Oil Tops $49 Amid Iraq Supply Worries

[gp]

Oil Tops $49 Amid Iraq Supply Worries
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - Crude oil prices passed $49 per barrel on Friday, striking fresh record levels amid heightened concern about supplies in Iraq, and doubts over how much extra crude could be pumped anytime soon to ease the price surge.

The spike brought prices close to the psychologically important $50 threshold.

U.S. light crude for September delivery peaked at $49.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a new intraday high. That later fell to $49.20, 50 cents above Thursday's closing price of $48.70, which was 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 (news - web sites).

More
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040820/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices_93

Realtime
http://www.bloomberg.com/

[RedEarth]

1. Some people are now talking $60/barrel....won't that be fun....

[bemildred]

2. This is he Bush economy, the sky's the limit. nt

[Ms. Clio]

19. It was Osama bin Laden, I believe, who said oil should be $100 a barrel

So what would that make the price of a gallon of gas? $5.00 or more?

The economic, social, and political impacts of this are going to be devastating, and the big crash will most likely occur on Kerry's watch, and be blamed on the Dems.

[lil-petunia]

3. 50 this weakened

65 by the end of the month.

Gas at 3.00 per in the muddle west. Worse in California.

I saw a group of teens start pointing fingers and laughing at a humvee driver stopped at a red light. The nicest thing they said was gas guzzler. the rest were as polite as Michelle Malkin commentary. I suspect that Humvee will be on the sales block soon.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Here's my question:

Before the war, oil was below $30. Iraqi oil was a trickle. Iraqi oil is still low, but higher than it was, and the price goes up.

Can you say "manipulation"? I knew you could.

[Fovea]

9. Remember

China is working on a deliberate policy to encourage automobile usage.
We are just a teeeny leeetal market compared to the dragon.

[leesa]

14. China? Actually, it's the same corporate folks that did the same thing

here. Conning everyone into buying gas guzzlers so they could make fortunes selling gas.

The Asian market is why we bombed Afghanistan. We needed a toehold and got it with the pipeline through Afghanistan.

[benburch]

5. My Prius Hybrid is looking better each and every day.

Current indicated mpg 47.4 on my 2002 Prius.

[Jacobin]

7. How long did you have to wait to get it?

My local dealer says there is a 14 month wait on ordering one.

I think they are great and would love to get one. I heard they were upping production numbers to try to keep up with demand.

[benburch]

12. About 24 hours...

...bought it off the lot.

Back in August of 2002, people didn't seem to see the value in having one...

[tom_paine]

10. How much $$$ did that baby run? What is the HP?

I will definitely buy one, as long it it has just a little bit of guts.

I am certainly willing to sacrifice some power for better gas mileage when the time comes to buy a new car, but not ALL of it.

So, Ben, what's the scoop? Are you like the Yugo of the highway or at least one level off the "bottom of the food chain" Hp-wise.

Seriously, I am definitely considering a hybrid and would like to know...

[benburch]

13. It was $20,500...

I skipped the navigation system and the 5 disk CD changer, but got all the other options.

70 HP on the Internal Combustion Engine at 4500 RPM, and thats how they rate it. At start from stop, though, an electric motor has it's maximum torque, so it is very fast off the line when both the ICE and the Motor-Generator are on-line.

[leesa]

15. They are fast little buggers...excellent in traffic

I love my Prius. They are also quite roomy for a small car.

[treepig]

6. a bit off topic

but how's the viagra working out for you?

(p.s. you probably get smart ass comments in all your threads, but this is the first time for me, so it's still fun)

[Throckmorton]

16. I dont know about him, but my Cialis makes me feel 13 again

Now, if I only had someone to right to.

[Fovea]

8. Vroooommmm!!!!

Go big oil go!
Price the 20th century transportation paradigm
right off the map!

It will break 50/bbl next monday, and I suspect we will never see it go down from there. Goodbye George, buhbye Dick. Faretheewell hummvee.
Hello sub-compact hybreds, howdy electric assist bikes.
Nice to see you again, light rail.

[tom_paine]

11. And yet, gas prices remain steady...

The Bushevik Comrades are temorarily stopping their price gouging to help their Emperor.

Some people are saying the OilyBusheviks are losing moneis by the billions, I think they have merely sacrificed the billions they are STEALING through price gouging and are now making a normal profit, but a profit still.

Don't kid yourselves about how the OilyBusheviks operate and what they REALLY think and what their REAL ETHICS ARE (none).

Think Enron, who is probably the tip of a very large iceberg of more subtle and deniable price gouging.

Enron just went too far in what the others do evry day, I believe.

[Throckmorton]

17. Yes, but look at the price of #2 heating oil.

round these parts, most people are buying their first tankful of oil for the winter, its going for around $1.55/gal here in SE Connecticut. Or about 55 cents a gallon more than at this time last year.

[Massacure]

18. These are futures, and so gas prices won't rise until they start refining

the oil.