This Oil Move Is for Real By Jim Cramer RealMoney.com Columnist 5/16/2008 12:43 PM EDT

It doesn't stop. I hear about less gasoline use. I hear about big alternatives to energy. I hear about mass transit.

They are meaningless to oil. Far more important to oil is the Petrobras (PBR) decision to try to glom onto 80% of the world's rigs. That's a killer. No one else can drill deep if they do that.

Plus, the cost of drilling is monumental now.

Meanwhile, in the political landscape, we worry about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, not drilling offshore where there is lots of oil and gas. We worry about taxing oil companies' windfalls, not encouraging them to drill year-round.

And the result? Look at your screen. There is still, even at these prices, no marginal oil available. As an aside, why don't all the pundits ask the speculators to sell us some? They are sure to replace it with drilling.

How powerful is this move? It is making the oil companies pull away from being trapped from the strikes. I don't know if it is ETFs or real buying or index option squeezes, but ConocoPhillips (COP) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) have broken free from the gravity of the strike. That's unbelievable for these big-caps, although Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and ChevronTexaco (CVX) are right where they should be.

This is a real move. I keep saying it. I will keep saying it, and remember, these stocks are becoming more and more of the S&P 500, so the pain isn't nearly as great as it used to be, because you can't consider it zero-sum anymore.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long ConocoPhillips.

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