Word: demanding
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...wild side. Ten years ago, when he started nosing around West Africa, the price of oil was only $20 per bbl. His friends thought he was crazy sinking money into leases with untested, unstable countries. Today, with a barrel of crude at close to triple that price, demand soaring and experts sounding alarms about depleting reserves, the majors are following Van Dyke's lead. In the offices of Houston-based Vanco Energy Corp., of which Van Dyke is chairman, you can see where this wildcatter is placing his bets. African tribal masks and art adorn the lobby...
...ultimately it's the price of oil that will determine Van Dyke's success. Thanks to intense demand for production, the cost of operating a drilling rig is now $400,000 a day; it was half that just a year ago. This year alone, Van Dyke drilled two dry holes off the coasts of Morocco and the Ivory Coast. Next year he'll try again in Morocco and in Ghana. He has just finished a $15 million 3-D seismic program in Madagascar, and he is planning his first well there, 6,000 ft. underwater. "You might spend $20 million...
...manager of the T. Rowe Price New Era natural-resources fund. He views the crush of interest as a sure sign that investors have pushed up energy stocks too far. He has been paring back. But Ober still views oil and gas as a good long-term bet (increasing demand for a finite resource). The stocks he is sticking with are oil-services firms, including Schlumberger, which has key relationships with foreign producers, and oil companies with accessible reserves, including French giant Total...
Higher oil prices seem likely over the long haul. Yet they are anything but certain over the next few years. Any dramatic rise from here would almost certainly trigger a global economic slowdown that would cut demand and send energy prices--and energy stocks--sharply lower. Ed Maraccini, portfolio manager with Johnson Family Funds, says he will get interested again when oil drops below $50. At that level, he says, global demand is sustainable, and economies can grow...
...full capacity for the next five years. He also likes natural-gas firms such as Quicksilver and Nabors because he expects natural-gas prices to trend higher even as oil falls. Natural gas is more difficult to transport. It will take years to build enough transportation capacity to meet demand without higher prices in the U.S., where gas fields are losing steam, he says...