Worldwide, 550 Million "Missing Bbls" Of Crude Oil Unaccounted For -- March 9, 2016

This is also quite a story.

Note:

Missing barrels have been a feature of IEA statistics since the 1970s.

Over time, errors have occurred in both directions, and have ranged up to 1 million or even 2 million barrels per day.

Most of the time, the oil market ignores the miscellaneous to balance item, but it tends to become controversial when it becomes very large, either positive or negative.  

Reuters is reporting:

That leaves 550 million "missing barrels" unaccounted for, apparently produced but not consumed and not visible in the inventory statistics. 

IEA data currently shows a miscellaneous to balance item of 0.5 million barrels per day in 2014 and 1.0 million barrels per day in 2015.

As they say, all the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills in somebody else's name.

Meanwhile, all the banked oil in North Dakota is sitting in a DUC in the middle of the Bakken in some hedge fund's name. The Bakken is a brand new game.

All The Gold In California, The Gatlin Brothers

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The Amazon Page

This is fascinating. Reuters is reporting that Amazon is about to get into the air freight business:

Amazon.com Inc will lease 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft, lessor Air Transport Services Group Inc said on Wednesday, as the online retailer moves closer to setting up its own air delivery network.

The deal comes at a time when Amazon, which offers fast and increasingly free deliveries for millions of online orders, has been trying to make shipments even faster as well as assume more control over its business and costs.

I pretty much do all my non-grocery shopping at Amazon. What little I don't do at Amazon, I do at Walmart, and even less at Barnes & Noble. 

I have found that Target tends not to have the things I need. For example, yesterday I needed lubricating oil and a degreaser for my bike. I was surprised when our local Target did not even carry WD-40. Walmart? So many different options, it was amazing. 

I needed photographic paper for my inkjet printer. I assume Target had some but perhaps not; I don't know, I didn't look. The Walmart price was incredible. At the same time I picked up a 94-cent frame. 

When we move into our new apartment next month, I'm going to surprise my wife (no, she never reads the blog) by throwing out all our old pots and pans (with some exceptions) and buy an entire new 18-piece T-fal set from Walmart. The prices truly are incredible.

We are very, very lucky here. The Walmart store in our area is "up-scale" compared to the ones I remember just a few years ago. Yes, the story is very, very crowded; it does not have the wide-open aisles that Target has. I've also been surprised that I generally stand in line to check-out at Target even on very slow days, while at Walmart there are more than enough cashiers. (I am careful not to go shopping during high-peak hours.)

At Barnes & Noble, hardcover books in the range of $29 are exactly $10 more than at Amazon which has them for $19; and I always order enough to get free shipping. 

On another note, as long as I'm rambling, the credit card I "always" use has a 5% cash rebate on many purchases throughout the year, and has accrued enough cash in the past year that my last two Amazon purchases were entirely free. Each of those purchases was under $100 but more than $75 which qualified for free delivery. 

The Go Pro Hero 3+ that I've been having some fun with -- the camera I bought a couple of years ago at Target -- all the accessories are at Walmart. There's a complete section devoted to Go Pro at Walmart. I didn't even see the Go Pro camera at Target any more. Having said that, if I was in the market for a new Canon camera, Target has an incredible sale on the Canon PowerShot SX530 for $249. It regularly sells for $399 at Target, or at least that's what the card said. I see this is the "regular price ($249)" at Amazon.

I would put on the Go Pro and go for a ride but it's raining today -- getting inches of rain yesterday and through the end of the week.

By leasing 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft, Amazon will have a tough time showing a profit next quarter, but it's all seed corn, as they say in Iowa, and the banks are giving away their money.