Crude Oil and Gas ETFs are Having a Good 2018

Thus far in 2018, the oil and gas industry has been booming. Rig counts in the US are up, prices at the pump are up, and the oil and gas ETFs tracking the sector are up by a lot.

Investors who have been following the industry over the past year could have made some serious money as a few of the leveraged ETFs are up 238% or more. The Velocity Shares 3X Long Crude Oil ETN (UWT) is up 247% over the last 12 months and is up more than 70% year to date. The UBS ETRACS ProShares Daily 3X Long Crude ETN (WTIU) has risen 240% over the last year and 64% year to date. Finally, the Proshares UltraPro 3X Crude Oil ETF (OILU) is up 238% over the last 12 months and 63% year to date.

But, perhaps your less risky and don’t like investing in the leveraged ETFs? Well, you still could have done well as the United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO) is up 71% over the last year and 19.9% since the start of 2018. Or perhaps you went with the ProShares K-1 Free Crude Oil Strategy ETF (OILK) which is up 62% in the past 12 months and 23% year to date. Or either the iPath Series B S&P GSCI Crude Oil ETN (OILB) or the United States Oil Fund LP (USO) which are both up more than 61% over the last year and 23% year to date.

There have been some reasons why the industry has been on a tear over the last, and many of that reason don’t show signs of changing in the short term. OPEC is committed to increasing the price of oil (despite its recent modest increase in production), smaller U.S. outfits still need slightly higher prices before they can add additional rigs and become profitable, the economy appears to be healthy and growing, US consumers have not yet begun to fell the “pain at the pump” again really.

While recent data and projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration don’t indicate massive price increases for oil and gas shortly, they are predicting increases. Speaking of the government, despite President Trump's promises, he has yet been able to change the shift we saw occur during the later Obama years when electric plants switched to natural gas from coal. This is something that really could change the oil and gas landscape in coming years if natural begin to climb naturally. Depending on which resource, oil or natural gas is more profitable, U.S. producers could flip-flop from one to another, causing the prices of both to climb. But, this would be something to watch for in a much longer time horizon than what we are discussing today.

Some investors may feel the run in oil and gas has already taken place and that greener pastures should be explored, as opposed to trying to get on a moving train. But, if the economic reasons for the price increases haven’t changed, then prices should theoretically continue to climb until something else changes.

Furthermore, while OPEC and Russia both talk about higher output, the fact of the matter is both parties want the price of oil to either remain where it is or increase. Most of the countries in OPEC need Oil and Gas money in order to run their governments, while it is clear to most, that some high ranking Russian government officials have personal interests in the industry.

Furthermore, the argument could be made that both Russia and OPEC would rather see prices stay flat as opposed to climbing back to $100 a barrel because current prices keep some of the U.S. producers out of business and this gives Russia and OPEC more control on global production and price stability.

But, regardless of why Russia and OPEC may want to prices getting out of control, they still want to maintain current prices, giving oil and gas a reasonably stable price floor.

Buying different oil and gas ETFs, ETNs or other funds may not produce the huge returns we have seen in the past 12 or 7 months, but they could still bear fruit worth eating. The leveraged investments appear to be extremely risky at this time, even though I don’t see prices falling, but simply because of the daily costs associated with these funds. Buying a solid group of oil and gas ETFs made up of both the companies operating in the industry and the commodities themselves could pay healthy dividends in the coming year.

Matt Thalman
INO.com Contributor - ETFs

Crude Oil Seasonality, Inventory Rebalancing and Production Cuts

The historical stock build from December 2014 through July 2016, and subsequent decline from August through December has led some to conclude that global stocks had started to rebalance. Instead, the normal seasonality in stocks had been masked by the high overproduction of OPEC, but then normal seasonality kicked in.

Global OECD inventories from past years demonstrate the normal seasonal patterns, with some variability. As shown in this graph, stocks normal build early in the year and peak around August. Stocks normally drop from September through December. But in 2015, the oversupply was so excessive that stock just kept building through the year. They finally peaked in July 2016, then dropped off due to normal seasonal demand. This normal pattern led to a false conclusion that the rebalancing of stocks had begun.

But according to Energy Department data, OECD stocks in March 2017 are 13 million barrels higher than December. And it projects that stocks are likely to peak in May this year, earlier than normal, but to end 2017 with stocks just 14 million lower than a year ago. This is based on the Energy Information Administration ((EIA)) assumption that OPEC does not hold production to its March level. Furthermore, the EIA projects global stocks to set new record highs in 2018, after the OPEC non OPEC cuts presumably end.

Effect of Production Cuts

Some argue that the 285 million barrel excess above the 5 year average as of the end of December should disappear in five to six months by dividing 285 million by 1.8 million barrels per day, the agreed upon size of the daily cut. But that math first assumes that supply was in balance with demand, makes no allowance for rising supplies, such as in the U.S., and it does not take into account the seasonality.

According to OPEC’s figures, global OECD stocks are likely to build both in the first and second quarters, and then decline in the second half of the year, assuming OPEC production remains at the March level.

There was one development last week, if true, did shift the inventory trend lower. The EIA revised its December estimate of OECD stocks down 105 million barrels, a major revision. That reduced the size of the glut to 201 million above its five year average.

Conclusions

The market dropped sharply in early March as a result of the continued rise in stocks. The market has falsely expected to see inventories to soon decline as a result of the production cuts. But seasonal factors need to be taken into account. We should see global stocks decline in the second half of 2017, assuming OPEC extends its cuts. And the decline may start earlier than normal because U.S. refinery utilization is ramping up faster and earlier than usual, thereby requiring more crude oil.

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Best,
Robert Boslego
INO.com Contributor - Energies

When Do You Enter A Trade? And what are your rules to initiate a trade on the long or short side of the commodity market?

Today we asked this question of our trading partner at INO.com, Mike Seery. When Do You Enter A Trade? And what are your rules to initiate a trade on the long or short side of the commodity market? And here's what he told us.....

I have been asked this question many times throughout my career and my opinion is simply to buy on a 20-25 day high breakout in price on a closing basis only or sell on a 20-25 day low breakout to the downside also on a closing basis. Many times the price will break the 25 day high and sell off later in the day only to have your trade be negative very quickly. I would rather buy the commodity at a higher price on the close because that gives me more confidence that the market has truly broken out. However there are more ways to skin a cat and this is not the only answer because some other trading systems might rely on different breakout rules that have also been reliable. Remember always keeping a 1%-2% risk loss on any given trade therefore minimizing risks because the entry system I use always goes with the trend because I have learned over the course of time the trend is truly your friend in the long run. I also look for tight chart structure meaning a tight trading range over a period of time with relatively low volatility. I try to stay away from a crazy market that hit a 25 day high in 2 trading sessions versus the 25 high that actually took 25 days to create.

So When do You Exit a Trade?

The biggest question that I have been asked is when do I exit a winning trade and when do I exit a losing trade? In my opinion the rule of thumb that I use is placing my stop loss at the 10 day high if I’m short or a 10 day low if I’m long. The other rule of thumb is to place your stop loss at the 2% maximum loss allowed in your account for any given trade.

Check out Mike's most recent call on commodities at INO/MarketClub


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