Today oil dropped to a 5 ½ year low, closing below $63/barrel. How low can it go? I have no idea but I do like to consider correlations.
The energy equivalent of natural gas (per 1 million BTUs) to a barrel of oil is roughly 6 times. So natural gas at $10 per million BTUs would conceptually construct an oil price of $60.
But oil is much more convenient and less expensive to transport and use- for example a gasoline can versus a propane bottle. For these reasons, the price multiple has traditionally ranged around 6-12 times. That was until recent years when the price of natural gas plummeted because of the shale oil and gas revolution- the multiple often exceeded 30 times.
With oil prices collapsing, the ratio currently is down to about 17. I believe oil has further to drop and the multiple will continue to fall.
Assume $4 natural gas at a 10 times multiplier, that puts oil at $40/barrel.
Seems extreme, but time will tell. Oil has already fallen 45% in six months.
PS- the implication for Gold could be $600/oz…for a related article on Gold’s price correlated to Oil see: https://www.investablewealth.com/900oz-goldmaybe/
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