Wildcat
07-06-2006, 07:53 AM
Hate to say it but back in Aug 2005 I said it would hit $3.00 a gal around July 4th.
People don't care or care to know how to help, they are going to do what they want and then cry about it and blame someone else. Yesterday I was driving down the Interstate going the limit and I had SEVERAL DOZEN SUV's, F-150's, F-250's, Chev- 1500, 2500, mostly 4X4's fly pass me going 70-80 mph. That uses more gas and creats DEMAND.
Crude Oil Prices Hit Record High
Associated Press
July 5, 2006 3:15 p.m.
Oil prices jumped to a record above $75 a barrel on Wednesday, propelled by a rally in gasoline that analysts said could send average U.S. pump prices past $3 a gallon by the weekend.
Recent snags in oil-shipping and refining along the Gulf Coast have raised traders' concerns about motor-fuel supplies at a time when demand continues to rise in spite of soaring prices. The start of a new fiscal quarter also brought more speculative money into the market, brokers said.
"Everybody thought we'd hit a price that would create permanent demand destruction. But demand for gasoline is rising," said Alaron Trading analyst Phil Flynn. "Once again the American public has shown its ability to get over paying high prices for gasoline."
A protracted diplomatic standoff between the West and Iran, OPEC's No. 2 oil supplier, has kept a high floor underneath prices, and analysts said geopolitical tensions were heightened further on Wednesday by North Korea's test-firing of missiles.
Light sweet crude for August delivery briefly surged to $75.40 a barrel, a record intraday high on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing back to $75.19, an increase of $1.26. Gasoline futures jumped by more than six cents to $2.284 a gallon.
With refiners fetching the equivalent of $95 a barrel or more -- there are 42 gallons in a barrel -- "one doesn't have to be disciplined in the buying of crude," explained Tom Kloza, an oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.
The last time front-month oil futures settled above $75 was on April 21. The previous intraday high, also set April 21, was $75.35.
Oil prices are now roughly 26% higher than a year ago, but still below all-time inflation-adjusted highs of around $90.
The average retail price of gasoline is $2.93 a gallon, according to OPIS. But Mr. Kloza said pump prices are likely to surpass $3 a gallon as early as this weekend.
U.S. retail gasoline prices peaked at $3.07 a gallon, on average, last September, reflecting the extreme tightness in the market following Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out pipelines that deliver fuel to the East Coast and Midwest.
With global oil demand approaching 85 million barrels per day, traders are extremely nervous about the possibility of any supply disruptions, especially because there is less than 2 million barrels a day of spare production capacity, most of it in Saudi Arabia.
North Korea defied stern warnings from the U.S. and Japan to launch six missiles early Wednesday, including a long-range Taepodong-2, which failed shortly after takeoff. Later Wednesday, the communist nation fired a seventh missile.
While the news was unlikely to have any impact on supply, it adds to uncertainties about the global political situation, analysts and traders said. Markets already have been jittery about Iran's nuclear program and violence in Nigeria and the Middle East.
Iran postponed by a day its talks with the European Union on a package of incentives designed to defuse the standoff over Tehran's atomic program, the EU said Wednesday.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 55 cents to $73.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
"This market has got some fireworks," said BNP Paribas Commodity Futures broker Thomas Bentz.
"The market just always seems to react to any political unrest," Bentz said.
Bentz said reduced rates Monday at a gasoline producing unit of an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery were not a big deal supply wise, but nevertheless had a psychological impact on the market.
"The bulls just seem to have plenty of fodder to sustain ever higher prices," Fimat USA oil analyst John Kilduff said. Kilduff said a severe disruption in oil supplies from a hurricane or some other event could send oil racing toward $90 a barrel. On the other hand, if the diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West were to be resolved, that could take oil prices sharply lower.
The Department of Energy is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum report Thursday, a day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday. With demand about 1% above year ago levels for the past month, analysts expect to see commercial inventories of gasoline decline for the second straight week.
People don't care or care to know how to help, they are going to do what they want and then cry about it and blame someone else. Yesterday I was driving down the Interstate going the limit and I had SEVERAL DOZEN SUV's, F-150's, F-250's, Chev- 1500, 2500, mostly 4X4's fly pass me going 70-80 mph. That uses more gas and creats DEMAND.
Crude Oil Prices Hit Record High
Associated Press
July 5, 2006 3:15 p.m.
Oil prices jumped to a record above $75 a barrel on Wednesday, propelled by a rally in gasoline that analysts said could send average U.S. pump prices past $3 a gallon by the weekend.
Recent snags in oil-shipping and refining along the Gulf Coast have raised traders' concerns about motor-fuel supplies at a time when demand continues to rise in spite of soaring prices. The start of a new fiscal quarter also brought more speculative money into the market, brokers said.
"Everybody thought we'd hit a price that would create permanent demand destruction. But demand for gasoline is rising," said Alaron Trading analyst Phil Flynn. "Once again the American public has shown its ability to get over paying high prices for gasoline."
A protracted diplomatic standoff between the West and Iran, OPEC's No. 2 oil supplier, has kept a high floor underneath prices, and analysts said geopolitical tensions were heightened further on Wednesday by North Korea's test-firing of missiles.
Light sweet crude for August delivery briefly surged to $75.40 a barrel, a record intraday high on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing back to $75.19, an increase of $1.26. Gasoline futures jumped by more than six cents to $2.284 a gallon.
With refiners fetching the equivalent of $95 a barrel or more -- there are 42 gallons in a barrel -- "one doesn't have to be disciplined in the buying of crude," explained Tom Kloza, an oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.
The last time front-month oil futures settled above $75 was on April 21. The previous intraday high, also set April 21, was $75.35.
Oil prices are now roughly 26% higher than a year ago, but still below all-time inflation-adjusted highs of around $90.
The average retail price of gasoline is $2.93 a gallon, according to OPIS. But Mr. Kloza said pump prices are likely to surpass $3 a gallon as early as this weekend.
U.S. retail gasoline prices peaked at $3.07 a gallon, on average, last September, reflecting the extreme tightness in the market following Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out pipelines that deliver fuel to the East Coast and Midwest.
With global oil demand approaching 85 million barrels per day, traders are extremely nervous about the possibility of any supply disruptions, especially because there is less than 2 million barrels a day of spare production capacity, most of it in Saudi Arabia.
North Korea defied stern warnings from the U.S. and Japan to launch six missiles early Wednesday, including a long-range Taepodong-2, which failed shortly after takeoff. Later Wednesday, the communist nation fired a seventh missile.
While the news was unlikely to have any impact on supply, it adds to uncertainties about the global political situation, analysts and traders said. Markets already have been jittery about Iran's nuclear program and violence in Nigeria and the Middle East.
Iran postponed by a day its talks with the European Union on a package of incentives designed to defuse the standoff over Tehran's atomic program, the EU said Wednesday.
In London, Brent crude futures rose 55 cents to $73.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
"This market has got some fireworks," said BNP Paribas Commodity Futures broker Thomas Bentz.
"The market just always seems to react to any political unrest," Bentz said.
Bentz said reduced rates Monday at a gasoline producing unit of an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery were not a big deal supply wise, but nevertheless had a psychological impact on the market.
"The bulls just seem to have plenty of fodder to sustain ever higher prices," Fimat USA oil analyst John Kilduff said. Kilduff said a severe disruption in oil supplies from a hurricane or some other event could send oil racing toward $90 a barrel. On the other hand, if the diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West were to be resolved, that could take oil prices sharply lower.
The Department of Energy is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum report Thursday, a day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday. With demand about 1% above year ago levels for the past month, analysts expect to see commercial inventories of gasoline decline for the second straight week.