What about Peak Oil Demand?

The natural gas revolution has been busily disrupting energy markets (and also transforming North Dakota’s economy and lighting up the state so much it’s actually visible from space). Now, a report from Citigroup analysts predicts that the rapidly expanding natural gas industry will upend a long-running prediction about the future of oil. Bloomberg reports:

“The shift from oil to gas is already under way in the U.S.,” Seth Kleinman, the head of European energy research at Citigroup, and five other analysts wrote yesterday in a report. Other countries are poised to follow suit, they wrote, as gas becomes more plentiful and anti-pollution efforts intensify…

“Oil demand growth may be topping out sooner than the market expects,” Kleinman, based in London, and his colleagues wrote. Greater fuel economy may combine with the shift toward gas to cause global demand to level off at about 91 million barrels a day, the report said.

In other words, we may never hit the doomsday scenario described by the “peak oil” theory. The idea of “peak oil” really took off in the 1960s, and it’s about as intuitive as it is controversial: it claims that because the world’s oil supply is finite, we’re bound to reach a point where oil production hits a peak and begins declining. That, in turn would lead to soaring oil prices, collapsing economies, and a generally chaotic future.

Many believers in the theory thought that we would hit that peak decades ago. Fortunately for us, technological advanced have steadily improved our ability to access more and more difficult-to-reach oil, staving off the arrival of that day when we can no longer extract enough oil to meet global demand.

Now, the steady march of technology has unlocked vast quantities of an alternative fuel source, and if the Citigroup report proves accurate, we may soon see a scenario that peak oil believers never would have expected: hitting peak oil demand before we reach peak oil supply. Right now, oil is about 4 times as expensive per BTU as natural gas. But, if plentiful natural gas can take the place of oil for more purposes, we would likely see the cost per BTU of both to come closer to parity. In other words, a significant decline in oil prices and a corresponding increase in natural gas prices.

Of course, there are still many uncertainties that could prevent Citigroup’s crystal ball gazing from coming true. But the natural gas boom is certainly changing the energy market in ways that few could have predicted just a few years ago.

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Disclaimer
The performance data displayed herein is compiled from various sources, including BarclayHedge, and reports directly from the advisors. These performance figures should not be relied on independent of the individual advisor's disclosure document, which has important information regarding the method of calculation used, whether or not the performance includes proprietary results, and other important footnotes on the advisor's track record.

The programs listed here are a sub-set of the full list of programs able to be accessed by subscribing to the database and reflect programs we currently work with and/or are more familiar with.

Benchmark index performance is for the constituents of that index only, and does not represent the entire universe of possible investments within that asset class. And further, that there can be limitations and biases to indices such as survivorship, self reporting, and instant history. Individuals cannot invest in the index itself, and actual rates of return may be significantly different and more volatile than those of the index.

Managed futures accounts can subject to substantial charges for management and advisory fees. The numbers within this website include all such fees, but it may be necessary for those accounts that are subject to these charges to make substantial trading profits in the future to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their assets.

Investors interested in investing with a managed futures program (excepting those programs which are offered exclusively to qualified eligible persons as that term is defined by CFTC regulation 4.7) will be required to receive and sign off on a disclosure document in compliance with certain CFT rules The disclosure documents contains a complete description of the principal risk factors and each fee to be charged to your account by the CTA, as well as the composite performance of accounts under the CTA's management over at least the most recent five years. Investor interested in investing in any of the programs on this website are urged to carefully read these disclosure documents, including, but not limited to the performance information, before investing in any such programs.

Those investors who are qualified eligible persons as that term is defined by CFTC regulation 4.7 and interested in investing in a program exempt from having to provide a disclosure document and considered by the regulations to be sophisticated enough to understand the risks and be able to interpret the accuracy and completeness of any performance information on their own.

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See the full terms of use and risk disclaimer here.

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