There's a lot of buzz in the oil markets these days, and while we've been kind of lulled into complacency with oil in the $75-$80/barrel range, this situation won't last forever.

It might not even last for long, and right now there's a unique opportunity to buy a highly specialized mid-cap oil company. I'll get to this company in a bit...

In the meantime, the United States currently has one of the largest stockpiles of oil it's ever had, with over 1.13 billion barrels of petroleum inventory - or about 60 days worth of supply at current rates of consumption.

The news immediately caused oil futures to dip - briefly below $75 a barrel.

That'sabout the average price for 2010, year to date:

Last night, President Obama delivered his first speech in the Oval Office. I’m guessing he chose the Oval Office to give his speech about the BP (NYSE: BP) oil spill because he hoped to evoke a sense of authority and intimacy for such an important and prickly topic.

After nearly two months of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, this speech felt a bit flat. I think Obama might now realize that his skill in delivering powerful, inspiring platitude-filled speeches about America and hope and change, etc. doesn’t really transfer to the somber task of discussing plans for oil spill cleanup and reparation.

Full disclosure: I didn’t vote for the guy and while he’s certainly an accomplished speaker and quite possibly a perfect politician, I think his ideas about energy policy are completely useless if not outright wrong.

Forget last night’s disappointing speech for a second - here’s a quote from Obama after he received the Democrat Party’s nomination for Presidential candidacy:

Crude oil is arguably the most important commodity in the world. It’s easily the most traded commodity. Every other sector, business and commodity in the world depends on oil. Simply put – the market is huge.

So when you get the chance to buy oil companies at cheap valuations, you should pounce early, often and with unwavering decisiveness. Oil’s not going anywhere – it’s going everywhere.

That’s why it’s important to get your portfolio in front of the long, inevitable trend of higher oil prices. It’s the biggest and most important market. That’s why I sincerely hope you think about buying today’s cheapest oil company in the stock market.

But before I tell you about this company whose shares are currently selling close to its 2009 lows, I’d like to answer the question: Exactly how huge is oil?

These platitudes about oil’s importance and size frequently get passed around by members of the popular media like bottles of Gallo Rosé wine at a Grateful Dead concert – so indulge me to show you the exact numbers to help you wrap your head around the sheer magnitude of the situation.