SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2009
BARRON’S COVER
Oil’s a Buy
By DIMITRA DEFOTIS
Big oil stocks are likely to creep back up, along with the price of energy. But investors should stick with the best — such as ExxonMobil. (Video)
IN A VERY UGLY 2008 FOR STOCKS, big-oil shares provided one relatively beautiful respite, rising smartly through midyear before losing ground as petroleum prices slid from the astounding peak around $147 a barrel that they hit in July.
Now, with crude more than $100 below that level, shares of the integrated oil giants — those that do everything from exploring to producing to refining and distributing — remain in a slump. Some now look tempting for long-term investors, but there’s no need to rush. Big oil stocks could get even more tempting in coming weeks as the companies report earnings, issue subdued guidance for 2009 results and reduce the value of their reserves to reflect the latest realities of crude pricing.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects oil to average about $43 a barrel in 2009, while some Wall Street energy bulls consider $60 more likely. If either forecast is right, petro stocks will benefit later this year. If on the other hand, crude slides below its current level, as some Street bears expect, the shares could stumble further. Of course, few oil-price prognosticators have covered themselves in glory over the past year, and there’s no reason to assume that their forecasting skills have improved. Especially since just where the price will go has much to do with another great unknown: how long the global recession lasts and how strong the subsequent recovery will be.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
