The One Commodity to Own Before 2013

The One Commodity to Own Before 2013


"By Keith Kohl
Saturday, June 9th, 2012

“If you're not bullish on natural gas,” he said, “you must be blind... You should be seeing this transition coming from a mile away.”

My colleague Christian DeHaemer hit a bull's-eye earlier this morning.

While most investors are looking for a quick buck, few of them realize how valuable these opportunities can be over the long run.

And natural gas is no exception.

Today I'll give you two reasons why he's right.

The Bullish Case for Gas

The first reason will be more obvious to readers who have been following the natural gas story since 2006.

Believe me, the upcoming U.S. LNG exports destined to leave Gulf ports don't have us nearly as excited as what we plan to do with the fuel on our own turf does...

We've mentioned before how natural gas is single-handedly taking on coal to meet our electricity demand. According to the EIA, it has become even more pronounced.

Natural gas usage in U.S. power plants increased by 40% last March compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, coal's contribution to the mix dropped by 20%.

The EIA has stated it expects electrical generation from coal to fall as much as 15% during 2012, while natural gas's share will rise 22%.

Natural gas supplanting coal as our leading source for electricity is just one reason to stay bullish.

The second has much more lucrative rewards for investors...

The Holy Grail in Energy

Slowly but surely, we're seeing the signs: First, it's a headline buried in a local paper. Then a few bigger stories pop up — a new vehicle fleet being converted to natural gas, or plans to build LNG plants and filling stations...

Shell recently announced plans to invest $250 million to build a string of LNG fuel stations across Western Canada. The move will drastically cut fuel bills to run their truck fleets.

So why do alternative transport fuels hold so much potential?"