Marine Services Singapore Government, page-3

one of the great 'truisms that isnt true' about marine service cos - whether offshore platforms, tankers etc - is that their business cycle is different to oil producers so their stocks will perform differntly.

yet if you look at their share price charts they all follow the oilers

funnily enough this is even true of solar companies - which have a competing energy type, cycle etc

the reason is that oil is a bid on gdp growth and inflation - and this applies to the entire energy basket. thats what drives the professional investment fund flows - and they are what drive share prices

that doesnt stop individual stocks collapsing if they fail to make it through financially - but otherwise the master trend is oil price and it lifts all boats or lowers them