are still holding above $75.50 support. Oil has been benefitting from stability in the financial markets. News out of Europe has so far failed to worsen, and thus traders are reevaluating whether risk assets, including oil, are oversold. Prices have rebounded about 50% of the losses incurred during the entire correction. So where does oil go from here? Inventories across the globe are still at very high levels. OPEC production is steady and its spare capacity is in excess of 5 million barrels per day. On the bullish side of the ledger, the deepwater drilling moratorium will have an adverse effect on production that comes out of the region over the next year and possibly beyond. The most likely outcome is an oil market in which prices continue to gyrate with broader financial markets, but with the potential for limited gains from current levels, as risks to the upside and downside are balanced. The next significant technical resistance level is $80.00 On the downside, $75.50 is the level to watch.
The TED spread has recently pulled back off its highs in its largest fall since March, as pointed out by Bespoke Invest. The Ted spread indicates risk assumptions in markets, the higher it is the more perceived risk in markets.
But as the chart shows that fall might be short lived, and could lead to another dramatic increase in the market stress indicator, just like it did in March, April, and May.http://www.bespokeinvest.com/thinkbig/2010/6/17/ted-spread-sees-largest-decline-since-march.html
Thank's to wcup french government can make what it wants about pension plan and actually nobody understand that in France