[  This is a personal non-profit online research library and is solely used by Scott Bryan Hill.  Some of the links on this page lead to outside resources and the presence of these links should not be taken as an endorsement.  ]

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

( Symbol Guide )

 [ A ]

A Dickens Walk Through Energy, Matthew R. Simmons, Simmons & Company International, October 24, 2003.  Setting the Stage for Energy’s Future (Oil)

As Profits Surge, Oil Giants Find Hurdles Abroad, Jad Mouawad, The New York Times, May 6, 2006.  “To many Americans, oil companies like Exxon Mobil or Chevron appear all powerful, pocketing record profits as energy costs soar. But in many countries around the world, high oil prices are also making life considerably harder for big oil companies.  Sharply higher energy prices have shifted the power to oil-producing countries, as some governments seek a larger share of the riches. As a result, even as Western oil companies expand their reach through acquisitions and multibillion-dollar projects, a resurgence of nationalist policies is weakening their influence.  "We've seen a return to a 1970's style of resource nationalism riding along the crest of high prices," said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm. "During times of low prices, governments are keen to open up. But when prices are high, they have the high cards." (Oil)  Seminars

 [ B ]

Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions, Jane Perlez and Kirk Johnson, The New York Times, December 25, 2005.  “There has always been an element of madness to gold's allure.  For thousands of years, something in the eternally lustrous metal has driven people to the outer edges of desire - to have it and hoard it, to kill or conquer for it, to possess it like a lover." (Gold)

Breaking Point, Peter Maass, The New York Times August 21, 2004. “The largest oil terminal in the world, Ras Tanura, is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf. From Ras Tanura's control tower, you can see the classic totems of oil's dominion -- supertankers coming and going, row upon row of storage tanks and miles and miles of pipes. Ras Tanura, which I visited in June, is the funnel through which nearly 10 percent of the world's daily supply of petroleum flows. Standing in the control tower, you are surrounded by more than 50 million barrels of oil, yet not a drop can be seen.”  (Oil)

 [ C ]

Crude Question: Why are Oil Stocks So Cheap When the Stuff is So Dear?, Andrew Bary, Barron's,  February 3, 2003.  “There’s a Disconnect Between the oil market and oil stocks. As crude prices have risen above $33 a barrel owing to concerns about an impending U.S.-led war against Iraq and lower oil production in Venezuela, shares of giant oil companies such as BP, ChevronTexaco and Royal Dutch lately have touched or skirted 52-week lows. The gulf between the robust market for oil and natural gas and the weak state of the oil stocks could present opportunity for investors, because major energy stocks are back to 1997 levels even though the earnings outlook for 2003 looks bright.”  (Oil)

 [ D ]

 [ E ]

 [ F ]

Facts and Fantasy About Commodity Futures, Gary Gorton University of Pennsylvania K. Geert Rouwenhorst Yale School of Management, Yale ICF Working Paper, June 14, 2004.  "We construct an equally-weighted index of commodity futures monthly returns over the period between July of 1959 and March of 2004 in order to study simple properties of commodity futures as an asset class. Fully-collateralized commodity futures have historically offered the same return and Sharpe ratio as equities.   (Real Assets)

 [ G ]

Gold and Economic Freedom, Alan Greenspan.  "An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense-perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire -- that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other.   In order to understand the source of their antagonism, it is necessary first to understand the specific role of gold in a free society.  Money is the common denominator of all economic transactions. It is that commodity which serves as a medium of exchange, is universally acceptable to all participants in an exchange economy as payment for their goods or services, and can, therefore, be used as a standard of market value and as a store of value, i.e., as a means of saving.  (Gold | Alan Greenspan))

 [ H ]

 [ I ]

Investing in Global Hard Assets: A Diversification Tool for Portfolios, Gary Baierl, Robert Cummisford and Mark W. Riepe, CFA, Ibbotson Associates, April 7 1999.  “Investors used to take comfort in the notion that a portfolio diversified among domestic stocks and bonds would provide sufficient returns at the price of only moderate risk. There was good reason for this comfort. Investors have been aware of the important role that correlation between portfolio components plays in determining the risk of a portfolio at least since the development of mean-variance optimization by Markowitz [1952]. The lower the correlation, the better, which used to be exactly what domestic stock and bond investors experienced. From 1926 to 1969, the correlation between annual total returns for U.S. stocks and bonds was an attractive -0.02. Today, U.S. stock and bond markets mostly move in the same direction. This tendency is reflected in the correlation that was 0.23 from 1970 to 1980 and 0.58 from 1981 to 1998. This lack of diversification, in combination with attractive returns observed in other asset classes, drives the vigor with which opportunities in non-traditional (or alternative) asset classes have been pursued in recent years.  One of the more heavily researched alternative asset classes is commodities. A difficulty with the previous studies is that the indexes used to characterize the asset class are usually composed of returns from managed futures accounts or passive positions in various commodities. Unfortunately, these investments are available only to institutions or the wealthiest of individual investors.”   (Real Assets)

 [ J ]

 [ K ]

 [ L ]

 [ M ]

 [ N ]

Natural-Gas Prices Are Likely To Be High Amid Tight Supplies, Ken Brown, The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2003.  “The race is on.  Last week marked the official start of the annual six-month push to fill up the natural-gas storage tanks so utilities in the nation's northern reaches don't run out of gas, leaving their customers to shiver in their beds next winter.  With gas inventories at their lowest levels in a decade, the effort takes on increased urgency this year. That could lead to a pitched battle between utilities, which have to fill their storage tanks no matter what the cost, and chemical and fertilizer producers, among others, who use gas to make their products.  The net result likely will be high gas prices. "Every day we move toward the winter, you lose that day in terms of refilling inventory," says Dan Pickering, director of research at Simmons & Co., a Houston-based investment bank specializing in energy. "It feels like there's a showdown coming sometime over the summer, and the only question is what's the price that's going to be the result of that showdown."  (Natural Gas)

 [ O ]

 [ P ]

 [ Q ]

 [ R ]

 [ S ]

Saudi Arabian Oil Miracle, Matthew R. Simmons, Simmons & Company International, February 24, 2003.  The Center for Strategic & International Studies.  (Oil)

 [ T ]

Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, Matthew R. Simmons, President Simmons & Company International, Financial Sense Online (Transcription), .  “Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Simmons & Company International, a Houston-based investment bank that specializes in the energy industry. Mr. Simmons serves on the boards of Brown-Forman Corporation, The Atlantic Council of The United States, he’s also a member of the National Petroleum Council and The Council of Foreign Relations.”  (Oil)

 [ U ]

United States Gulf of Mexico Oil, National Geographic, 2004.  Chart.  (Oil)

 [ V ]

 [ W ]

Where It Is and How Much is Left, National Geographic, 2004.  Chart.  (Oil)

Where the Oil Is, The New York Times, November 10, 2002.  Chart.  (Oil)

 [ X ]

 [ Y ]

 [ Z ]