Oil at $75, courtesy China ?

    • Oil at $75, courtesy China ?

      Interesting reading in the Economic times -

      China is said to be considering buyingeconomictimes.indiatimes.com/N…/articleshow/4228061.cms# crude oil as part of its strategy to diversify holdings from US Treasuries. This is to hedge against the risk of US Treasury prices dropping and dollar depreciation in the long run. Japanese business daily Nikkei reported that China has been stockpiling oil since 2004 and is planning to stock 100 million barrels by next year. Jonathan Paul, principle economist at Krug and Bordman Commodity Advisory, said, “Crude oil should rise to at least $75 per barrel in 2009. One way is OPEC may raise prices and other one is a huge demand on cards from developing and other countries, those wanting to shy away from the dollar denominated assets.”

      Read full article at economictimes.indiatimes.com/N…k/articleshow/4228061.cms

    • Drop in China GDP, drop in oil Oil price.

      Contrary to the expectations of China boosting the oil prices, oil seems to have dropped $1 on the WorldBank decreasing the China GDP forecast to 6.5 % as against the 7.5 % forecasted in November '08. As reported in the news "WorldBank said Beijing would undermine its own medium-term goals if it tried to offset the slowdown by further boosting investment."

      $75 still seems to be a long way off....

    • Shell warns Oil prices could spike on low investment

      ABU DHABI, June 2 (Reuters) - Low energy investment could lead to a future spike in oil prices, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) said on Tuesday.

      "If the oil prices stay volatile I'm afraid there will be too much slowdown in investment," Jeroen van der Veer said at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

      "I think too low capacity means the next price spike is to come."

      Shell has pledged to continue investing despite a decline in crude prices from peaks of almost $150 a barrel last summer. The company plans to invest $31-32 billion in projects this year, compared with $30 billion last year.

      The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Monday it expected a 21 percent fall in 2009 oil and gas investment budgets, which could lead to sharply higher energy prices in the next three to four years. [ID:nSYU006614]

      Van der Veer will be replaced as chief executive by Shell's current Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser in July.

      (Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu; writing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Editing by Peter Blackburn)

      This is an interesting piece from Reuters at reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL262526020090602