$4 gas at a pump near you ?

[waltky]

Think that works out to $8/gal. of gas...

New Oil Record: Is $200 a Barrel Coming?
May 6, 2008 - Oil hits new record above $121 after Goldman predicts prices could rise to $200.

Oil futures blasted to a new record near $123 a barrel Tuesday, gaining momentum as investors bought on a forecast of much higher prices and on any news hinting at supply shortages. Retail gas prices edged lower, but appear poised to rise to new records of their own in coming weeks. A new Goldman Sachs prediction that oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 within two years seemed to motivate much of Tuesday's buying, although a falling dollar and increasing concerns about declining crude production in Mexico and Russia contributed, analysts say.

The Energy Department raised its oil and gasoline price forecasts, but also predicted that high prices will cut demand more than previously thought. Light, sweet crude for June delivery jumped to a new record of $122.73 a barrel before retreating to settle up $1.87 at $121.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices have nearly doubled from about $62 a barrel a year ago, which Goldman sees as a sign that the world is in the midst of a "super spike" in oil prices. Analyst Arjun Murti said in a research note released Monday that prices would ultimately force demand to fall sharply.

Not everyone shares Goldman's view. Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., countered Goldman's analysis with a note predicting that crude prices could as easily fall to $40 a barrel as rise to $200 over the next two years because supplies are, as Evans put it, comfortable. James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla., trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com, said Goldman's prediction isn't necessarily new: "We've heard numbers like these out of Goldman Sachs, especially over the last 12 months." Indeed, it's not the first time Murti has espoused a super spike theory; in an April 2005 note, he predicted the oil market was in the early stages of an unprecedented rally that would send prices from a then-record of about $57 a barrel to $105.

More ABC News: New Oil Record: Is $200 a Barrel Coming?

[waltky]

Congress trying to cut the demand for oil somewhat...

Lawmakers Want to Halt Oil Flow Into Emergency Reserve
May 13, 2008 Washington (AP) - House, Senate expected to approve bill that Bush opposes.

Amid daily bipartisan sniping over high gas prices, Democrats and Republicans appear to agree on at least one thing: With oil over $120 a barrel, President Bush ought to stop buying crude for the government emergency reserve. Both the House and Senate are expected to approve, with bipartisan support, legislation Tuesday directing Bush to temporarily halt the shipment of about 70,000 barrels of oil a day to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Bush has refused to do so, arguing that this small amount of oil won't impact prices and that for security reasons he wants to increase the stockpile to its full capacity of 726 million barrels. It now has about 701 million barrels, equal to nearly two months of oil imports.

Lawmakers' search for a response to high gasoline and oil prices comes as Bush is preparing later this week to travel to Saudi Arabia where he is expected to try to convince the Saudis to increase oil production. So far, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries have refused to do so, arguing the high price of oil stems from other factors than a shortage of supply.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring up for a vote Tuesday a provision to halt oil shipments to the federal reserve until the end of the year. Senate Republicans said they want shipments halted for six months, but are expected to support the Democratic measure. The House is taking up a similar provision later in the day that also is expected to get broad support.

MORE

[waltky]

Guess Fearless W don't have no sway with the Saudi family any more...

Oil Soars Beyond $129 After OPEC Warns It Won't Increase Output
May 20, 2008 - The price of oil has risen over $129 per barrel after a new statement from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) explaining that the group will not increase output to satisfy the soaring demand.

One barrel of light crude hit $129.31 on the New York Mercantile Exchange before slipping back to $128.70. According to investors such as T. Boone Pickens, oil prices could top $150 before New Year's.

Analysts also believe the recent earthquake in China could force Beijing to import more oil to fuel recovery and rebuilding efforts, further buoying the price of crude.

Aimed at coordinating and unifying petroleum policies among its member-countries to ensure "fair and stable prices for petroleum producers," OPEC, led by its president Chakib Khelil, had said speculations are causing the oil price hikes.

Oil Soars Beyond $129 After OPEC Warns It Won't Increase Output | AHN | May 20, 2008

[waltky]

No let up in oil futures speculation...

Oil surpasses $135 a barrel on new supply concerns
22 May,`08 - Oil prices rose above $135 a barrel for the first time Thursday, with supply worries, global demand and an ever weakening U.S dollar driving crude futures up.

Also on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the world's top energy watchdog is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast.

=snip=

"Simply put, this is a market you cannot afford to be short in," said U.S. analyst and trader Stephen Schork about Brent futures in his Schork Report.

With gas and oil prices setting new records nearly every day, analysts have begun to wonder what might stop prices from rising. There are technical signals in the futures market, including price differences between near-term and longer-term contracts, that crude may soon fall. But with demand for oil growing in the developing world, and little end in sight to supply problems in producing countries such as Nigeria, few analysts are willing to call an end to crude's rally.

"The sentiment in the market is very bullish at the moment," said David Moore, commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "The U.S. dollar was weaker last night, and also the U.S. EIA report showed an unexpected decline in U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, so there's a combination of factors pushing the oil prices higher."

FULL Oil surpasses $135 a barrel on new supply concerns - Yahoo! News

[waltky]

Gas prices in Turkey among the highest...

Think gas prices are high? Try $11 in Turkey
Fri., May. 30, 2008 - Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But consider France, where a gallon of petrol runs nearly $10. Or Turkey, where it's more than $11.

Drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices. And now some are hitting back, staging strikes and protests from Europe to Indonesia to demand that governments do more to ease the pain. It's a growing problem in a world that's increasingly mobile and more vulnerable than ever to the cost of crude oil, which is racing higher by the day and showing no signs of stopping. "I don't know why it is, but ... it hurts," said Marie Penucci, a violinist who was filling up her Volkswagen to the tune of $9.66 a gallon at an Esso station on the bypass that rings Paris.

As she pumped, she looked wistfully at a commuter climbing onto one of the city's cheap rental bicycles, an option not open to her since she travels long distances to perform. As oil soars, the effect on drivers can vary widely. Taxes and subsidies that differ from nation to nation are the main reasons, along with limits in oil refining capacity and hard-to-reach places that drive up shipping costs. In Europe and Japan, for example, high taxes have made drivers accustomed to staggering gas prices. As a result, plenty of European adults never even bother to learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit to getting behind the wheel.

Those who do drive are still testing new pain thresholds. And it would be worse in Europe if the strong euro weren't cushioning the blow. On the other hand, in emerging economies such as China and India, government subsidies shield consumers. But that still means governments themselves have to find a way to afford the soaring market prices for oil. Increasingly, people around the world are reaching the boiling point — and it's not just drivers.

More Think gas prices are high? Try $11 in Turkey - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com

See also:

Gas prices put Detroit Three in crisis mode
Sun., June. 1, 2008 - U.S. consumers are moving to hybrids, high mileage models at a fast pace

Detroit's automakers have been making the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, but consumers have been making the move even faster — to hybrids and high mileage models made overseas. Gas prices have accelerated the move away from trucks and sport utility vehicles at a furious pace, leaving the Big Three at the most critical crossroads in 30 years.

"In the early '70s, we were caught flat-footed, without smaller, fuel-efficient cars. We had nothing to sell," said Gerald Meyers, a former chairman of American Motors Corp. "That's exactly what's happening now." What could make this worse, says Lehman Brothers auto analyst Brian Johnson, is that the Detroit Three can no longer rely on import restrictions or raising prices, which helped pull them out of the slump in the 1980s. And if gas prices stay high, they can't count on trucks and SUVs coming back, either.

"We believe that much of this reduction in full-size truck demand is structural, with many buyers downgrading to smaller vehicles who will likely not come back," Johnson said in a note to investors.

Pickup, SUV sales down

[waltky]

Somebody gonna have to do somethin'...

Oil Skyrockets in Biggest One-Day Gain Ever, Almost $11
Oil's Biggest Day yet Drags Down Stocks; Oil prices make biggest single-day leap; Dow Jones tumbles nearly 400 points

Oil prices made their biggest single-day leap ever Friday, dragging the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 400 points and raising the once-unthinkable prospect of $150 oil and more record gas prices by the Fourth of July. The meteoric rise of nearly $11 for the day piled atop an increase of almost $5.50 the day before, taking oil futures more than 13 percent higher in just two days, easily a record on the New York Mercantile Exchange. And those weren't the only stunning numbers of the day: The government also reported the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in May, a monthly rise of half a percentage point, the biggest in 22 years.

Oil settled at $138.54, a rise of more than 8 percent. The surged came after Morgan Stanley analyst Ole Slorer predicted strong demand in Asia and tight supplies in the Western Hemisphere could drive prices to $150 by Independence Day, when millions of Americans take to the roads. That means no end in sight for spiraling gas prices, already above $4 per gallon in much of the country. Even longtime market observers were shocked by the magnitude and speed of oil's rally.

"We're ... somewhat off the map as far as historical precedents are concerned," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. Besides the jump in the unemployment rate, the Labor Department said employers had cut 49,000 jobs in May, the fifth straight month of nationwide losses. Job losses for the year reached 324,000. The White House said President Bush was considering further plans to help energize the economy, already teetering on the edge of recession and crippled by a tumbling housing market and other factors.

More ABC News: Oil Jumps to Biggest One-Day Gain Ever

[waltky]

Maybe they'll start an oil purchasers cartel and run it like Wal-mart...

Industrial nations vow to fight high oil
June 8, 2008: Energy ministers from 11 countries say they'll increase efficiency and invest in new technologies.

The world's top industrialized nations and leading oil consumers pledged Sunday to fight skyrocketing energy prices by increasing efficiency and accelerating investment in new technologies, while urging producers to expand production. Energy ministers from the Group of Eight countries, joined by China, India and South Korea, voiced concerns over record oil prices and said both producers and consumers would benefit from greater market stability.

Ministers, meeting in the northern Japanese city of Aomori, focused Sunday on how they could diversify their energy sources to both control rising demand for oil and rein in emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. "We simply must increase the level and breadth of investment all around the world," said U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. "That means promoting aggressive investment in renewable energy and other alternative energies technologies, as well as the development of tradition hydrocarbon resources."

The 11 nations, which account for 65% of the world's energy consumption, grappled with oil prices that have hit record highs. Prices made a massive 8 percent gain Friday to $138.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The G-8 countries - the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Britain - laid out ways of cutting their dependence on oil in a statement.

MORE

See also:

Oil Traders Face New Regulation
June 9, 2008, Under pressure from Congress—and runaway oil prices—U.S. regulators are moving to exert far greater oversight

The dramatic surge in oil prices—including a $16-per-barrel jump in just two days last week—has left Washington regulators scrambling to exert new oversight on futures trading in oil and other commodities. The U.S. regulatory agency's abrupt shift toward more rigorous oversight in the past two weeks also represents a stark example of how the pinch from high gasoline prices has changed the political landscape and made energy traders prime suspects in congressional inquiries.

As recently as May 20, the U.S. commodities regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), insisted at a Senate hearing that speculation was not causing the rapid spike in energy prices. The CFTC's chief economist, Jeffrey Harris, testified that the agency found that speculation and manipulation are not causing energy prices to surge. He said that instead prices are being driven "by powerful economic fundamental forces and the laws of supply and demand." Nine days later, after further pressure from Congress, the agency announced steps aimed at more oversight of energy futures trading.

Among the measures (BusinessWeek.com, 5/30/08):

• A new information-sharing agreement with Britain's commodities regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to gather information on large positions of the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract.

• A proposal to consider reclassifying investment banks such as Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) as speculators, which would subject them to trading limits from which they're currently exempt.

• An investigation of the crude oil trading market dating to December, 2007. On May 30, The Wall Street Journal (NWS) reported that the CFTC has also expanded an investigation into allegations of short-term manipulation of crude oil prices through a price-reporting system overseen by Platts, the energy data unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP), which also owns BusinessWeek. The CFTC won't confirm such a probe, and Platts has declined to comment.

MORE

[waltky]

Public wantin' gas no matter what...

Drivers Say US Should Drill for Oil on Federal Lands
June 09, 2008 - A recent Department of Interior report, requested by Congress, estimates there are 139 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in the United States, onshore and off-shore combined -- more than the known oil reserves of Iran, Iraq or Russia. But most of that oil cannot be tapped because of environmental regulations.

Cybercast News Service spoke to people at a gas station in Alexandria, Va., last Thursday, where unleaded gas was selling for $4.09 per gallon, and asked this question: Should the U.S. be allowed to tap into the billions of barrels of oil that are on federal lands, but which are off limits because they lie under national parks or are protected by environmental laws? (Watch video)

"Whatever it takes to get my gas prices lower, to tell you the truth," said "Al" from Waldorf, Md. "Obviously we've got to save some for the future and stuff like that. But at the same time, I'm paying an awful lot for gas and it's gone up so fast in such a short amount of time. [It] doesn't really make a lot of sense to a lot of people."

"Dennis" of Alexandria, Va., agreed. "I think we should go get it," he said, adding that he was opposed to drilling in ANWR, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. "But offshore," he said, "I don't think they've had a leak in years." The Bureau of Land Management estimates there are 7.7 billion barrels of petroleum in Alaska's ANWR, but the area is protected by the government and drilling for oil is prohibited.

MORE

See also:

Bush to Congress: Get Going on Domestic Oil Drilling
June 09, 2008 - "The United States has an opportunity to help increase the supply of oil on the market," thereby easing gasoline prices for hard-working Americans," President Bush said on Monday.

He reminded Congress that he has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Continental Shelf to domestic oil drilling -- something that would "help us through this difficult period." Citing concerns about the environment, the Democrat-led Congress has so far refused to go along with domestic oil drilling.

"We remind our friends and allies overseas that we're all too dependent on hydrocarbons, and we must work to advance tech that help us become less dependent on hydrocarbons," Bush said on Monday as he headed out to Europe. He said oil prices and "our nation's commitment to a strong dollar" are among the global issues he plans to discuss on a week-long visit to Europe.

MORE

[waltky]

Now its official...

Gas prices hit another record
June 14, 2008: National average price keeps climbing, with more than half the states paying $4 a gallon or more.

Gasoline prices as measured in the daily AAA survey hit yet another record Saturday. The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline edged up slightly to $4.073 a gallon, according to the motorist group's Web site. The average topped $4 for the first time last week after crude oil prices surged to a trading record above $139 per barrel. The price has swung back and forth in a $10 band since then.

Gas is most expensive in California, according to the survey, averaging $4.587, followed by Alaska at $4.416. The average price is $4 a gallon or more in more than half the states and the District of Columbia. Missouri has the lowest average price at $3.839, followed by Oklahoma at $3.849.

Gasoline prices in the survey have risen 34 percent from a year ago when they averaged $3.029. On its Web site, AAA says the information is gathered by Oil Price Information Service based on credit card swipes at 85,000 gasoline stations across the nation.

SOURCE

[waltky]

British havin' a rough time of it...

Britain reeling under fuel shortage
Tuesday 17th June, 2008 - A fuel strike in Britain ended Tuesday morning, but it will be sometime before petrol can reach hundreds of empty pumps across country while people have turned to alternative fuels like vegetable oil.

The shortages across Britain have forced people off the roads as hundreds of petrol pumps have closed down and private stations profiteer by hiking prices. The strike since the weekend by haulers who refused to carry Shell fuel demanding a pay hike led to the closure of over 600 petrol pumps in the country, mostly in the south-west and Wales.

It could take until the end of the week for supplies to return to normal by which time another strike is threatened. Talks were on between the suppliers and the haulers, who have threatened a second strike from Friday. The shortage has left many Britons fuming, as they had to spend the weekend at home.

They are also being hit by small garages and petrol pumps in several towns who have started charging exorbitant prices. The Sun reported about such a station owner in Exeter who on Sunday night charged two pounds for a litre of petrol. The average official price is 1.15 pounds.

More Britain reeling under fuel shortage