Uranium miners have found themselves with a hearty recipe for powering a stock market revival: rising prices for the nuclear fuel, strong demand, and supply disruptions. The only ingredient missing is investors.

The spot price for uranium has surged 25 per cent over the past five weeks, a performance unmatched by the stocks of companies in the uranium sector. From a basket of 56 stocks tracked by Haywood Securities, for example, 42 fell over the last week, three were unchanged, and just 11 saw gains.

“These companies are putting out news that is good for the supply and demand situation, but hurts the individual companies,” said Dundee Securities analyst David Talbot.

Supply is shrinking as uranium producers, stung by the global financial crisis, have been closing mines, delaying developments and cutting production forecasts.

“Almost every single producer has downgraded their forecast for 2008 production guidance,” said Haywood Securities analyst Geordie Mark. “It's something like 5.5 million pounds already downgraded ... when production last year was around 107 million pounds, it's a big deal.”

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Oil traders placed bets that crude oil for February delivery will collapse to below $25 a barrel as economies around the world slide more deeply into recession, cutting energy demand.

February $25 puts, the fourth-most actively traded option, rose 8 cents to 10 cents a barrel, or $100 a contract, at 1:48 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A total of 184 lots traded, up from none yesterday.

“It’s a lottery ticket,” said James Cordier, portfolio manager at OptionSellers.com in Tampa, Florida. “It’s somebody making a bet that crude oil is going to crash in the next six weeks.”

Crude oil futures have dropped 53 percent in the past three months, dropping below $50 a barrel last week, as a credit squeeze pushed economies into recession and reduced demand for petroleum products. Orders for U.S. durable goods fell twice as much as forecast in October, the Commerce Department said today.

January $45 puts, the second-most actively traded option, fell 65 cents to $1.10 a barrel, or $1,100 a contract, on 257 lots traded, down from 1,837 yesterday.

Crude oil for January delivery gained $2.35, or 4.6 percent, to $53.12 a barrel at 1:52 p.m. on the exchange. Futures gained after China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, reduced interest rates the most in 11 years to raise economic growth.

January $56 calls, the most actively traded option, gained 62 cents to $2.80 a barrel, or $2,800 a contract. A total of 369 lots traded, up from 106 yesterday. January $70 calls, the third-most actively traded, fell 3 cents to 35 cents, or $350 a contract, with 246 lots traded.

“With stock markets around the world stabilizing, the idea that crude oil could end its bear market is very much possible,” Cordier said.

One options contract equals 1,000 barrels of oil.

Opec has made a scathing attack on a report from the International Energy Agency which says that the world's existing oil producers face a “huge challenge” to keep up with a projected rise in global demand.

The report from the IEA, the respected Paris-based energy advisor to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) club of wealthy nations, said that to compensate for the depletion of existing oilfields, by 2030 the world would need to find new production equivalent to 45 million barrels per day, or the output of four Saudi Arabias, to maintain present levels of supply.

It added that additional production equivalent to six Saudi Arabias would be required if a projected rise in oil demand from 85 million barrels a day to 106 million was taken into account.

The IEA, which based its findings on a landmark study of decline rates at 800 of the world's largest oilfields, said that there was, in theory, enough oil left in the ground to meet demand. However, it would require investment of about $450 billion (£300 billion) a year, with the bulk of this spent in the 13 member states of Opec, where most of the world's remaining supplies lie.

Abdullah al-Badri, Opec's secretary-general, gave a withering verdict on the study. “I don't trust this report,” he said. “I don't think the IEA is equipped to review these oilfields...I don't see how it will be useful.”

He said that Opec, the cartel of 13 oil-exporting countries that produces 40 per cent of the world's oil, had not been involved in drafting the study, which he dismissed as alarmist. “We have the reserves, we have enough oil for the foreseeable future,” Mr al-Badri insisted.

Speaking at the London launch of the IEA's 2008 World Energy Outlook report yesterday, Nobuo Tanaka, the agency's executive director, a leading energy expert, adopted a markedly different tone, sounding a grave warning about the energy challenges facing the world. “Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically and socially - they can and must be altered,” Mr Tanaka said. He added that an “energy revolution” was needed urgently to meet surging global demand, which he predicted would soar by 45 per cent by 2030 - driven mainly by China and India - while also adopting low-carbon sources of power to prevent catastrophic climate change. Please login or register to see the full article

When billionaire oilman and investor T. Boone Pickens launched his plan this summer to boost the use of wind and natural gas to ease American dependence on foreign oil, gasoline prices were at a record $4.11 a gallon and oil prices were at $147 a barrel.

Now oil prices are at a 20-month low, falling to $59.33 a barrel on Tuesday, and gasoline prices have plummeted to below $2 a gallon in many parts of the country.

"I think I've done a pretty good job," he said, generating a laugh at the annual Edison Electric Institute convention of the nation's power executives.

Pickens acknowledged later at a news conference that there is more than one factor for the collapse of oil prices, including the slowing economy that many analysts say has gone into a recession.

Now with oil prices down, Pickens has said he has reduced what he planned to spend on his campaign -- trimming spending to $40 million to $50 million from his initial plan of about $60 million.

He also said the collapse in natural gas prices has forced him to put his wind farm project for Texas on hold.

Pickens has leased hundreds of thousands of acres for a giant wind farm in West Texas, where he plans to erect 2,700 turbines and produce energy for urban areas such as Dallas and Fort Worth.

Historically, there is much less talk about turning to renewables when energy prices get low.

But Pickens said not to worry, oil prices will be heading back up and soon.

"I don't see any lower than it is today," he said.

He said that oil will be back to $100 a barrel within a year and that all other commodities will jump back up as well -- making his plan more viable.

"Oil is not going to save us," he said of plans to increase drilling in the U.S.

Pickens' plan focuses on using natural gas as a transportation fuel and then counting on wind and solar to take the place of natural gas as a source to generate electricity. Natural gas currently generates about 20 percent of the electricity in the U.S.

He also touted coal, solar and nuclear power to help generate more energy and then for a transmission system that will bring the power generated by wind from the Midwest to other parts of the country.

He said if his plan is implemented, oil imports can drop 30 percent to 40 percent within three to five years.

"I see myself very much as a pioneer," he said. "I understand the problem and realize something has to be done."

Like other investors, Pickens has been hit hard by the collapse of stock prices. He said his hedge fund is down 62 percent since July.