Posts Tagged ‘carbon emissions’

0 Aug 13 @ 10:58am by Matt Smith in Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Random

Burrito Bites

Arabian Sea, Aug 9

Happy Southpaw Day!

Stormy seas across the financial world have caused the good ship crude to roll over. Prices have charged lower through $80 as the Federal Reserve confirmed fears of a slowing US economy, while data from China has pointed to economic headwinds (…although self-inflicted, to quell inflationary squalls). US natural gas was buffeted lower at the beginning of the week, but has steadied the ship and has drifted sideways ever since. Equities have been looking like they want to visit Davy Jones’ locker, while bond prices are…King of the world! Ahoy, me hearties, grub’s up: 

–Ten stops on the road to carbon management - article by Summit’s John Hoekstra in GreenBiz this week.

–America’s energy future may lie in Canada’s oil sands.

–Fantastic infographic on the timeline for Back To The Future (h/t MK).

–China’s oil imports fall in July on curbed demand.

–Peak Oil proponent and energy legend / conspiracy theorist Matt Simmons died this week.

–A reverse auction for energy efficiency grants.

That's your lotto.

–A hummer built with lottery tickets.

–IEA raises the global forecast for oil demand.

–What’s the carbon footprint of the internet?

–Human domino world record.

–Sales of electric cars in Spain increase 16-fold from last year….to 16.

–Balloons glow to show air quality.

–Huge ice island could pose threat to oil, shipping. (h/t LB/NG)  

–A salute to Southpaws everywhere.

–Is Snooki our new investment guru?

The Burrito Deluxe Award of the Week goes to the bond market, for being the voice of reason and quietly pointing out for the past few months that all is not well in the US economy. 

The Burnt Burrito Award of the Week goes to black gold, Texas tea. Last week it boomed into the $80 realm in an over-excited reaction to manufacturing data, only to be brought back down to earth this week with all the gloomy talk and doomy data. 

Burrito Headline of the Week: Goat Rentals for Weed Control.

Burrito Word of the Week: Shaleapalooza.

Have a rip-roaring weekend!

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1 Jul 30 @ 10:54am by Matt Smith in Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas

Burrito Bites

Yep, it's that hot. (h/t MT)

I bid you a happy Friday once again, as the weekend sees us teeter over the edge of July, and into the arms of August. The past week has brought us a shaken snow globe of economic data; mixed, stormy and unsettled. Yet all the while, corporate earnings season in the US has continued the trend of underpromising and overdelivering, ultimately improving market sentiment, and ergo, equity markets. Natty has been given a boost from warmer temperature outlooks, both near-term and for the rest of summer (hot enough to melt ice cream vans) while hurricane season is errant for now. Crude has continued to trade in a tight range betwixt $76-$80, as the choppy sea of economic sentiment keeps it bobbing along.  Anyhow, too much squibbling, not enough nibbling, let’s chow: 

–New BP CEO: We won’t be found grossly negligent. BP counsel: Yes we will.  

–More buns for your buck – the updated Big Mac Index shows the euro is overvalued. 

–Cap and Trade is dead. Long live Cap and Trade!  

–Is it dangerous to drive and listen to sports radio? 

–Kinks in the ethanol message-machine? 

–Everything you need to know about global warming in 5 minutes (on p.7). 

–America’s laziest states. 

–36ft tall meerkat made out of straw. 

–US refineries still need to trim capacity.

–Why putting a glass of water on your dash helps fuel consumption. 

–Art Berman from The Oil Drum talks about Shale Gas.

–Modern cargo ships travel slower than 19th Century Clippers. 

–Monkey Economics. 

–Are Jedi knights libertarian or socialist? 

The Burrito Deluxe Award of the week goes to Chicago PMI data that was released this morning. With PMI manufacturing data released across the globe on Monday (= August!) - and possibly showing ‘expansion, but slowing expansion’ - the pre-emptive data from the Chicago PMI has boosted markets into the weekend, and raises hopes for some decent prints on Monday - fingers crossed. (No contraction from China’s manufacturing sector, please). 

EIA Crude Inventories this week: 7.3 mb build

The Burnt Burrito Award of the week goes to crude oil stockpiles which posted a hueymongous build in weekly inventories this week, growing by 7.3 million barrels versus the consensus of a draw, as imports cranked up last week. 

The Burrito Quote of the Week: “Every depression upgraded to a storm will bring in precautionary short-covering and precautionary evacuations – at least from BP’s rigs. After everything that has happened this summer, that company only needs to hear wind chimes in the Azores and things get buttoned down,” – research company Cameron Hanover. 

The Burrito Headline of the Week: Strongest Beer in the World. Served in a Dead Squirrel. 

Have a tremendous weekend!

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0 Jul 16 @ 10:55am by Matt Smith in Biofuels, Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Natural Gas

Burrito bites

Rather than the usual review, let’s mix it up and take a look at five fascinating / frightening facts gleaned from this week:

1) China has 65 million vacant homes.
2) The chicken came before the egg (h/t DB).
3)  The Rupee’s got a brand new symbol.
4) Illinois has a higher default risk than Iceland.
5) 70% of American office workers eat lunch at their desks, while 22% of office fridges are only cleaned once or twice a year.

Onto the summary platter of market chatter….

–More than half of the new power in the US, EU is green. 

–The 10 most expensive hurricanes in US history.

–Women-only venting store opens in China.

–50 ways to depict the Gulf oil spill.

–How supermodels are like toxic assets.

–Clean energy investment holding steady in tough times.

–Wowee – Chinese man drives car across bottled beers.

–Much weirdness: oil back in favor of US drillers after years of targeting gas.

–Biofuels and the subsidies involved.

–What does a trillion dollars look like again? (as the US Federal deficit has just passed it).

–The Lady Gaga Economy.

–A Candwich (a sandwich in a can!)

The Burrito Deluxe Award of the week goes to World Cup winners, Spain. Viva!!!

The Burnt Burrito Award of the week goes to US coporate earnings season and US economic data. Both of which are giving us mixed signals and a wonderfully muddied outlook on the US economy. 

Have a  splendid weekend!

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0 Jun 18 @ 9:57am by Matt Smith in Biofuels, Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas, Random, Risk Strategy, Technology, UK natural gas, energy consulting, risk management

An Energy Perspective

This post isn’t a post – it’s a link to a guest post out on the Houston Chronicle. The guest post is pilfered, cribbed and cropped from a speech I did in London this week for the shindig at Shakespeare’s Globe to launch our UK office. It basically outlines who is going to win the World Cup, through comparing and contrasting various aspects of the energy complex to eight teams. So please click on the below image to be directed away from this imposter, to the real post:

No burrito bites this week – apologies – I will double down on the delicacies next week. Have a splendid weekend!

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0 May 7 @ 10:55am by Matt Smith in Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas, energy consulting

Burrito bites

Fixated asphyxiation

Happy Friday, and what a first week of May we have had. Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby last Saturday, a possible leading indicator on the habits of the US consumer, as potholes appear on the road to recovery once again.  The last two days have seen markets shift into a crash-bang-wallop formation, even if the equity crash was for a mad few minutes (…it may still play out again in slow motion over the coming weeks). Natty is somewhat insulated from all the noise by its own fundamentals, so has treaded water before the $4-door was banged shut by another decent weekly storage injection, while crude is simply getting absolutely walloped (14% tip to trough this week).   Let’s tuck in: 

–As good a guess as you’ll find on what happened in yesterday’s market crash, plus a good graphic on Europe’s web of debt.

–Global uncertainty is hitting refining rates in China.

–mosquitoes prefer the blood of beer drinkers. 

–Cisco says the Smart Grid will be bigger than Christmas. (Well, the internet at least). 

Shrimp boats collecting oil in the Gulf of Mexico

–$150 oil: who benefits (not us) and who gets hit (apart from us) .

–As referenced in yesterday’s Burrito post, coal fall, nat gas boom is reducing US emissions.

–Spiderman catches thief  in comic book shop (with help of Jedi knights, of course).

–The top seven to ten shale gas countries.

–My toaster costs how much to run?!

The Burrito Deluxe Award of the week goes to the US dollar, which has rallied an unusually large 5% this week on a flight (well, a fleeing) to safety. 

The Burnt Burrito Award of the week goes to fat finger trades. Cool your jets before you think I am blaming yesterday’s equity crash on a trading error. I am merely saying that a fat finger trade along the way only added to the confusion of a perfect ’15-minute panic sell-off’ storm.

Have a great weekend!

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