
Blue horizontal lines represent average price-to-book multiples over the period. Red horizontal lines represent 25th and 75th percentile price-to-book multiples over the period.
|
Monday, 06 July 2009 15:30 |
Contracts on the Markit iTraxx Financial index of credit- default swaps linked to the senior debt of 25 banks and insurers were more expensive today than the Markit iTraxx Europe corporate index. That hasn’t happened since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bankrupt in September and, before that, JPMorgan’s takeover of Bear Stearns, according to BNP Paribas. It reflects “systemic stress” in the financial system.
...
To contact the reporters on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net; Bryan Keogh in New York at bkeogh4@bloomberg.net
Above extract from Bloomberg ...
Russell Gold and Angel Gonzalez report:
Oil executives will talk about how the world needs more renewables and more oil. But there is tension between crude oil purveyors and renewable energy adherents.
Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali Naimi lobbed a verbal salvo in the crude vs. renewables scuffle. In a speech to oil executives in Houston, he warned that promoting the growth of renewable fuels too quickly could create a “nightmare scenario” – too little investment in oil, while renewables aren’t yet ready to pick up the slack.
His remarks seemed aimed at officials in Washington D.C. and particularly members of President Barack Obama’s administration. His speech comes at a time when the new Obama administration embarks on an ambitious path to steer the country’s energy policy away from fossil fuels. President Obama was to instate a national renewable electricity mandate and a carbon cap-and-trade system this year.
“We must be mindful that efforts to rapidly promote alternatives could have a ‘chilling effect’ on investment in the oil sector,” he said at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates oil conference, according to his prepared remarks. “A nightmare scenario would be created if alternative energy supplies fail to meet overly optimistic expectations, while traditional energy suppliers scale back investment.”
That echoes an argument made last summer by a Dutch think tank–basically, that oil-producing nations are just as concerned about “security of demand” as consumer countries are about “security of supply.”
Mr. Naimi’s warning against ramping up investments and expectations in renewable energy comes at a time when OPEC members are feeling the financial pain of low crude oil prices.
Mr. Naimi, the longtime oil minister for Saudi Arabia, is one of the most influential voices in the oil world. But he speaks as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has slashed output in an effort to cut supplies and keep prices from falling.
Still, Mr. Naimi acknowledged that the world was likely headed towards a transition away from fossil fuels. But he said it wasn’t clear which fuels or technologies would be able to gain the scale and economics needed to replace crude oil.
The cost of replacing the current “highly efficient and economical” energy infrastructure with alternatives would be “prohibitive” in the short term. “A prudent approach demands we recognize that the massive scale of the global energy system makes rapid change costly and impractical,” he said.
He also that he believed current prices were “unsustainable” and unsupported by market fundamentals. He blamed oil speculators for pushing up oil prices too high last year, but said they also should shoulder blame for “exaggerated price weakness.” He said financial markets were guilty of “group-think,” forgetting that the oil business is cyclical.
Members of OPEC and oil analysts have warned repeatedly in recent months that the low price of crude oil could lead to an underinvestment and crimp future oil supplies. An economic recovery and growth in oil demand could send prices shooting back up, warn analysts.
Meanwhile, OPEC members have postponed 35 oil-production projects in development, a sure sign that these nations are feeling the pain from low crude oil prices.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which last week announced two discoveries in 5,000-foot seas, plans to continue searching the Gulf of Mexico for prospects that contain at least 100 million barrels of crude. At current prices, such a find would be worth about $4 billion.
Anadarko, based in The Woodlands, Texas, can make a 10 percent profit on deepwater fields when oil is $30 a barrel, Chief Executive James Hackett said during a Feb. 3 conference call with investors and analysts.