Boone Pickens articleHis comments would indicate that he believes the floor for oil is now $50+ and that over the longer term it will continue to rise. Good news for companies like AZD.
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Pickens, Still Predicting Drop in Prices, to Keep Energy Stocks
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Boone Pickens, the Dallas hedge fund manager who forecasts a drop in oil prices next year after predicting 2005's rally, said he plans to retain his favorite energy stocks because he expects demand to remain strong.
Those equities include Calgary-based Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Oil Sands Trust, EOG Resources Inc. and Quicksilver Resources Inc., Pickens said today in a Bloomberg television interview. ``If we do anything on Suncor, we add,'' he said.
Pickens, chairman of BP Capital LLC, correctly predicted in 2004 that oil prices would top $60 a barrel this year. Crude-oil futures in New York have jumped 40 percent this year and touched a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30. Pickens said in Nov. 9 and Dec. 20 interviews that oil would drop toward $50 in the first half of 2006 because supplies are abundant and high prices are crimping demand.
``It'll be slow in the first half for energy stocks,'' said Pickens, whose shareholdings also include Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company.
Gains should resume in 2006's second half for exploration and production companies and other energy stocks as demand strengthens, Pickens said. ``I don't believe this downturn's going to last for very long,'' he said.
``We believe the E&Ps are good,'' Pickens added. ``I like the service companies, the drillers, I think we'll see the refineries pop back up again.''
Pickens said he's also ``very high on'' coal companies, led by St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp.