Oil price over $147 for the first time-now above $80

[Cryomaniac]

Oil prices seem to be rising again today. It seems that any day when there isn't good news (i.e increased production, less demand) the prices rise.

[cycloneye]

Crude oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than $5 to within sight of the record after a report showed stockpiles in the United States fell sharply for the fourth week in a row, intensifying worries of a worsening global crunch.

Weakness in the U.S. dollar and supply problems in OPEC member Nigeria encouraged the rally, dealers said.

AP
"The big crude draw is obviously bullish, but more importantly for the oil markets, the dollar is falling and that could send us back to near $140 a barrel,'' said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, California.


Oil goes up over $5

Oil prices go up again as the dollar fell today as well less than expected less inventories.Oil closed today at $136.38.

[Skyhawk]

The financial types use any excuse to move the prices around. Although the inventory of crude was down, the total inventory of crude and finished product was up. Holding excess inventory at a time of high prices is expensive! The crude inventory was down by .3 days supply. Is that sharply down? The supply of distillates (includes diesel) was up .7 days supply. I guess should be called sky rocketing. Total motor gasoline was up slightly, but gasoline futures were up more than $.15/gallon.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_s ... _nus_w.htm

[Stephanie]

This is a great article from the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding oil speculation;

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/19757204.html

Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2008


Editorial: Oil Trading
The speculators' cut

It's frustrating enough when gas prices soar due to the unseen forces of global supply and demand. But it's downright unfair when Wall Street speculators contribute to rising prices at the pump.
There's growing evidence that investors looking to make a fast buck are causing oil prices to rise faster than can be explained by ordinary market forces.

Congress, however, can do something about the situation. It can help to ease this problem, because it helped to create this monster.

In December 2000, Congress passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton shortly before he left office in January 2001.

Few people realized at the time that a loophole had been tucked into this 262-page bill at the last minute by then-Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Texas). It came to be known as the "Enron Loophole," and it allowed Enron and other large energy traders to be exempt from federal oversight of over-the-counter transactions in energy markets.

Enron is no more, but the loophole lives on. It has allowed massive growth of unregulated trading on energy futures markets, where investors essentially "bet" on the price of oil at a certain date in the future.

Commodities markets ordinarily allow commercial buyers of goods that people need, such as corn, pork and energy products, to lock in a price for later delivery of those commodities. But in the unregulated environment spawned by the Enron Loophole, speculators increasingly treat commodities as if they were stocks. These investors don't want to take delivery of the oil after they "buy" it; they just want the price to rise so they can make a huge profit. As the dollar weakens, oil becomes an even more attractive investment.

The details of these types of trades are largely hidden. Some contracts are negotiated between parties who don't need to disclose them. Some contracts are made overseas, beyond the limited oversight of U.S. regulators.

As speculators flock to oil, they are creating artificial demand for the commodity, which drives up the price. Nobody knows how much speculators are adding to the cost of gasoline, but some analysts believe it's as much as 50 percent of recent increases.

Other factors are probably contributing to $4 gasoline. Global oil supply has not increased, and there is growing demand from nations such as China and India. But many experts believe that speculating is also adding considerably to the rapid price increase at the pump.

Meanwhile the federal authority responsible for regulating such trading, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is virtually powerless to step in. The CFTC needs the regulatory authority and the staffing to make sure these markets are transparent and monitored. Congress should give this weakened agency the tools it needs to do its oversight job effectively.

The presumptive presidential nominees, Sens. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) and John McCain (R., Ariz.), haven't paid notice to this factor in rising gas prices. Both candidates have chosen to pander to voters with politically popular ploys - McCain with a gas-tax "holiday" and Obama with a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Neither idea will likely affect prices at the pump in a meaningful way.

Instead, lawmakers should close the loophole that gave rise to heightened market speculation. Commodities are products that consumers need for their daily existence, and those markets shouldn't be so vulnerable to greedy manipulation.

[Stephanie]

The interest rates were lowered because there is a credit crisis, and some banks failed. That takes precedence over the dollar...

It doesn't have to take precedence over the dollar, that's just what the Fed chose to do to handle the situation. IMHO it's debateable that it was worth collapsing the value of the dollar to save a few greedy and unwise financial institutions.

It was the financial institutions that created their own mess to begin with. The government was going to have to do some damage control, but now I think it's time to move on and may the strongest survive.

The rate everything is going, noone is going to be able to afford to buy a house with the price of everything else going up. So, the lenders have noone to lend to.

[senorpepr]

It was the financial institutions that created their own mess to begin with. The government was going to have to do some damage control, but now I think it's time to move on and may the strongest survive.

The rate everything is going, noone is going to be able to afford to buy a house with the price of everything else going up. So, the lenders have noone to lend to.

I hope the lenders enjoy the mess they created when they hang the "for sale" sign on their doors.

[Stephanie]

It was the financial institutions that created their own mess to begin with. The government was going to have to do some damage control, but now I think it's time to move on and may the strongest survive.

The rate everything is going, noone is going to be able to afford to buy a house with the price of everything else going up. So, the lenders have noone to lend to.

I hope the lenders enjoy the mess they created when they hang the "for sale" sign on their doors.

I hope so too....

[george_r_1961]

Lets see. The oil execs said they wish they could do something about the high prices when they testified in front of Congress recently. The Commodities and Futures Commission is "investigating". The Saudis are concerned about the high oil prices and are calling a meeting.

Seems like the people who are making millions off of this fiasco are fretting about the prices. The Saudis and the oil execs. Please give me a break. Theres nothing they would like better than $200 a barrel oil

[lurkey]

US Airways to cut jobs, fleet, flights; will charge for 1st bag and drinks in coach

[george_r_1961]

US Airways to cut jobs, fleet, flights; will charge for 1st bag and drinks in coach

I dont have a problem with what the airlines are doing. Id rather see them do this then jack up airfares out of sight.

I travel light. One carry on bag. Rarely do I eat or drink on board. I usually get coffee or a snack in the gate area and take it on the plane. I will admit though if I had kids and a wife that likes to pack her entire wardrobe for a weekend trip I may feel differently.

[gtalum]

I dont have a problem with what the airlines are doing. Id rather see them do this then jack up airfares out of sight.

Too late.

The ability to raise fares is precisely why they're in a race to see who can shrink the fastest. Fewer flights = much higher fares.

As for the baggage fees, the goal isn't so much to raise money as it is to get peopel to carry on instead of checking bags so they can ultimately lay off ground staff and use less fuel on flights.

[cycloneye]

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness in the U.S. dollar which offset the bearish impact of plans by Saudi Arabia to boost output.

U.S. light, sweet crude for July delivery was up $3.74 at $138.60 a barrel by 1317 GMT, after falling as much as $1.40 a barrel, or about 1 percent, earlier in the session.

U.S. crude set a record high of $139.89 a barrel.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080616/markets_oil.html?.v=2


The prices keep breaking new record highs and there is no end in sight to try to get those prices down to below $100 anytime soon.

[george_r_1961]

Well its nice to see all this talk by OPEC about "prices being too high" and threats of an investigation by various entities has had a positive effect

[Skyhawk]

Here's the lastest from Bloomberg:

PRICE CHANGE % CHANGE TIME
Nymex Crude Future 133.39 -1.47 -1.09 13:38
Dated Brent Spot 131.77 -2.61 -1.94 14:08
WTI Cushing Spot 133.96 -.90 -.67 14:04

[Stephanie]

Gasoline went down by 4 cents from Friday to today - It's now $3.91. Tomorrow? Who knows???

[george_r_1961]

Gasoline went down by 4 cents from Friday to today - It's now $3.91. Tomorrow? Who knows???

It has stablized here. Average for a gallon of regular is about $3.90.

[feederband]

Finally some people in goverment our saying lets drill for more oil...I wont name names but one is running for pres...While the other maybe Gov. of FL...

I know its not a cure all..But its part of a puzzel that no one was willing to build...Maybe it will get the speculators thinking in another direction...

[JonathanBelles]

Gas prices have stuck at 3.99 at almost all gas stations here.

[angelwing]

Down the street gas is $4.15, I go to work and get gas in NJ for $3.91, then I saw a station in NJ for $3.89...hopefully it'll start coming down in Philly

[Stephanie]

Finally some people in goverment our saying lets drill for more oil...I wont name names but one is running for pres...While the other maybe Gov. of FL...

I know its not a cure all..But its part of a puzzel that no one was willing to build...Maybe it will get the speculators thinking in another direction...

The oil won't be available for a few years and it'll just keep us from pursuing other options. We've been too darn lazy and/or greedy for too long. Our lives will still be revolving around and driven by oil.