The Federal Reserve reported today on industrial production for January, with the following commentary:
“Industrial production edged down 0.1% in January after rising 0.4% in December. In January, manufacturing output decreased 0.4% following upwardly revised gains of 1.1% in December and 1.7% in November. At 98.6 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in January was 2.1 percent above its level of a year earlier.
The largest declines were in the output of motor vehicles and parts, which dropped 3.2%, and in the output of primary metals, which fell 2.6%; each of those indexes had advanced strongly in both November and December.”
MP: One of the strongest growth sectors in January was the production of crude oil, which rose last month to the highest level since December 1992, more than twenty years ago (see chart above, data available here). Compared to a year earlier, crude oil production increased by more than 14%, which was the fifth straight month that crude oil output increased by 14% or more. While other industrial sectors of the economy slowed in January, crude oil production continues its phenomenal upward trajectory as the energy sector remains the “crown jewel of the disappointing economic recovery,” to paraphrase Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson.
Obama’s oil policy is being very successful, especially compared to Republican President’s policies that produced falling oil output.
For years oil companies realized that their return on investment from hiring politicians was greater than they could get by actually drilling for oil. Isn’t it great that Obama changed that so that the oil companies had to do something radical like actually drilling for oil.
Well mp there must be something to all that ‘low hanging fruit‘ because its attracting even more investment to these shores…
From the Midland, Tx newspaper: Pipeline giant Tenaris to build $1.3B Texas plant
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Argentine energy pipeline giant Tenaris SA has announced plans to build a $1.3 billion Gulf Coast manufacturing facility, creating 600 jobs…
i dont doubt that oil production in january was up, but where do you find that in the Fed report? they show a 1.0% decline for the mining industry group, a 0.4% decline for oil & gas month over month, and a 10.3% decline year over year:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/Current/table5.htm
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/Current/table2.htm
The monthly industrial production series for “Crude Oil” is available at the link below (it’s also been added to the post)
http://www.federalreserve.gov/Releases/G17/ipdisk/ip_sa.txt
Look for “Crude oil NAICS=211111pt.”