The En-Pro Blog

This has been a week of decisions both with reference to our $300-million, 37 day election and the decision by the U.S. government to eliminate Osama (Been Hiding) Bin Laden. Both events have been comforting take many of you. I am sure you will be very happy when the month of April is over.

This unrelenting monsoon weather pattern is giving me an idea to start building an ark. Not a lot has changed over the last few weeks as the war continues in Libya, civil unrest rattles Yemen, Bahrain and Syria and oil prices keep going up. In the month of April oil is up 5.5% and crude futures prices are up 35% since January. A lot of the current rise in all commodity prices can be attributed to continuing uncertainty and these major factors:

1. Geopolitics / Wars (Real and potential threats to supply)
2. Government Deficits / Weak U.S. dollar
3. Continuing low interest rate policies in the U.S. (Fuels the global bull mkt.)
4. U.S. Feds Quantitative Easing Program 2 (creates artificial demand)
5. Lack of confidence in the U.S. dollar (inverse effect on commodity prices)
6. Expectations for stronger global demand for all commodities.

Until the MENA civil unrest/war subsides and the U.S gets their financial books in order to support a stronger dollar, we expect crude prices will remain above $105 U.S./barrel for quite a while.

By: Roger McKnight, Senior Petroleum Analyst

For more on this and the natural gas and electricity markets, and to find out subscription rates for the Weekly Energy Report, send your email to info@en-pro.com.

I went out and bought me a brand new sandbox (complete with sand) and some war guy action figures. I made this investment so that I could try to make sense of the Libya circus that is causing all sorts of problems with respect to crude oil, diesel and gasoline prices. I named one of my army figures Go Daffy and the opposition’s army Go Nutzy. The names have been changed, but you get the drift.

After many hours of action figure sandbox strategic maneuvering I came to the conclusion that at a cost of $100 million per day, the Go Nutzies are aptly named, and I am relieved, no amazed, that they have decided to have a meeting in Paris to discuss how to deal with the Go Daffies who seem to be winning whatever they are fighting about. This meeting will, or has, involved 40 countries. My God they won’t be able to decide on the wine list let alone come up with a strategy to find the head Daffy.

By: Roger McKnight, Senior Petroleum Analyst

To find out what happens next in Roger’s action figure sandbox drama, or to sign up for the Weekly Energy Report, send your email to: info@en-pro.com to find out about our subscription rates.

I am sure the dramatic slide we have witnessed in energy prices caused by demand destruction was a welcome surprise this week. We've decided not to ramble on discussing the market influencing ‘specu-investors,’ the Japanese nuclear problems, MENA region instability, the Chinese monetary tightening and the continuing European debt crisis.

Instead, this report will compare the Canadian cardlock suppliers' pricing over this past winter. Our table summarizes by major cardlock suppliers their average six month (Oct 1/10 to Mar 31/11) diesel cardlock prices in 16 major Canadian cities on a regional and a national basis. We divided the report into eastern and western cities to allow our regional clients to better utilize the information. The lowest cost regional suppliers are listed beside the average daily rack posting in the left column and the highest cost suppliers are shown in the right column.

By: John Voros, Senior Petroleum Analyst

For examples, and to find out more about subscription rates to the Weekly Energy Report, send your email to: info@en-pro.com.