Quiet in the Oil Patch

There's a nice article on oil "supply and demand" in a general sense over at Street Watch.com. I tried to find a better place to link the article, but nothing seemed to work, so the link will get a stand-along post.

The author says things are relatively quiet on the surface in the oil patch, but behind the scenes a lot is going on. I agree completely, and I hope my multiple postings suggest that. Outside of technology, I think the two biggest things going on in the oil patch: 1) scramble to raise money to expedite drilling programs; and, b) merger and acquisition activity (XOM/XTO; DNR/ENC; CHK/SSN; Anschutz/TBD; HES/AEZ; ERF/FBIR).

Most interesting is the author's contention that "supply and demand" is fairly well balanced. Perhaps it is in the big scheme of things when compared to wars and OPEC embargoes, but there are many analysts suggesting there is a lot of oil sloshing around out there, waiting for the global economy to take off.