Your Investment Questions Answered
By: Bill & Cindi Porter
Question: How can I spot a potential market opportunity?
Answer: If you were an astronaut, you could see a giant flame burning over the Bakken area of North Dakota. As reported by Yahoo Finance, more than $100,000,000 a month in excess natural gas is being flared or burned off because there are not enough pipelines or storage facilities to keep up with production. NASA has reported sightings of the flaring from space.
Because of the incredible new discoveries of gigantic gas and oil reserves in North America, like many investment researchers, our firm believes there is an investment opportunity in pipelines and storage facilities in the U.S. energy arena. It is currently the weak link in the energy chain, which is why there is the unfortunate spectacle of watching millions of dollars of high grade, usable, and clean gas being wasted. Investment money may solve that problem.
On November 13, 2013 the Federal Energy Information Administration announced that for the first time in more than 20 years, America produced more oil than it imported. Additionally, the press release noted that the U.S. produced more oil in September 2013 than in any other month in the past 24 years. There is currently much more capacity in the U.S. to produce oil and gas than there is the ability to transport it and store it.
Given the importance of energy independence and the ability to achieve it within reach, it appears that after adjusting for necessary environmental considerations, America will solve one of its most serious national problems: energy dependency. This is happening within the private sector – not the government – and thus provides the potential for individual investment opportunities. We know that all investments, including energy, bring a mix of risk, expense and potential reward.
Perhaps you and your advisor should determine if an investment in energy infrastructure would be an appropriate consideration for your portfolio.
*The views expressed in this article are not necessarily that of Suwanee Magazine.
