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What Economic Indicators Do Oil and Gas Investors Need to Watch?

Part of the Series
Guide to Investing in Oil Markets

Oil and gas investors look for specific economic indicators to help them understand future movements in the petroleum industry. Like any commodity market, oil and gas companies and petroleum futures are sensitive to inventory levels, production, ಌglobal demand, interest rate policies, and aggr𓂃egate economic figures such as gross domestic product.

Key Takeaways

  • As produced commodities, oil and gas markets are driven by supply and demand as well as the cost of extracting, producing, and refining these natural resources.
  • Investors should look to inventories and refining capacity to see if supply is increasing faster than demand, which could lead to downward price pressure (or vice versa).
  • In addition to supply-side metrics, demand for oil can be tracked by looking at economic growth, transportation, and gasoline consumption trends.
  • Government policies on taxes, tariffs, interest rates, and regulation can also factor into oil and gas prices.

Oil Inventories

Oil is an economically and strategically crucial resource for many nations. Countries like the United States maintain large reserves of crude oil for future use. The measure of these 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:oil reserves acts as an indicator for investors; changes in the stock levels🗹 of oil are reflections of trends iไn production and consumption.

The Energy Information Administration provides a weekly supply estimate of petroleum and other liquids. When the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trendline increases over time, suppliers are likely to lower prices to entice more purchases. The opp𒅌osite is also true: Decreasing levels of production cause buyers to bid up the price of petroleum commodities.

Refinery Use and Production

Along with the release of crude inventories comes a long list of data focused on crude oil production, covering domestic production, refinery input, and utilization, and other inventory levels (motor gasoline) as well as import/export data. All of this data is taken into consideration when investors are attempting to g✱ain an idea of the fundamentals of the crude oil market. For example, t♉raders will look at refinery use to determine how much more capacity is available to get 𒅌additional supply to the market. If refinery use is high, putting additional oil through refineries would be difficult—leading to lower supply and higher prices.

Investors should keep an eye on the ratio between refinery use and refinery capacity. Refineries are expensive, and it can take a long time to sig✃nificantly increase production 𝄹capacity beyond current levels. If demand grows to the point that the refinery is maximized, it may lead to higher prices until capacity can be increased.

Global Demand and Economic Performance

Economic development in highly populated nations, such as India and China, may lead to a large rise in global demand for oil and gas products. Alternatively, economic struggles tend to reduce the demand for petroleum as businesses scale back their operations and individual households cut back on gasoline use to save money. A clear 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:example of this was th🥂e Great🦹 Recession, when oil prices dropped by 71% and gas prices dropped by 58% in less than six months.

Aggregate indicators of general economic performance can inform investors about expected shifts in the demand for oil and gas. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the total levels of spending and production in a given economy, and it is assumed that increases in GDP lead to increases in demand for oil.

Government Polic✱y: Interest Rates, Taxes, and Regulation

Interest rates are important economic indicators for sectors related to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:commodities or finance. Changes in interest rates affect t♔he costs of inventory storage, affect the borrowing and spending habits of both producers and consumers, and change the capital costs and structure for petroleum producers with regards to land, buildings, machinery, and equipment.

Government tax po🦂licies impact business performance and profitability. Increased taxation on petroleum products or oil and gas companies restrict output and may lead to rising prices; the opposite is true for lower taxes.

Regulation is also an important aspect to take into consideration. Since the burning of fossil fuels leads to environmental concerns, governments may feel the need to increase their taxes or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果ඣ体彩网:regulations on oil and gas companies to lower consumption levels intentionally; this affects 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:supply and demand and consequently the price.

Article Sources
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  1. U.S. Energy Information Administration. "."

  2. U.S. Department of Transportation. "."

  3. U.S. Energy Information Administration. ""

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Part of the Series
Guide to Investing in Oil Markets

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