Energy and Macro Market Issues

Uprisings in the Middle East and Northern Africa have many market participants refocusing attention on crude oil and the energy space.

I found the above map instructive (taken from this article) as it offers a 'big picture' view of energy supply/demand worlwide.

The US position is net importer of oil (we use ~25 million barrels/day, but have production capacity of only 7 million bpd--nice data set here). The world currently consumes 80-85 million bpd of oil.

On the other hand, the US is self-sufficient w.r.t. coal (important source of electricity generation domestically).

When trying to make sense of the 'macro' picture, smart market participants factor in energy issues and the related geopolitics.

position in oil