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

[Nimbus]

Around the Tampa bay area this morning I noticed most vehicles were still without passengers just a driver, even the large SUV's. City buses still make many of their routes mostly empty except for rush hour. The message I am hearing is that its still not time to bust the oil speculation bubble. Back in the the late 70's the oil crisis was several years old before people started driving more fuel efficient cars and using public transportation.

The US is not in a good position to give the rest of the world a big break in oil prices now. US prime interest rate is only 2 percent compared to 4 or 5 percent over in europe and the US dollar is being used to line the bottom of the budgie cage in England. If the world does go through a long drawn out period of global inflation like we had in the 70's the US has more room to raise interest rates than europe.

[DanKellFla]

It is nearly impossible to sell a large SUV right now.

[Dionne]

Isn't keeping those resources lockes up until there's a true supply crisis better than wasting them now when supply is plentiful? ANWR isn't as big as some pols would like us to think. The most generous estimates say it would give the US oil for only a couple of years at current rates of consumption.

The problem isn't crude supplies or refining capacity. It's speculation.

The low estimate at ANWR is 5.7 billion barrels.......the high is 16.0. The expected mean is 10.4 billion barrels. This exceeds Prudhoe Bay. The pipeline is in place. ANWR is adjacent the Prudhoe fields. If we started drilling in ANWR right now and constructed a connecting pipeline it would be 2 years (tops) before crude from ANWR flowed. The existing pipeline, 800 miles long from Prudhoe to Valdez took 2 years to build.

The other end of the problem is that the Trans-Alaska pipeline is nearing the end of it's life span.

Biodiesel is in our future. It's time to look at engines that are compression ignition rather than gasoline spark ignition.

[Cryomaniac]

Personally I would prefer more research into electric vehicles.

[gtalum]

Personally I would prefer more research into electric vehicles.

The Chevy Volt is a very interesting concept, and IMHO the likely future of automobiles.

[cycloneye]

Light, sweet crude for June delivery jumped to a new all-time high of $126.40 a barrel it light trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before falling back to settle at $124.23, down $1.73 from Friday’s closing record of $125.96. It was the first time oil has closed lower in six sessions.

Monday’s price fluctation underscored the uncertainty over oil’s future direction. Many analysts believe the weak dollar has driven oil prices to levels that defy fundamental supply and demand economics. But other investors see continued strong demand for oil and fuel from China and India as a sign that oil prices have further room to rise.

Moreover, growing concerns about declining crude production in Mexico, Russia and elsewhere are keeping prices in record territory, analysts say. Goldman Sachs said in a report last week that crude prices could rise to $150 to $200 within two years.

“What’s really circulating now is the possibility that world oil production has peaked. There’s an idea that we can’t change supply but we can change demand, and the only way to do that is to rally the market higher,” said James Cordier, founder of OptionSellers.com, a Tampa, Fla., trading firm.

Also pressuring oil prices Monday were concerns that a massive earthquake Monday in western China may temporarily slow demand. The 7.8-magnitude quake, which was felt as far away as Vietnam, Pakistan and Thailand, killed more than 7,600 people, toppled buildings and knocked out power lines.

“We know that some power and electricity plants are off-line, so that could have a negative impact on demand,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “But obviously the market is still showing strength so it has a lot of bounce in it.”



Oil pulls back



After last weeks upswing in prices,today Oil prices declined almost $2.00.

[Dionne]

Cool, a dollar and seventy three cents.....per barrel. I feel better already.

Will this be censored also?

[angelwing]

[quote="Dionne"]Cool, a dollar and seventy three cents.....per barrel. I feel better already.

quote]

I'm with you Dionne, I'm hoping that the $500 repair I did on my car today because of a horrendous gas smell will give me a little more miles between fill-ups, I fill up twice a week as it is, sigh.

[Opal storm]

Saw $3.74 here today.

I remember the good ole days where you could go to the pump with 10 or 15 dollars and have confidence you were going to leave with either a full or close to full tank. I remember when you could put $20 dollars in and have time to wash your windshield or go inside and get a snack and the thing would still be pumping. Now today you put in $20 and you can't even turn around before it goes "click". The weather's been nice lately maybe I should go to Wal Mart and look into getting a bike.

[JonathanBelles]

Ive noticed a LOT more scooters here. For getting 60-100 mpg and up to 80mph, I can see why. Im sure they are cheap to buy too.

[HURAKAN]

Here in Miami, the gas station at 107 Ave and Coral Way had the cheap gas @ $3.67 on Friday. This morning the price was $3.77. I don't know how much farther the price will have to go before society begins to fall apart. There will be a point in the not so distant future in which we will see a standstill.

[gtalum]

It's got a long way to go before "society falls apart". Around here I haven't noticed people even changing their habits much. When I drive to work, I've started doing the speed limit (70 on the interstate instead of 78 or 80, increasing my fuel efficiency by about 15%), but everyone else still blows by me in their massive SUV's like I'm not moving.

Things will change, but I doubt society will fall apart.

[HURAKAN]

I have not seen a lot of changes but something most happen when gas prices have gone from $0.99 to $3.89 (a have seen it already) in just a matter of years. How far can we stretch the rubber band until it snaps. How high can the gas prices go and we can still have the American way of life?

[angelwing]

How far can we stretch the rubber band until it snaps.

My rubberband hasn't snapped, but it sure is getting brittle

[gtalum]

The "American Way of Life" will adapt to the new conditions.

People are slowly changing their car buying habits to buy smaller more efficient vehicles. Trading in a ridiculous Hummer or other ridiculous giant SUV for a reasonable mid-size sedan or small SUV or crossover will effectively cut the cost of fuel in half or less.

People are also moving to hybrids and work is even being done on electric cars again.

Americans will have to learn to consolidate trips and use public transit when possible. Municipalities will have to find ways to improve public transit so more people CAN use it.

I suspect ultimately the migration from rural to urban living which has been happening for a century or more will accelerate.

Freight is transitioning back to trains and away from trucks which makes more sense on numerous levels.

Expensive oil is not the end of the world or even of prosperity. It only feels that way because with few exceptions our political leaders at all levels are guilty of poor planning. Change is tough, but it's not always a bad thing.

[Meso]

Petrol prices here are very bad thanks to all this... R10 a litre... So R38 a gallon which would be...R38/7.5 which equates to us paying about $5 a gallon.. And we don't have any safe public transport either

[angelwing]

I'm stuck, no one drives this way so I can't carpool, there is no public transportation so I'm still stuck driving 118 miles roundtrip for both jobs..the second job is paying more and more for gas, sigh

[Meso]

It's about time for teleportation,that's what I think.

[feederband]

our political leaders at all levels are guilty of poor planning.

Yes I hear there is a bill going though today that will not pass...It would open up parts of alaska for drilling...They said we need to concentrate on new tecnologies...Technologies I can not find at my gas station and wont for a long time...I'm all for the new technologies but they are forgetting that we still have to survive today...The money they make they could care less...By not passing this bill just lets a few oil fat cats and some country's that hate us just that much richer...

[brunota2003]

Did you hear the news? Congress is trying to pass a bill that would temporarily end the stocking of fuel in the U.S. Reserve. Any bets on where oil prices go with that info? My guess is "Up"

WASHINGTON - The Senate, in a direct challenge to President Bush, voted Tuesday to temporarily halt the shipment of thousands of barrels of oil a day into the government's emergency reserve.

Both Democrats and Republicans said such shipments make no sense when oil is costing more than $120 a barrel and could better be used to add supplies to a tight market and possibly lower prices.

"We are buying the most expensive crude oil in the history of the world and storing it," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. "When American consumers are burning at the stake by high energy prices, the government ought not be carrying the wood."

Until both chambers of Congress pass the emergency reserve directive and Bush signs it — or Congress enacts it over a presidential veto — the legislation has no force of law. But the Senate's message to the president Tuesday was a strong one.

With Republicans joining Democrats, senators voted 97-1 to suspend the shipments — averaging about 70,000 barrels a day — until the end of the year. Only Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., voted against the measure.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_ ... ess_energy