Gas Prices Drop
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TexasStooge
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CaptinCrunch
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LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices held strong on Friday not far below $55 as traders worried time is running out to top up low heating oil inventories before winter.
U.S. light crude was down 31 cents at $54.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after setting a new all-time high on Thursday of $54.88. London Brent eased 29 cents to $49.80 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
"It doesn't really matter where prices are. So long as supply-demand fundamentals remain tight and inventories remain low, prices will stay strong or strengthen," said London energy consultant Geoff Pyne. "High prices have had little effect on demand so far."
U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites), while warning of more serious risks if oil prices were to move "materially higher," said he did not see current levels inflicting the kind of pain on economic growth seen in the 1970s.
"So far this year, the rise in the value of imported oil -- essentially a tax on U.S. residents -- has amounted to about 3/4 percent of the GDP (news - web sites) (gross domestic product)," Greenspan told a conference in Washington, adding that over the long haul technology and the transition to alternative energy sources will ensure the world's oil supply met demand.
"It sounds like a general positive take on the fallout from higher energy prices -- $55 oil is not in line with fundamental demand and supply. He's arguing that technology will rise to the day and prices will moderate," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com in Pennsylvania.
Oil has risen $20 in less than four months, lately spurred on by a U.S. production outage in the Gulf of Mexico that has exacerbated a global shortage of light, low-sulphur crude, which is easy to refine for transport and heating fuels.
About 470,000 barrels per day of crude production remains shut more than a month after Hurricane Ivan disrupted oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Some fields are expected to remain shut beyond the end of the year, the government's resource agency said this week.
The shortfall has impeded refiners' ability to build up U.S. heating oil stocks, which at 50 million barrels are 10 percent below last year, weekly government data showed on Thursday.
U.S. heating oil futures set a record of $1.55 a gallon on Friday, before easing to $1.5430.
Heating oil supplies in the U.S. Central Atlantic region, a major distribution point for the heavy consuming U.S. Northeast, are running well below average.
"If, indeed, heating oil inventories have peaked for this key region, then there is little likelihood that heating oil prices will ease significantly this winter," the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.
The shortage is also evident in other major regions, with consumers in Germany, Europe's biggest market, keeping supplies of heating oil well below last year due to high prices.
German end-user tanks were only 60 percent full at the start of this month versus 68 percent last year, traders said, while in Japan, the world's third-biggest energy user, kerosene supplies are more than 15 percent below last year.
As fears of a winter fuel squeeze dominate traders' near-term perspective, some see signs emerging that China's massive oil thirst -- a major factor in this year's price spike -- could slacken as the government moves to prevent the booming economy overheating.
Double-digit oil demand growth from China, now the world's second-biggest importer, took the world by surprise this year, stretching OPEC (news - web sites) supplies to the limit.
The International Energy Agency said this week that increased costs were encouraging conservation measures in China and fuel switching away from oil.
But high prices appear to have done little so far to deter demand from the fast-growing Indian economy.
State Indian Oil Corp. said on Friday its crude imports in the fiscal year 2005-2006 were likely to rise 12 percent to 37 million tonnes. India's crude imports so far in the fiscal year from April to end-September are up 7 percent at 16 million tonnes.
U.S. light crude was down 31 cents at $54.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after setting a new all-time high on Thursday of $54.88. London Brent eased 29 cents to $49.80 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
"It doesn't really matter where prices are. So long as supply-demand fundamentals remain tight and inventories remain low, prices will stay strong or strengthen," said London energy consultant Geoff Pyne. "High prices have had little effect on demand so far."
U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites), while warning of more serious risks if oil prices were to move "materially higher," said he did not see current levels inflicting the kind of pain on economic growth seen in the 1970s.
"So far this year, the rise in the value of imported oil -- essentially a tax on U.S. residents -- has amounted to about 3/4 percent of the GDP (news - web sites) (gross domestic product)," Greenspan told a conference in Washington, adding that over the long haul technology and the transition to alternative energy sources will ensure the world's oil supply met demand.
"It sounds like a general positive take on the fallout from higher energy prices -- $55 oil is not in line with fundamental demand and supply. He's arguing that technology will rise to the day and prices will moderate," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com in Pennsylvania.
Oil has risen $20 in less than four months, lately spurred on by a U.S. production outage in the Gulf of Mexico that has exacerbated a global shortage of light, low-sulphur crude, which is easy to refine for transport and heating fuels.
About 470,000 barrels per day of crude production remains shut more than a month after Hurricane Ivan disrupted oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Some fields are expected to remain shut beyond the end of the year, the government's resource agency said this week.
The shortfall has impeded refiners' ability to build up U.S. heating oil stocks, which at 50 million barrels are 10 percent below last year, weekly government data showed on Thursday.
U.S. heating oil futures set a record of $1.55 a gallon on Friday, before easing to $1.5430.
Heating oil supplies in the U.S. Central Atlantic region, a major distribution point for the heavy consuming U.S. Northeast, are running well below average.
"If, indeed, heating oil inventories have peaked for this key region, then there is little likelihood that heating oil prices will ease significantly this winter," the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.
The shortage is also evident in other major regions, with consumers in Germany, Europe's biggest market, keeping supplies of heating oil well below last year due to high prices.
German end-user tanks were only 60 percent full at the start of this month versus 68 percent last year, traders said, while in Japan, the world's third-biggest energy user, kerosene supplies are more than 15 percent below last year.
As fears of a winter fuel squeeze dominate traders' near-term perspective, some see signs emerging that China's massive oil thirst -- a major factor in this year's price spike -- could slacken as the government moves to prevent the booming economy overheating.
Double-digit oil demand growth from China, now the world's second-biggest importer, took the world by surprise this year, stretching OPEC (news - web sites) supplies to the limit.
The International Energy Agency said this week that increased costs were encouraging conservation measures in China and fuel switching away from oil.
But high prices appear to have done little so far to deter demand from the fast-growing Indian economy.
State Indian Oil Corp. said on Friday its crude imports in the fiscal year 2005-2006 were likely to rise 12 percent to 37 million tonnes. India's crude imports so far in the fiscal year from April to end-September are up 7 percent at 16 million tonnes.
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Stormsfury
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Wnghs2007
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Stormsfury wrote:Time to get serious about Hydrogen.
Absolutely not ... hydrogen is very volatile and highly combustible (look at the Hindenburg Disaster) ... and an accident with a car containing hydrogen is a serious danger to cars involved and beyond which could kill many persons ...
SF
Yes you are correct. Lets not forget also about the Challenger. Wasnt that Hydrogen. Or was it helium. It was one of the two.
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azsnowman
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chadtm80 wrote:azsnowman wrote:"DICK" Cheney has struck again, we're at "$2.06" a friggin' GALLON for the "CHEAP STUFF!"
Dennis
I see no need to defend my statement, it speaks for itself, btw, sorry, I forgot
Dennis
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TexasStooge
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CaptinCrunch
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rbaker
in the last two wks where I live its gone up close to 1.92- to 1.98 depending where you buy within 10 miles of gas stations. That's up from around 1.81 from about a month ago. Some of the blame is because of the oil rigs in the gulf, that may be true to some extent, but not a .10 to .15 rise.
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