How to Invest in Energy

The energy industry is breathtakingly large. To try putting its size into perspective, consider that last year oil companies around the world produced 96 million barrels of crude per day, which at $50 a barrel implies a more than $1.7 trillion market. That's more than the entire metals and mining market combined and makes the $170 billion gold market look like pocket change. And that doesn't include natural gas, coal, electricity, and everything else that falls into the energy basket.

Because of its massive size, the energy sector offers a bounty of investment options, including oil and gas companies, utilities, coal miners, and renewable-power producers. However, to simplify things, we're going to focus our attention on the three primary segments of the enormous oil and gas industry: upstream, midstream, and downstream. That should give investors a flavor of how they'd best benefit from investing in the energy sector.

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Source: Fool.com