Oils ain't oil they used to be

With China, Greece and the US Fed all there to distract us, one of the key developments this year has been camouflaged - the rise and fall of global oil prices. Over the past year oil prices have: declined by 55%, rallied by 20%, declined by 18%, increased by 42% and are recently down by 30%. Three things have kept oil prices contained this year: increased production from Saudi Arabia, increased exports from Iraq and the continued activity in the US shale industry. When prices fell from USD100 per barrel this time last year to USD42 recently, many market watchers thought the US shale industry would now be on its knees. Yet while these companies’ earnings reports have recently been blotted in red ink, they have been very successful at managing costs, boosting productivity and raising capital and last week the number of US rigs started to rise again. Read the full article: (VIEW LINK)