May 18 2011 @ 10:58am by Matt Smith in Crude Oil, Global Energy, energy consulting
Ella Fitzgerald is absolutely brilliant. She has the most rabble-rousingly glorious voice which cannot help but inspire. So by borrowing a few song sheets from her extensive back catalogue, I’m going to elaborate on some of the key issues in energy through ‘The First Lady of Song’. First up we’re going to take a look at gasoline, which is ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered’.
After writing this post a couple of months ago about how gas prices could land a telling blow to the US economy, they have achieved a psychological breaking point for the consumer as we have recently reached $3.98 on the national retail average. » read more
Apr 26 2011 @ 8:13am by Matt Smith in Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy
It’s always fun to go on CNBC, especially on a week when there is so much going on. Hark, click on the mugshot below to launch to this morning’s 6.15am Squawk Box appearance – is 10 minutes long, but I don’t get to chew the cud until about halfway through:
Feb 17 2011 @ 10:35am by Matt Smith in Crude Oil, Global Energy
After looking at NYMEX natural gas earlier in the week through Dwight Schrute, next we move on to the crude complex, and specifically the two global benchmarks; US-based WTI crude oil (represented by Michael Scott / Steve Carell), and UK-based Brent crude oil (represented by David Brent / Ricky Gervais).
There is more of a similarity between the characters and commodities than first realized, as the cringe worthy nature of the Dunder Mifflin boss is something that can be identified with across the world, while crude oil is ‘fungible’ (= it is interchangeable the world over). And although both bosses are equally as embarrassing, a strange situation has arisen in recent months where the two crude benchmarks (which normally track each other closely), have diverged as WTI – in true heroic fashion - has a tragic flaw; it is landlocked (as opposed to being seaborne like Brent). » read more
