Investing in Oil

Comment: These are several ways to invest in oil. I'm sure there are many others.

1. You could actually own an oil well! We have an acquaintance in Texas who owns oil wells. My sister had mineral rights to her property (natural gas) that she was able to sell.
   
2. One could invest in an Oil ETF such as the United States Oil Fund (USO). Chart above is a screen shot of USO against the S&P 500.
   
3. There is the United States Gasoline Fund (UGA). When gasoline goes up ... so does UGA. Click here for an interesting chart that compares UGA to USO.
   
4. One could invest in an oil (more properly an energy) company like (blogged earlier here):
   
   • BP p.l.c. (BP) - United Kingdom
     
   • Chevron Corporation (CVX) - United States
     
   • ConocoPhillips Company (COP) - United States
     
   • ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) - United States
     
   • Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS) - Netherlands & United Kingdom (Royal Dutch Shell has A and B shares. Info on here: A shares are subject to Dutch withholding tax )
     
   • Total S.A. (TOT) - France
     
5. Then there is the oil sector fund option like the Ishares Dow Jones US Energy (IYE) which has broad holdings (see chart below)