A Blip in Demand for Gas
By Duru
August 22,
2005
Last week, the
latest monthly statistical report from the American Petroleum Institute was
blamed for a sharp correction in oil prices.
The July report indicated an unusually large drop in domestic petroleum
deliveries of 3%. Apparently, we have
not seen a year-to-year drop like this since early in 2002. This news served as a pretty good excuse for
traders and speculators to lock in profits from oil and gas-related stocks and
perhaps to run for the hills. Coincidentally,
Wal-Mart
reported earnings the day before and warned that "…our customer continues
to be impacted by higher gas prices…"
What a quick one-two punch to the thesis of a healthy economy and a
robust market for energy!
Two data
points do not make a trend, but it does not take much to scare markets that
have been on such a tear as the stock market and energy stocks have been on in
recent months. In particular, stocks
have rebounded from the blues in spring presumably on the faith that the
economy is fine and strong enough to keep absorbing higher energy prices,
higher interest rates, and increased uncertainty on the geo-political front. Energy stocks have obliged this thesis by keeping
pace with the rest of the stock market, again, presumably because the economy
appears healthy enough to keep paying the tab for higher oil prices. Now, Economics 101 tells us something has to
give at some point. Last week some folks
finally started to contemplate that this self-reinforcing march upward is
beginning to break down. Me-thinks the
jig is not up yet.
Almost five
months ago, many folks scoffed and laughed when a Goldman Sachs analyst predicted peak oil prices $100 and over. A barrel of oil cost a little over $50 then
and already it is pushing $70. When Chevron announced
a mega-deal to acquire Unocal merely days after this report, oil seemed a
lock for a peak. I read just such calls
in many publications, including Barron's.
Even folks who predict high prices in the short-term continue to see big
drops in prices on the horizon for 2006, 2007, or just a little later - even if
they continue to hike up expectations of "equilibrium" prices
(remember in 2003 when analysts laughed at higher oil prices in the face of the
I have stated before
that I will not believe in a peak in oil until I see some behaviors change in
consumers. Folks have been good at
complaining but bad at actually doing anything.
The President recognizes that there is not much he can do (or is doing)
to help things in the short-term and claims
that this latest energy bill contains a long-term strategy to a healthy
environment for energy consumption. Certainly,
time will tell, but in the meantime, I will roll with what I see in the here
and now. Folks may be scaling back
consumption of retail goods to pay for their gas, but they are not yet at the
point of scaling back consumption of the good stuff just yet. I hereby declare that the July gas demand
numbers were but a blip in demand on our way to even higher oil prices. Let's check back in a few more months! In the meantime, be careful out there!