The Latest Take on the WTI Curve (New Focus on Q13)

The "near-term" contango in crude (specifically WTI) extends out to the "Q13" futures contract a.k.a. August 2013 (but which, as we know, expires in July), which peaks out at just over 94 and a half dollars. This contrasts with 94 dollars and 30 cents on the front month. After that, it's pure backwardation. Brent remains on pure backwardation.

Oil futures curves have relatively simple shapes. It's a bit of a different story in the gas market. For example, we might consider the "broad contango" in the price of NYMEX Natural Gas.

What we see is actually seasonality in the futures prices, reflecting seasonal demand, underpinned by a  general upward trend. Mini-peaks are observed for delivery for Jan 14, Jan15  and Jan16, with the biggest jumps happening from November to December. After January prices drop off gradually, and then suddenly from March to April. Gas prices are rather weather-dependent. Current front month (June 13) NYMEX is around $4 and 7 cents per mmBtu, with an increasing general trend, with $4 and 37 cents for Dec13 (creating a 30 cent contango within the six months from July to December).

Gold Revisits the 1390 Level

And even crosses below a few times. Platinum however storms ahead, almost a hundred dollars ahead of gold.

How Much Property does the Crown Estate have?

Ans: about £8bn worth.

The firm owns the very visible assets of Regent Street and St. James. It also owns Windsor Great Park.

Less well known, is that the Crown Estate also owns most of the sea bed around the UK out to 12 nautical miles (a nautical mile is roughly 1.85 km, contrasting with a "regular" mile of 1.6 km).

The Energy Act of 2004 also granted the Crown Estate the right to license renewable energy generation within these limits.

Companies involved in developing these offshore wind farms include Centrica Renewables and Dong Energy (headquartered in Denmark), which has a 50% stake in the London Array.

The Crown Estate can also grant leases for CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) projects which store unwanted carbon dioxide under the sea bed.

It can also grant leases for wave and tidal projects linked to its ownership rights over the sea bed. The Estate has so far leased over 40 sites for tidal energy projects.