$4 gas at a pump near you ?

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Another oil record...

Oil Prices Spike: Record Broken Again
March 6, 2008 - Oil rises 95 cents to close at a record $105.47 a barrel.

Crude oil futures rose to another record close Thursday, boosted once more by the dollar's continuing slide to new lows against the euro. At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices extended their own advance toward record levels. The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.185, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices are following oil higher, and are expected to peak this spring well above last May's record of $3.227 a gallon.

Thursday brought a mixed slate of economic news. Although reports on same-store sales suggested some retailers are doing better than expected and the number of people filing for unemployment claims dropped last week, home foreclosures jumped in the fourth quarter to an all-time high, according to The Mortgage Bankers Association. The European Central Bank and Bank of England, meanwhile, decided to leave interest rates unchanged.

The foreclosure data and European interest rate decisions helped push the dollar lower. Analysts believe the steadily weakening dollar is the reason oil prices have jumped to a number of new inflation-adjusted record highs this week. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling. "This market continues to be based on the dollar," said James Cordier, founder of OptionSellers.com, a Tampa, Fla., trading firm.

More ABC News: Oil Prices Spike: Record Broken Again

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Just what the speculators need to jack up the price of oil...

Chad rebel chief threatens attack on oil zone
Sun Mar 16, 2008 - A Chadian rebel leader threatened on Sunday to attack Chad's southern oil-producing Doba region unless France and the United States put pressure on President Idriss Deby to start a dialogue with his foes.

Timane Erdimi, head of the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) which raided the capital N'Djamena early in February with other rebels groups, said his forces could halt oil output from installations in the south pumping up to 160,000 barrels per day. "We can carry the war to the south ... if the Americans and the French don't put pressure on Deby to open an all-inclusive dialogue," Erdimi told Reuters in a telephone interview.

He said the Doba basin, where U.S. major Exxon Mobil Corp heads a consortium pumping 140,000-160,000 bpd via a pipeline to Cameroon's Atlantic coast, could become a target unless Paris and Washington did more to achieve a political settlement. "We could quite easily halt the flow of oil," he said.

He was speaking from the Sudanese capital Khartoum three days after Chad's Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir signed a non-aggression pact in Dakar, Senegal in which they agreed to stop backing rebels hostile to each other. The Chadian rebels, both Erdimi's RFC and another group, the National Alliance led by Mahamat Nouri, say the Dakar accord does not concern them and have vowed to go on fighting Deby.

More Chad rebel chief threatens attack on oil zone | International | Reuters

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Maybe a bit of a break - until summer driving season hits...

Oil Falls on Weak Demand Report
Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2008 — Oil prices pulled back sharply Wednesday after the government released data suggesting that the high price of oil and gasoline are depressing demand for petroleum products.

The demand numbers in the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report overshadowed data showing that supplies of oil grew less than expected last week, while gasoline and heating oil supplies fell. Gas prices at the pump, meanwhile, slipped lower for the third day while diesel fuel rose to another record. Overall consumption of oil and its products fell by 3.2 percent over the last four weeks compared to the same period last year, the EIA said. Demand for gasoline fell by 1 percent over the same period. "It doesn't look like we've got much in the way of demand here for gasoline," said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., in New York.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell $4.94 to settle at $104.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the largest one-day price decline for a front-month oil contract since 1991. The April contract expired at the end of Wednesday's session, and trading was much heavier in May oil futures, which fell $5.96 to settle at $102.54 a barrel on the Nymex. The market's reaction to the tepid demand data marked a change from its recent focus on the falling dollar, with investors looking more closely at oil supply and demand fundamentals. Prices have jumped sharply in recent weeks as investors looked to the dollar for direction and ignored evidence of rising supplies, falling demand and a weakening economy.

Oil and other commodities are viewed as a hedge against inflation, and tend to rise in price when the dollar falls. Also, a falling dollar makes oil less expensive for overseas investors. But some analysts wondered whether the market's tether to the dollar may be ending. "Could it be that (investors have) finally noticed that the big picture here is not bullish?" Evans said.

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Oil drop biggest in 17 years
March 19, 2008: Prices decline as dollar strengthens and demand weakens. Biggest dollar drop since start of Gulf War in 1991.

Oil prices experienced the sharpest plunge in 17 years on Wednesday, driven down by weakening demand and a stronger dollar. U.S. light crude for April delivery fell $4.94 a barrel to settle at $104.48 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop in oil was the largest single-day slide in dollar terms since Jan. 17, 1991, when oil fell by a third, or $10.56, after the United States launched an attack against Iraq to begin the first Gulf War.

In percentage terms, oil fell 4.51% on Wednesday - the biggest drop by that measure since August. Oil has dropped more than $4.50 in two of the past three days. Crude prices are more than $7 lower than they were when oil hit a record trading high of $111.80 on Monday.

On Wednesday, oil started the day trading lower after the Federal Reserve cut its key lending rate by 3/4 of a percentage point a day earlier. The cut was less than the full point expected by some investors, sparking a rally in the dollar and weighing on dollar-traded commodities such as oil. "As the dollar strengthens, oil prices in non-dollar-denominated terms become more expensive," giving traders incentive to sell, said Stephen Schork, publisher of the Schork Report, an oil industry newsletter.

Demand pulls back

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Congress grills Big Oil...

Congress questions Big Oil’s big profits
April Fool's Day `08 - Executives deflect blame for skyrocketing fuel costs

WASHINGTON - When it comes to public opinion, Congress isn’t held in very high regard, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver reminded executives of the country’s biggest oil companies. Then the Missouri Democrat added, “Your approval rating is lower than ours, and that means you’re down low.”

So it went Tuesday as oil company chiefs defended their huge profits in the face of record gasoline prices — perhaps heading toward $4 a gallon — and a winter during which many people have been struggling to keep up with heating bills. “On April Fool’s Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil,” said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., as he opened the hearing.

The executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation’s biggest, and four other oil companies said they know fuel costs are hurting people, but they argued it’s not their fault and their profits are in line with other industries. Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying an average of $3.29 a gallon at the pump.

More Congress questions Big Oil?s big profits - Oil & energy - MSNBC.com

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But will it offset the demand pressure of China and India?...

U.S. to start summer with gasoline surplus
Fri Apr 11, 2008 - U.S. gasoline supplies should start the summer driving season at their highest level since 1999, helping to temper a surge in pump prices linked to the soaring cost of crude oil.

The outlook for high inventories comes amid shrinking American demand for the motor fuel and robust imports from Europe -- factors that will keep stockpiles plump despite low production from domestic refiners, analysts said. "We'll continue to have above-average gasoline inventories heading into summer and, if it weren't for the high cost of crude, the price prospects for gasoline would be weaker than they've been for years," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citigroup Futures Research in New York.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles hit a 14-year high of 236 million barrels in March even as surging oil costs pulled pump prices to record levels over $3.20 per gallon. Stockpiles have eased back since then as refiners slowed output due to seasonal maintenance and weak profit margins, and further declines are expected in the coming weeks.

But the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration said it still expects inventories remain over 219 million barrels by the end of May -- the traditional start to the summer vacation season -- putting them at their highest level for that time of the year since 1999.

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$4/gal. not that far away...

Oil prices headed toward US$125 a barrel: Pickens
Friday, April 18, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Crude oil prices are still headed upward and could top US$125 a barrel in the near-term, legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens said Thursday.

"It will go up," said Pickens, who heads the BP Capital hedge fund with over US$4 billion under management. "Oil is moving to a substantially higher level -- say above US$125 a barrel." U.S. crude futures hit a record US$115.54 on Thursday. Oil prices have more than quintupled since 2002, propelled higher by soaring demand from emerging economies like China alongside slow increases in global production capacity.

Despite new production from the Canadian oil sands and elsewhere, Pickens said global crude oil production is unlikely to rise above its current rate of about 85 million barrels per day, while global demand will likely hit 87 million bpd in the third quarter of 2008. Pickens also expects U.S. natural gas prices to rise from current levels near US$10 per million British thermal units to US$12-US$14 this upcoming winter.

Pickens, in Washington on Thursday to deliver a speech about energy at Georgetown University, made more than US$1 billion in 2006 by betting on rising oil prices. Pickens' hedge fund lost over 20 percent in the first three months of 2008 on a bet that oil prices would fall. Pickens said his fund is now looking for oil and natural gas prices to rise. "The position is long, not short," he told reporters. "I covered the short position - it was a mistake on my part."

Source

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They have price controls on gas in Mexico and it's only $2.33/gal.

Oil price now has world worried
Thursday 24th April, 2008 - International concern is mounting along with the price of oil, with prices edging closer to the US$120 a barrel mark.

While the weak US dollar and supply disruption in Nigeria are pushing prices higher, there is increasing concern that the rally in oil pricing has been too fast.

Ministers from 74 countries attending the International Energy Forum in Rome on Tuesday said oil prices should be at levels acceptable to producers and consumers, to ensure global economic growth.

Saudi Arabia's petroleum minister, Ali al-Naimi, has called for calm, saying the world is not running out of oil. Saudi Arabia is the biggest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which on Tuesday said that it plans to increase its production capacity by five million barrels per day by 2012.

Oil price now has world worried

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Check valve rip-off at the gas pumps...

Overcharged: Pumps Cheat Drivers
Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008 — Angry about the price of gas? Just imagine paying for gas you don't get.

Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years: A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That's what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve," which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts.

But even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up. Tests by local regulators allow a pump to charge as much as 6 cents more than the gas delivered in a five-gallon test. Don't blame the gas guys. Even consumer advocates say retailers may be losing as often as consumers and no one appears able to rig the meters. But the small "check valve" at the end of the multibillion dollar industry just wears out, and often goes unnoticed for months.

Regulators' records show short staffing, particularly for financially struggling counties that try to inspect pumps every six months, but too often don't even meet the one-year requirement in states like New York. Federal standards require all gas pumps to start pumping gas as soon as the price meter starts, said Ken Butcher of the National Institute of Standards of Technology, part of the U.S. Commerce Department.

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Oil Companies Cash in on Record Crude
Apr 25, 2008 - Exxon, Shell and BP Are All Expected to Report Big First-Quarter Profits

Exxon Mobil , Royal Dutch Shell and BP are expected to report bumper first-quarter profits next week, thanks to record crude prices, but $110 per barrel oil will also squeeze refining profits and delay a return to oil production growth. Brent and benchmark U.S. crude prices rose around 70 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, to average almost $97/bbl and $98/bbl, respectively, while gas prices also rose. Earnings growth, though generally strong, is lagging behind.

"The profitability of the industry is clearly not as robust as the headline oil price might at first imply," Lucas Herrmann, analyst at said Deutsche Bank said. London-based BP, which is undergoing a restructuring under Chief Executive Tony Hayward who took over a year ago, is expected to be the strongest gainer in the industry's top tier. Nine analysts polled by Reuters said, on average, they expect BP to report a 31 percent rise in net replacement cost profit, which is comparable to U.S. net income, to $5.3 billion, excluding one-off items.

The world's largest non-government-controlled oil company by market value, Exxon, is expected to see net income rise around 22 percent to over $11 billion in the first quarter. Industry number 2, Shell, is expected to report only a 4 percent rise to $6.8 billion in current cost of supply net profit, its measure, which is also comparable to U.S. net income as it strips out gains in the value of inventories, excluding one-offs. One reason that profit growth lags oil price rises is taxes, and higher prices have encouraged governments from Russia to Venezuela to hike these.

PRODUCTION SLUGGISH

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Is the Pope catholic?

Will oil prices continue to stay high?
Fri., April. 25, 2008 - Some believe spike as high as $200 a barrel is possible

Oil's meteoric rise to near $120 a barrel looks like more than just another economic bubble — growing demand and tighter supplies are likely to keep prices high. Some analysts say even $200 a barrel would not be out of the question. The latest price surge — pushing crude to record heights in recent weeks, and to nearly double its level a year ago — has some key components of a classic bubble, when market prices climb far above their intrinsic value. The burst comes when investors realize the assets are overvalued.

But growing worldwide thirst for crude, in large part from the rapidly developing economies of China and India, means frustrated consumers probably won't get any relief. "We can do our homework, but prices are going to go where they want to go at this point," said Jeff Spittel, an analyst at investment bank Natixis Bleichroeder Inc. Americans who hoped to ride out temporarily high prices by carpooling or driving less may have to make those habits permanent. And because of the premium prices, oil companies may be willing to search out more oil in places they previously couldn't afford to explore.

Oil came close to $120 a barrel Friday on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf. The markets were also weighing the effects of a pipeline attack in Nigeria and a looming refinery strike in Scotland. Retail gas prices, which at times rise in tandem with crude oil, moved further into record territory near $3.60 a gallon.

More Will oil prices continue to stay high? - Oil & energy - MSNBC.com

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Chevron Hits New Record With $5B Profit...

Chevron's 1Q profit of $5.17B marks Big Oil's latest gusher
May 2, 2008 - Chevron's first-quarter profit of $5.17B caps another big round of earnings for Big Oil

Astounding profits in the oil industry are becoming as routine as the anguished looks of motorists filling up their gas tanks. Chevron Corp. put yet another exclamation point on the oil patch's long run of prosperity Friday with a first-quarter profit of $5.17 billion, or $2.48 per share. That was up 10 percent from net income of $4.72 billion, or $2.18 per share, last year. The performance exceeded the lofty expectations of analysts, helping lift Chevron shares 38 cents to $95.32.

It was the second-highest quarterly profit in the company's 129-year history and marked the most money that it has ever made during the January-March period. That puts the No. 2 U.S. oil company on track for its fifth straight year of record earnings. About the only downside to the quarter was that Chevron earned relatively little from gasoline sales because it couldn't raise its prices fast enough to recover its own rising costs for oil. Like its peers, Chevron doesn't produce enough oil on its own to feed its refineries, forcing it to buy some on the open market.

The company's division that refines and sells gasoline earned $252 million during the first quarter, plunging 84 percent from $1.6 billion at the same time last year. But Chevron still pumped out plenty of oil to cash in on prices that recently approached $120 per barrel before retreating slightly. In the United States, the San Ramon-based company pocketed an average of nearly $90 per barrel for crude oil sold in the first quarter, more than doubling the $38.03 per barrel at the same time last year.

Soaring oil prices provided a similar first-quarter lift to four of Chevron's biggest rivals — Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Collectively, Chevron and those four companies earned $36.9 billion in the first quarter, a 25 percent increase from last year.

More ABC News: Chevron Hits New Record With $5B Profit