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February is shaping up nicely for US Midwest refiners, who are enjoying robust margins courtesy of another Brent/WTI spread blowout.

The Midwest WTI cracking margin averaged $21.82/barrel the first six business days of the month, up from a January average of $15.17/b, according to Platts data and Turner, Mason & Co. yield formulas.

On January 19, the NYMEX crude-to-gas futures contract ratio hit an all-time, 22-year high of 43-to-1, tightening to 36-to-1 January 25.

Here's the question: Who cares anymore?

For the first time in a decade or so, Europe can -- theoretically at least -- look forward to a relatively uninterrupted period of low-cost wholesale gas supplies. It should not be like this. Given the depressed markets, overseas sellers would be more naturally inclined to postpone their marketing plans or to cancel them outright.

With more production and transport capacity coming on stream and Europe's economies in deep recession, oversupply appears to be the way the market is heading.

Our top 10 survey this year had 37 news stories suggested as candidates for the biggest events of the year in the oil business.

There's certainly not a lot of consensus out there: 24 of those 37 stories got 1st place votes. We've never had a distribution like that in the five years we've been running this survey. Unlike last year, when Macondo stood out among all the events of 2010, or 2008, when the march to almost $150 crude and its subsequent post-Lehman Brothers collapse dominated the news, 2011 had a lot of things going on. But it didn't have that one signature story that everyone talked about, which is kind of surprising when you think about it.

A few months ago, we took a look at the oil to gold relationship. The two have no obvious physical relationship: one being the industrial lifeblood of the world, as well as a financial proxy, and another a minimally important commercial product but one as a historical barometer of inflation and fear.

The US Energy Information Administration data for last week appeared bullish for NYMEX crude and products Wednesday, at least on the surface. The agency reported stock draws for crude, gasoline and heating oil.

But the bigger story was a significant decline in apparent demand. That sent RBOB futures falling, putting downward pressure on the rest of the complex. You can read our analysis of the statistics here.

Just as things were going so well for Ukraine-European relations in the energy sphere, Kiev went and messed it all up by sentencing a former prime minister, the outspokenly western-leaning Yulia Tymoshenko, to seven years' imprisonment.

Her crime? To negotiate a price deal two years ago with Russia that allowed gas to flow through Ukraine once more and thence into a freezing Europe, in the depths of the harsh winter.

There's a Seinfeld episode where Jerry's parents cancel dinner at the Costanzas, for a very simple reason: they can't stand them. Mrs. Costanza is then seen to be fretting, "What am I going to do with all this paella?" It's the Spanish dish she made for the big event.

As people observe the US NGL industry, they may be exclaiming something similar: "What are we going to do with all these liquids?"