For the last couple weeks I’ve been sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out how to play my hand in the market. There appears to be some semblance of rationality forming, but I think there are going to be new fundamentals arise that continue to beat back the bulls.

Crude oil ($wtic: chart) prices continue to drop, closing out the week under $114 per barrel, and natural gas ($natgas: chart) is maintaining ground just above $8 per MCF. Oil prices have dropped based on waning global demand, and natural gas prices have moderated for the same reason, just on a National scale.

On the topic of global demand, …

It’s been a while since I posted anything regarding my investment activities, mostly out of lack of information to report on. I’ve been buying more shares of PVX (PVX: chart, web, Y!) recently, but more significantly, there is some good news on Duncan Energy Partners (DEP: chart, web, Y!).

Second quarter results are out, and things are looking strong. A few snippets:

The partnership reported a 45 percent increase in net income to $6.6 million for the second quarter of 2008, compared to net income of $4.5 million for the second quarter …

This is why we need to maintain high oil prices: Spur on the little guy to find more, and spur further development with alternative energy.

Over a week ago Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) released their 2008 first quarter results.  After venturing out of town on business for a week, I’m finally starting to catch up on the market events, which, by industry standards are now old news.

A few highlights from the report:

Funds flow from operations in the Canadian Oil and Gas Production and Midstream business units, as well as oil and gas production in the U.S. was up 107% to $180 million or $0.71 per unit.
Distributions for Q1 totaled $0.36 per unit, equating to a payout ratio of 59%, down from 91% in …

Last Wednesday, Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) came out with their 2007 year-end and Q407 report, and also provided an update on reserves.

All around a positive report, and I’m curious as to why the stock dropped almost a dollar in two days on a fairly bullish report. The only thing I can think of is that crude oil ($wtic: chart) dropped $6 and natural gas ($natgas: chart) prices waned almost a dollar in those same two days will a lot of money fleeing commodities.

A few highlights from the report:

The payout ratio in the fourth quarter of …

A week ago, I attended a land auction to see if I could pick up some additional oil production. I’m not sure what land is going for in your neck of the woods, but around here it’s gone crazy!

Tracts 1 through 3 and 5 were primarily farm land, with acreage ranging from 30 acres to 300 acres. One of the tracts had some oil royalties attached to it that only amounted to about 200 barrels per year.

The farm land alone went for nearly $2,000 per acre. Unreal.

Tract 4 was what I was interested …

I had a few teaser comments in my post on how Venezuela is cutting off their supply of crude oil to the United States, and I noted the low quality of the crude they export to us, and I touched on the refining requirements to process their oil.

So I thought I’d expand on this a bit and explain the different types of crude oil.

When it comes to crude oil, there are several different varieties, some of which are more familiar than others. For instance, sweet crude refers to hydrocarbons with relatively small amounts of hydrogen …

I’m starting to shift my resources back to expanding my oil and gas business. Not that it has been on autopilot completely, it just hasn’t required much attention lately, which can be attributed to having good people run the day-to-day production.

It’s time for more though, and I’m looking to increase production through additional acquisition or drilling.

This weekend I’ll attend a land auction with five different tracts for sale. Tract four is the one I’m interested in, as it has existing production on a full section, which equals about 640 acres. According to state records, there are five producing …

Venezuela has taken steps to fortify their dominance in the oil and gas market, and has said it will suspend oil shipments to Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM: chart, web, Y!). This is an obvious attempt by Hugo Chavez to thumb his nose at the United States, however I’m not sure what his true motivation is: money or power… perhaps both.

You see, the crude oil coming out of Venezuela is heavy crude high in sulfur, making it very difficult to refine in comparison to light sweet crude. The high sulfuric content wreaks havoc on industrial components due to its highly caustic and corrosive …

I bought more Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) today, adding another 50 shares to my holdings. Crude oil ($wtic: chart) spiked on the news that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan, and natural gas ($natgas: chart) is holding its own above $7 going into the cold weather season.

I’m playing the trend. I’m in the stock for the dividend, but if the price rises to $13 I’ll definitely take some off the table. 30% price appreciation is too much to pass up, especially when you see it coming. …