Harry our hero! I’m just wild about Harry and Harry is wild about me! What Harry am I actually wild about? Well it is American hero Harry Reid. That’s right Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid! Why is he a hero? Well in case you haven’t heard, he has brought to America energy independence! That’s right! Senator Harry Reid has found the secret replacement for all the oil this country imports every day! He said yesterday that the US would no longer need to import oil. I know! What excitement! Take that Saudi Arabia. (Don’t tell Canada or Mexico because they might get really bummed.) Senator Reid has succeeded where many of the greatest minds in this country has failed. He has the secret so the US will not have to import anymore oil. How do I know! Well he said so. How could you have missed it?
Now how is this possible? Has Harry Reid found a new type of fuel in his state? Maybe he found something like a Nevada Kryptonite? I know if he has he probably should not get to close to it. Or maybe he has found a way to harness his brain power. Maybe he can just think and it can power like a major like generator. Or maybe he can just talk and wind farms from coast to coast will spin like mad. Whatever it is I am sure that now is the time for Harry to let us in on it.
What’s that you say? Is that it? You mean the reason that we won’t have to import oil is because Wild Harry is going to promote his plan to accelerate renewable energy, natural gas and efficiency policies? Harry says we won’t need foreign oil because lawmakers could move within three weeks on legislation that would mandate federal renewable energy and efficiency standards and a bill that would require an increasing percentage of electricity to come from renewable sources such as wind and solar, from 4% in 2012 up to 20% by 2021. Hey now wait a minute! Is Wild Harry trying to pull the wool over our eyes? Is Harry Reid serious? Does he really believe that this bill will allow this country to forego oil imports?
He would have a better chance running the economy into the ground so we wouldn’t be able to afford foreign oil. Oh, shhhh...he may hear us. I mean let’s face it, the economic slowdown has done more to reduce our foreign dependence on oil than anything that Harry Reid has done. Unless of course he wants to take some responsibility for the state of the economy and his part in not doing anything about it. I mean just yesterday David Bird of Dow Jones reported that U.S. crude-oil imports fell 3.1%, or 310,000 barrels a day, to a five-year low of 9.721 million barrels a day in 2008 quoting preliminary data from the Department of Energy. The fall, according to Bird, was the largest year-on-year drop since 1985. The annual drop is the third in a row, with crude imports down 4% from the peak of 10.126 million barrels a day in 2005, while U.S. oil demand fell by 6.4% in the period. The annual figures are derived by Dow Jones Newswires and Mr. Bird using latest EIA preliminary crude-oil imports data for December and revised data for the previous 11 months. The EIA said crude imports fell 9% from November to 9.031 million barrels a day, a six-year low for the month. Preliminary figures, based on EIA's publication of company reports of their imports, show December crude imports were 8.2% below the year-earlier level. Canada was the top source of crude-oil imports in December for the 34th consecutive month, dating back to March 2006.
Of course with falling exports and a struggling global economy you might think that would give us some more influence with the OPEC cartel. Well not if you listen to our new Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Now Mr. Chu may be the master of his domain but his domain does not include OPEC. Yes, our new Energy Secretary is ready to reach for the unreachable star when it comes to green energy so maybe he feels it is not his place to talk energy with OPEC. Maybe it is because Harry Reid is going to put OPEC out of business and he feels sorry for them. It is in his domain to he encourage oil producers to maintain price stability. Price stability? That’s what OPEC said they were trying to do when they cut production. He's on the same page with the cartel I guess. Chu said, "Price stability for oil prices is good around the world. Every country would want price stability and I can do what I can do to encourage OPEC countries to promote price stability." I wonder if the Energy Secretary domain is stable.
Well instead of wondering about that perhaps you are wondering about today’s EIA energy report. Well if it is like the API report it should be a bit bearish. The API showed that refinery runs increased to 82.2 percent. Gasoline supply increased by 1.645 million barrels, distillates down 875,000 and crude up 1.576 million barrels. We are seeing profit taking into the report and that could open up an opportunity to get short. Higher runs mean more products coming.
We have been short crude oil on a quintuple rollover! Wow. We're short April crude from apprx 3854 - in stop at 3960.
We're short March heating oil from apprx 14000 - lower stop to 13700!
Sell April RBOB at 12900 - stop 13500.
Sell April natural gas at 500 - stop 540.
