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Oil-storage Trade
The oil-storage trade, also referred to as contango, is a market strategy in which large, often vertically-integrated oil companies purchase oil for immediate delivery and storage—when the price of oil is low— and hold it in storage until the price of oil increases. Investors bet on the future of oil prices through a financial instrument, oil futures in which they agree on a contract basis, to buy or sell oil at a set date in the future. Crude oil is stored in salt mines, tanks and oil tankers. Investors can choose to take profits or losses prior to when the oil delivery date arrives or they can leave the contract in place and physical oil is delivered on the set date to an officially designated delivery point. In the United States, that is usually to Cushing, Oklahoma. When delivery dates approach, they close out existing contracts and sell new ones for future delivery of the same oil. The oil never moves out of storage. If the forward market is in "contango"—the forward p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contango
Contango is a situation where the futures price (or forward price) of a commodity is higher than the ''expected'' spot price of the contract at maturity. In a contango situation, arbitrageurs or speculators are "willing to pay more owfor a commodity o be receivedat some point in the future than the actual expected price of the commodity t that future point This may be due to people's desire to pay a premium to have the commodity in the future rather than paying the costs of storage and carry costs of buying the commodity today." On the other side of the trade, hedgers (commodity producers and commodity holders) are happy to sell futures contracts and accept the higher-than-expected returns. A contango market is also known as a normal market, or carrying-cost market. The opposite market condition to contango is known as backwardation. "A market is 'in backwardation' when the futures price is below the ''expected'' spot price for a particular commodity. This is favorable for inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitol
Vitol is a Swiss-based multinational energy and commodity trading company that was founded in Rotterdam in 1966 by Henk Viëtor and Jacques Detiger. Though trading, logistics and distribution are at the core of its business, these are complemented by refining, shipping, terminals, exploration and production, power generation, and retail businesses. Vitol has 40 offices worldwide and its largest operations are in Geneva, Houston, London, and Singapore. With revenues of $279 billion in 2021, Vitol is the largest independent energy trader in the world, and would be the sixth largest company worldwide as measured by revenue on the ''Fortune'' Global 500 list. Given the secrecy Vitol maintains around all its business activities and the limited nature of its statutory disclosures, it is excluded from rankings. The company, however, does provide some more financial information to its lenders and to a few other entities with which it trades. The company ships more than 350 million tonne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contingent Payment Sales
In business dealings, transactions often occur that include variables based on future events that can be difficult to ascertain (for example, a company may sell in an amount stock along with a percentage of that company's net profits.) As these transactions are contingent on payments that occur in the future, and the total selling price cannot be determined as of the end of the taxable year of the sale, they are known as Contingent Payment Sales. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the final amounts of these transactions, they are difficult to evaluate for the purpose of tax liability. Section 483 of the Internal Revenue Code provides descriptions for the handling of contingent payments and interest on contingent payments. Methods of computing tax liability for contingent sales Maximum Selling Price If the maximum amount of sales can be determined in the year in which they occur by assuming that all contingencies are met, the price can be calculated in a manner similar to the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Accountability Office
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United States. It identifies its core "mission values" as: accountability, integrity, and reliability. It is also known as the "congressional watchdog". Powers of GAO The work of the GAO is done at the request of congressional committees or subcommittees or is mandated by public laws or committee reports. It also undertakes research under the authority of the Comptroller General. It supports congressional oversight by: * auditing agency operations to determine whether federal funds are being spent efficiently and effectively; * investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities; * reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting their objectives; * performing policy analyses and outlining options for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an emergency stockpile of petroleum maintained by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). It is the largest publicly known emergency supply in the world; its underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas have capacity for . The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 to mitigate future supply disruptions as part of the international Agreement on an International Energy Program, after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973–1974 oil embargo. The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. , the inventory was . This equates to about days of oil at 2019 daily U.S. consumption levels of or days of oil at 2019 daily U.S. import levels of . However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only , so it would take about days to use the entire inventory. At recent market prices ($58 a barrel as of March 2021), the SPR holds over $14.6 billion in sweet crude and approximately $18.3 billion in so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shale Oil Wells
Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing sulfur and nitrogen impurities. Shale oil extraction is usually performed above ground (''ex situ'' processing) by mining the oil shale and then treating it in processing facilities. Other modern technologies perform the processing underground (on-site or ''in situ'' processing) by applying heat and extracting the oil via oil wells. The earliest description of the process dates to the 10th century. In 1684, Great Britain granted the first formal extraction process patent. Extraction industries and innovations became widespread during the 19th century. The industry shrank in the mid-20th century following the discovery of large reserves of conventional oil, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydraulic Fracturing In The United States
Fracking in the United States began in 1949. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), by 2013 at least two million oil and gas wells in the US had been hydraulically fractured, and that of new wells being drilled, up to 95% are hydraulically fractured. The output from these wells makes up 43% of the oil production and 67% of the natural gas production in the United States.US Dept. of EnergyHow is shale gas produced? Apr. 2013. Environmental safety and health concerns about hydraulic fracturing emerged in the 1980s, and are still being debated at the state and federal levels. New York banned massive hydraulic fracturing by executive order in 2010, so all natural gas production in the state is from wells drilled prior to the ban. Vermont, which has no known frackable gas reserves, banned fracking preventatively in May 2012. In March 2017, Maryland became the second state in the US with proven gas reserves to pass a law banning fracking. On May 8, 2019, Washington became the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shale Oil
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil. The term "shale oil" is also used for crude oil produced from shales of other unconventional, very low permeability formations. However, to reduce the risk of confusion of shale oil produced from oil shale with crude oil in oil-bearing shales, the term "tight oil" is preferred for the latter. The International Energy Agency recommends to use the term "light tight oil" and World Energy Resources 2013 report by the World Energy Council uses the term "tight oil" for crude oil in oil-bearing sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomberg Business
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City in September 1929. Bloomberg Businessweek business magazines are located in the Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan in New York City and market magazines are located in the Citigroup Center, 153 East 53rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenue, Manhattan in New York City. History ''Businessweek'' was first published based in New York City in September 1929, weeks before the stock market crash of 1929. The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the business world at the time. Early sections of the magazine included marketing, labor, finance, management and Washington Outlook, which made ''Businessweek'' one of the first publications to cover national political issues that directly impacted the b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA programs cover data on coal, petroleum, natural gas, electric, renewable and nuclear energy. EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Background The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 established EIA as the primary federal government authority on energy statistics and analysis, building upon systems and organizations first established in 1974 following the oil market disruption of 1973. EIA conducts a comprehensive data collection program that covers the full spectrum of energy sources, end uses, and energy flows; generates short- and long-term domestic and international energy projections; and performs informative energy analyses. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oil Tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets. Oil tankers are often classified by their size as well as their occupation. The size classes range from inland or coastal tankers of a few thousand metric tons of deadweight (DWT) to the mammoth ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) of . Tankers move approximately of oil every year.UNCTAD 2006, p. 4. Second only to pipelines in terms of efficiency,Huber, 2001: 211. the average cost of transport of crude oil by tanker amounts to only US. Some specialized types of oil tankers have evolved. One of these is the naval replenishment oiler, a tanker which can fuel a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Companies
The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure and maintenance of society in almost all countries. In particular, the energy industry comprises: * the fossil fuel industries, which include petroleum industries (oil companies, petroleum refiners, fuel transport and end-user sales at gas stations) coal industries (extraction and processing) and the natural gas industries (natural gas extraction, and coal gas manufacture, as well as distribution and sales); * the electrical power industry, including electricity generation, electric power distribution and sales; * the nuclear power industry; * the renewable energy industry, comprising alternative energy and sustainable energy companies, including those involved in hydroelectric power, wind powe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
