Oil Prices Rocket Toward $49 as Iraqi Violence Flares

[mom cat]

Oil Prices Rocket Toward $49 as Iraqi Violence Flares Up

By Brad Foss The Associated Press
Published: Aug 19, 2004






WASHINGTON (AP) - Crude futures plowed to a new high near $49 a barrel Thursday as the threat of sabotage to Iraqi oil infrastructure loomed larger than promises from Baghdad to boost exports in coming days.
Those fears were amplified late in the day after Shiite militants broke into the headquarters of Iraq's South Oil Co. and set the company's warehouses and offices on fire, witnesses said.

Underpinning the market's nervousness is the belief that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - Saudi Arabia in particular - does not have the ability to swiftly raise production high enough in the event of a major global supply disruption.

U.S. light crude for September delivery rose $1.43 to close at $48.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange - the highest Nymex settlement on record. When adjusted for inflation, oil is roughly $8 less per barrel than it was leading up to the first Gulf War.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBL02PF3YD.html

[tom_paine]

1. And yet, oil prices remain curiously flat

Oh well, just a coinkydinky.

[ClintonTyree]

2. The oil companies...................

won't be able to hold down prices until the election is over as per thier plan. They're losing beaucoup money everyday. Chimp buddy or no Chimp buddy, oil is skyrocketing so fast they can't supress prices much longer. Then all hell is going to break lose and the economy is going to tank big time just before the election.

Big Oil loves the Chimp, but not as much as they love fucking over customers.

[Thor_MN]

4. a handful of analysts think the market is starting look awfully bubbly,

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/19/markets/bubble_crude/index.htm

"We continue to believe oil prices will fall hard," Bear Stearns analyst Frederick Leuffer wrote in a note to clients this week. "We forecast an average ... oil price of $25 per barrel in 2005."

Maybe he knows where all the a-holes that cheneyed over California awhile back are - messing with oil instead of electric.

[54anickel]

7. $25 pb in 2005? Hahahahaha! We'll see $35 if we're lucky.

[Zynx]

8. Prices at my local station rose 6 cents in one day today.

[ILeft]

3. Higher gas prices would make Bush a tough product to sell at...

...the convention. I doubt people would look kindly on his grinning face and "give us four more years" line if they've just paid $70 for a fill-up.

[TahitiNut]

5. Do I hear $50? Gotta love those futures markets.

It should be noted that the players in futures neither drill nor refine ... they just 'own.' It's the entitlement game. That game has fewer rules today than 30 years ago. When it's electrical power (generation and transmission), the rules're still virtually nonexistent. That's the game Enron and 'the boys' played with California.

[Xipe Totec]

6. It's Not All Bad News...

"Embarrassing Bush: When George W. Bush moved into the White House in early 2001, oil was about $26. The price is up by more than 80 per cent since then. Rising demand explains a lot of the price rise, but it should be noted that the botched American occupation of Iraq has kept Iraqi oil off the export market. Americans will vote with their wallets. If oil is $50 a barrel come election day, there is a good chance the odds will tilt in John Kerry's favour. Wouldn't it be sweet to see the man who promoted himself as the energy-security president go down over the price of a fill-up?"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040819/RREGU19/Columnists/Idx



- At least his father knew the difference between dinars and rubles.
- Yes, but $50 a barrel can make me forgive many insults.