Jim Wicklund Commodity Quotations

It's hard for investors to believe oil stocks are worth investing in when the thing that drives the stock -- the commodity price -- is going to go down next year.

Typically, when commodity price estimates decline, so do the stocks. These are dangerous times.

We remain positive based on economic activity and E&P spending; we're also positive on 2007 but see some risk to E&P spending given the potential squeeze on returns (with) a possible moderation in commodity prices in '07. Visibility remains too good to worry too early, however.

The industry has done well this year and commodity prices are up so high that no one thinks there is any substantial improvement to this year's level of activity.