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Crude oil has, and is still, falling in price. We all know that it will eventually go up in price. I was wondering if it is possible for a member of the public to actually buy a barrel of crude. I have safe storeage facilities and could easily store a good few barrels. How would I go about buying some barrels or is it a closed market?
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And what would you do with a few barrels of crude oil? Pop along to your local refinery for them to turn it into a bit of diesel, bit of petrol, etc.?
The cost of a barrel of crude is pretty low at the moment so you'd need quite a few to turn a decent profit when it finally goes up again.
As for how you get hold of a barrel - I don't think they actually sell it in barrels. More likely an oil tanker full at a time.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 22 Jan 16 at 18:38
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It went up something like 5% today - still cheap though
btw I think these are probably virtual barrels i.e. not a warehouse full of wooden things containing oil but in pipelines and tanks.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 22 Jan 16 at 19:09
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>It went up something like 5% today - still cheap though
5% in 1 day is a pretty good return.
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Yeah but it was $110 - $140 or thereabouts for a few years till June 2014. www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/crude-oil/5-year/
As with all such investment, it's a matter of getting in and out at the right times...
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A "Barrel" is just a notional measurement, almost archaic. The notional measure gives a baseline for the cost of specific amount making it easier to trade. It doesn't exist in that form at all.As for storing a physical barrel you'd need to attend to massive H&S issues along with having some sort of licence. Buy oil-shares - they'll go up once this oddness has passed.
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Dunno about the price of crude, but the cost of heating oil has dropped relatively much lower than the cost of road fuel.
Just topped up my tank with 500 litres today via Boilerjuice; at 23.58 ppl.
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>> Dunno about the price of crude, but the cost of heating oil has dropped relatively
>> much lower than the cost of road fuel.
due to proportion of tax on road fuel being higher
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>Just topped up my tank with 500 litres today via Boilerjuice; at 23.58 ppl.
Wasn't Boilerjuice involved in some price fixing scandal a while ago?
Have they cleaned up their act?
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>> Wasn't Boilerjuice involved in some price fixing scandal a while ago?
>>
No idea. I've used them a total of three times in twelve years since I moved here; tend to ring round local suppliers who've usually proved a penny or two cheaper per litre (worth the phone calls when you order 1,000 litres at a time) but always get a quote from Boilerjuice first as it gives me a guide.
Last ordered in November when they undercut the locals by 3p/litre; on this occasion there was a bulk buy in place which dropped it a bit more than usual so I took advantage.
Woth noting also that the usual premium for smaller deliveries seems to have narrowed. Milder weather and cheap crude have made it a buyers' market; but I'm also well aware that prices can spiral in weeks if there's the slightest hint of a kerfuffle in the Middle East, so I'm keeping my tank well topped up.
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Crude price is apparently depressed due mainly to lifting of sanctions on Iran (thereby releasing new oil sources), and oil producers trying to make US shale business not viable.
There are some that see it definitely hitting as low as $20 and some are seeing the $10 barrel.
There is overall malaise in the world wide financial market. Many commentators have been predicting it (and worse) for months now. It is officially a bear market n the UK despite today's rise.
I'm learning on all this stuff but apparently the hedge funds (in particular the US ones) ramp the market to achieve whatever their daily objective is - today I read at about 10:00 their time that they were thought to be aiming for a 1900 close on the S&P, and they just about achieved it. If they'd missed then it would have been fairly catastrophic for them.
What I'm getting from this is that there is artificial manipulation which no-one can predict, you need to be part of "the club" to make real money.
In my younger days I was loosely connected with a group who used to manipulate the Tote at the smaller race courses, plonking relatively large sums on no-hopers to improve the returns on the favourites, who were backed with "proper" money in any shops which took odds at Tote SPs. I guess the ring leaders of that lot eventually became bankers, then moved onto being those who agree the inter-bank (LIBOR) rates, and now run the hedge funds...
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As with all such investment, it's a matter of getting in and out at the
>> right times...
>>
I dunno about that, as someone once told me; it's not timing the market, it's time in the market.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Fri 22 Jan 16 at 20:05
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>> Crude oil has, and is still, falling in price. We all know that it will
>> eventually go up in price. I was wondering if it is possible for a member
>> of the public to actually buy a barrel of crude.
No. not in the way you mean here.
>>I have safe storeage facilities
>> and could easily store a good few barrels
No you cant - it would be illegal
>> How would I go about buying some
>> barrels or is it a closed market?
you can put money into brokers or funds that trade in commodity futures.
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The big players store their oil by the supertanker load. If you know where to look fully laden supertankers will be anchored awaiting oil prices going up before they unload.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 22 Jan 16 at 21:39
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>> you can put money into brokers or funds that trade in commodity futures.
But don't.
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It's posible but only in very small quantities - ie a small bottle worth about 25p.
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/that-time-i-tried-to-buy-some-crude-oil
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Crude Oil - rtj70
