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Financial players increase their bets on crude

Currencies, Economic growth, Financial Events, Futures trading, Leverage, Oil markets
By Paul Hodges on 14-Jan-2008

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Financial investors are already quite disruptive in crude oil markets. And their influence is set to grow this year. That’s the message from surveys by Barclays Global Investors and JP Morgan. $120bn is now invested in commodities as a class, with oil a major target. Even your own pension fund may be about to invest, or to increase its exposure, after the stellar returns posted in 2007.

As a result, crude oil prices are becoming more volatile. Over the past month, they have been over $100/bbl on several occasions. Yet they were below $90/bbl on 18 December, and are currently back around $93/bbl. This is a major issue for petchems, making pricing and margins most uncertain.

Nothing has changed since mid-December in the ‘real world’ of oil supply/demand to justify this recent volatility. The mild weather forecast for the critical NE USA area seems to have been accurate. There have been no new geo-political tensions.

The cause is simply the behaviour of financial players. As I noted back in July, these do not set underlying trends. Rather, they jump on them after they have developed. The ‘weight of money’ then exaggerates any minor changes in either direction.

Worryingly for petchems, this influence seems likely to grow in 2008. The US pension fund, Calpers, is poised to invest $13bn (5% of its $250bn portfolio). It sees oil markets as a good ‘hedge’ against inflation and slowing stock markets. Calpers adds that ‘we believe energy will offer investors opportunities in coming years’.

In Europe, JP Morgan found that 31% of major investors were planning to invest in commodities this year. Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Austria were particularly keen, with only France having zero interest. Europe is following the US pattern, with the largest Dutch pension fund ABP increasing its investment to 3% of its portfolio, matching Hermes (the UK’s largest fund).

There is little point in petchem producers or consumers trying to stand against this wave of new money entering the oil markets. And with a profits downturn probably already underway, it is instead important to ‘lock-in’ margins as much as possible. Companies routinely ‘hedge’ their currency exposure these days. Use of the LME futures contracts may well need to become a similarly essential tool.