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

[cycloneye]

Of course, always need to keep enough in reserve as its hard to predict when Iran will decide to attack its neighbors, or al Qaeda overthrows Saudi Arabia, or civil war breaks out in Venezuela or Nigeria.

Or Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz to shipping.

[HURAKAN]

Of course, always need to keep enough in reserve as its hard to predict when Iran will decide to attack its neighbors, or al Qaeda overthrows Saudi Arabia, or civil war breaks out in Venezuela or Nigeria.

Or Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz to shipping.

Or the dollar is worth less than the Cuban peso.

[feederband]

Both are reasons why we should be going after the oil we have here...We should go after oil where ever we can get it...Its going to take 20 years untill we have a different viable energy alternative so we should use the oil we have avaible here at home to bridge that gap..

[Cryomaniac]

[url=http://www.kitco.com/market[/url]

Currently $117.80.

[gtalum]

Both are reasons why we should be going after the oil we have here...We should go after oil where ever we can get it...Its going to take 20 years untill we have a different viable energy alternative so we should use the oil we have avaible here at home to bridge that gap..

I'm torn on the issue. We could tap the oil now, bring down prices slightly, and still be up a creek when the world supply is outstripped by demand, or we could hold onto those reserves until things get REALLY bad, and tap it when it might make a much bigger difference. It's a gamble either way. I don't think it's as clean cut as either side makes it out to be.

[feederband]

Both are reasons why we should be going after the oil we have here...We should go after oil where ever we can get it...Its going to take 20 years untill we have a different viable energy alternative so we should use the oil we have avaible here at home to bridge that gap..

I'm torn on the issue. We could tap the oil now, bring down prices slightly, and still be up a creek when the world supply is outstripped by demand, or we could hold onto those reserves until things get REALLY bad, and tap it when it might make a much bigger difference. It's a gamble either way. I don't think it's as clean cut as either side makes it out to be.

Its not clean cut..And like you said it will (may) bring down prices only a little...But I think we should get what we can here instead of us needed to import it from other unstable countries...I think we may already be f'd though...We may have waited to long..

[gtalum]

This gets me too: If gas prices are so painful, why are people still zooming down the interstate at 90+ MPH? I have slowed down on my drive to work from ~80 to 70 MPH, increasing my fuel efficiency on my commute to work by nearly 15% and only adding about 4 minutes to the drive. People fly by me in big honking SUV's like I'm not even moving. Think of how much our fuel consumption as a nation would be reduced if everyone just drove the speed limit.

[HURAKAN]

Oil hits $118 for the first time

Oil prices have touched fresh highs as traders bet that violence in key producing nations would hurt supply.

US light, sweet crude rose 57 cents to cross $118 a barrel, before dropping back to $117.77, while Brent crude peaked at $115 a barrel.

The rises were supported by fears of further attacks on pipelines in Nigeria and oil cartel Opec's refusal to raise quotas to curb rising prices.

Comments that it will raise production in 2012 failed to dampen sentiment.

"Again there are some concerns over supply disruptions in Nigeria," said David Moore, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of America.

Attacks on Royal Dutch Shell's pipelines there last week lead to a drop in production of about 169,000 barrels per day for shipments in April and May.

As a result, the company said it would be unable to honour its contractual obligations at the Bonny terminal in Nigeria's Delta region for these two months.

Anti-government attacks on the region's oil infrastructure have been escalating for the past few years.

Opec stance

The continued oil rally was supported by Opec secretary general Abdalla Salem el-Badri's stance that real demand was being well matched by current supply with no immediate need to lift production levels before 2012.

Then, the producers' group would boost capacity by five million barrels a day.

He said he did not expect to discuss whether prices were too high or too low at an energy forum in Rome attended by government ministers and oil firm bosses.

"The oil futures market is very strong, but the physical markets are not so strong," said Ehsan ul-Haq, head of research at consultancy JBC Energy.

[feederband]

This gets me too: If gas prices are so painful, why are people still zooming down the interstate at 90+ MPH? I have slowed down on my drive to work from ~80 to 70 MPH, increasing my fuel efficiency on my commute to work by nearly 15% and only adding about 4 minutes to the drive. People fly by me in big honking SUV's like I'm not even moving. Think of how much our fuel consumption as a nation would be reduced if everyone just drove the speed limit.

Might have to go back to the 55 just to save the economy...Things is its not just the gas prices any more...It the cost of everything because of the gas prices...I have a family of 5 which forces me to shop at wal-mart...We dont get near as much food as we used to...When it gets close to payday it ramen noodles or nothing..

[BUD]

Its going to be $6 before you know it.They were talking about it on a local radio station today and they say its all greed!!!!!Some people say that $3.50 per gallon is cheap!!!!!!!!!And $6 per gallon is good price to pay for gas!!!! Well I will be riding a bike to a new job near the house.Or a moped but even that is getting hard to do with our county is thinking of put some kind of property taxes on Mopeds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Boy it gets worse everyday I wake up.

[gtalum]

Might have to go back to the 55 just to save the economy...

Ugh, I sure hope not.

Things is its not just the gas prices any more...It the cost of everything because of the gas prices...

On the bright side, higher fuel prices will cause a resurgence in railroad freight which uses a lot less fuel. It has a side benefit of removing a lot of trucks from the road, meaning less traffic and cheaper road maintenance.

I have a family of 5 which forces me to shop at wal-mart...We dont get near as much food as we used to...When it gets close to payday it ramen noodles or nothing..

There are only 3 of us, but we keep our grocery bill under $100 per week, even now, shopping at Publix.

[Cryomaniac]

http://www.kitco.com/market/

$119.39

[HURAKAN]

Thomson Financial News
Oil hits new highs, eyes $120/bbl, as dollar sinks to fresh low vs euro UPDATE
04.22.08, 1:52 PM ET

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Oil hit new record highs in late afternoon trade after the dollar dipped to an all-time low against the euro on poorly received U.S. existing home sales data and amid hawkish rhetoric from the European Central Bank.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude contracts for May delivery, which expire today, rose to a record $119.74, before easing back to trade at $119.48 by 5.29 p.m., up $2.00 from the previous day's close.

The next forward-month WTI contract, for June, is currently trading up $1.90 at $118.56 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude for June delivery was trading up $1.83 at $116.26, having earlier touched a new high of $116.75.

The dollar is currently 'dominating everything', according to Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

The market had already traded higher for much of the day, amid fears over supply disruptions in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, and Scotland, where a scaled shut-down of the Grangemouth refinery is underway ahead of a two-day strike planned to begin Sunday.

A full shut-down of the refinery would mean the closure of the BP (nyse: BP - news - people )-owned Forties Pipeline System, which carries 700,000 bpd of North Sea crude oil to the United Kingdom through the Ineos plant, a BP spokesman confirmed today.

'A full Ineos Grangemouth shut-down would impact essential services which are required to operate the Forties Pipeline System,' said BP spokesman Richard Grant in Aberdeen, adding that the complete closure of the pipeline remained a possibility.

'We are in ongoing discussions with Ineos to assess the situation.'

Management of the UK chemicals group Ineos and unions are currently meeting at conciliation service Acas in London Tuesday afternoon in a bid to break the current negotiation deadlock over proposed changes to staff pension schemes.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (nyse: RDSA - news - people ) confirmed it may not be able to cover some April-May supply contracts totalling 169,000 bpd from its joint venture in Nigeria, after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) damaged key pipelines in recent days.

The militant group Monday claimed to have hit two more pipelines operated by Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people ) Corp. and the Shell joint venture in southern Rivers state, after previously sabotaging a pipeline last Thursday.

[gtalum]

Are we going to get a new story at every dollar benchmark?

[HURAKAN]

Are we going to get a new story at every dollar benchmark?

Yes! Every dollar benchmark is history in the making.

[feederband]

Are we going to get a new story at every dollar benchmark?

Yes its like a auction of gloom and doom..

[Ed Mahmoud]

The dollar has some problems with fundamentals anyway, but I wouldn't be surprised if George Soros, generous donor to extreme left-wing causes, and a character almost out a Bond movie, who has made billions speculating on and causing the crash of currencies (he has done it to the British pound, and with numerous Southeast Asian currencies, leaving economic havoc in his wake) might not be targetting the dollar, possibly due to his extreme animus to George Bush, or in an attempt to influence the November elections.


The above comes close to being kind of political, which is verboten, but I haven't discussed the relative merits or anything.

Well, the 'Bond movie' thing comes close. If people complain, I'll edit it out. I'm easy going that way.

[cycloneye]

Oil Market closes at $119.37



Oil closed at a new record today ($119.37).See at link why Oil keeps rising.

By the way,here in Puerto Rico,gas prices went up to 90.7 a liter that means $3.63 a gallon.

[HURAKAN]

I pumped gas on Sunday @ $3.47, now the same gas station has the price as $3.57.

[Nimbus]

People keep buying petroleum futures contracts as insurance which is a wise strategy to a point. Once the market peaks and the bubble bursts the futures contracts are worthless so you need to know when to exit the market.

It appears that we may only have one more interest rate cut to clobber the value of the US dollar. If that happens next week then what else is there that will continue driving oil prices higher? Before August when the tropical storm activity starts heating up, there may not be any oil supply issues. As soon as the US dollar turns around this oil rally will be over and the futures selloff could take oil back below $80 a barrel.