Attacks halt Iraq oil exports
Iraq’s oil industry has been brought to a virtual standstill after several attacks by saboteurs on pipelines in the north and south of the country.
My favorite tell, the oil tanker stock NAT, was up 7% today. When oil markets get nervous, NAT goes up. It’s up 10% in two days – and yields an eye-popping 21% dividend. They own three tankers, which they lease, the floor rate being $17,000 a day. When things get weird or supplies get dicey, the rates can go to $25,000-35,000 a day. And their expenses stay the same.
Iraqi/US officials are saying damage to the pipelines will be fixed in a few days, but then they said that exact same thing last week and several pipeline explosions ago!
I’m glad my Prius gets 46 mpg! LAgasprices reports a low of $2.12 and a high of $2.59 for self-serve regular.
And the award for most the dumbest, most obvious headline of the day goes to the Houston Chronicle for this gem:
Someone actually got paid for writing that…