Oil price at record $100 a barrel

[velik_m]

Oil price at record $100 a barrel
Oil has traded at $100 a barrel for the first time.

Violence in Nigeria, Algeria and Pakistan, the weak US dollar and the threat of cold weather have all raised prices after the new year break.

Light sweet crude rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel in New York, prompting a drop in shares and a surge in gold prices.

There are concerns that the high price of oil will stoke inflation at a time when many central banks are trying to cut interest rates to stimulate growth.

US shares had already been hit on Wednesday by figures showing that the manufacturing sector was contracting.

After oil broke the $100 barrel they fell further, with the Dow Jones trading 215.1 points, or 1.6%, lower at 13,049.73.

"All of the factors that pushed us above $80 are now moving us higher," said Peter Beutel at Cameron Hanover in Connecticut.

"Until we get more supply or demand starts to take a hit, there is no reason we can't see any number."

'Frivolous'

But some analysts played down the relevance of passing the $100 mark.

"The entire focus on $100 oil is frivolous," said Tim Evans at Citigroup Futures Research in New York.

"It is not a magic number. It doesn't suddenly make this a fundamentally strong market."

Trading volumes were about half of their usual levels as traders returned from their new year breaks, which may have exaggerated the effect of speculative transactions, analysts said.

"I would imagine the speculators are the biggest drivers today," said Phil Flynn from Alaron Trading in Chicago.

The oil-producers' cartel Opec has also blamed speculators for the high price of crude and said that there is plenty of the fuel in the market to meet demand.

President Bush has said he will not be drawing on the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to try to bring down prices.

"This president will not use the SPR to manipulate (oil prices)," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"Doing a temporary release of the SPR is not going to change prices very much."

Moving on up?

There are those who believe that oil prices can rise significantly higher.

While daily price rises have been blamed on unrest in oil-supplying countries such as Nigeria, a underlying and significant factor has been an increase in demand from China and India.

"$100 is just the beginning," said Zachary Oxman, senior trader at Wisdom Financial in California.

"This is kicking off what you are going to see this year. There will be huge moves up in gold and huge moves up in crude."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7168664.stm

Published: 2008/01/02 18:37:02 GMT

[inconvertible]

well, well, well......shopping season is over and coincedentally the price of oil goes up......are we all that dumb.

[inconvertible]

wake up people.

[inconvertible]

if you want oil to keep rising vote republican.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

if you want oil to keep rising vote republican.so voting democrat will save us money? :rolleyes right................

[Sec24Row7]

if you want oil to keep rising vote republican.


ROFL

[Nbadan]

...just removing Cheney/Dubya from office would drop the price of gas by $1/gallon.....

[xrayzebra]

...just removing Cheney/Dubya from office would drop the price of gas by $1/gallon.....

Why dan, is that going to do away with the futures market?
You are so dumb sometime. How do you function?

[smeagol]

Gas in Venezuela is dirt cheap.

Chavez must be a good president, huh Dan?

[xrayzebra]

Gas in Venezuela is dirt cheap.

Chavez must be a good president, huh Dan?

Why sure he is. He evens shares with the poor in the good
old USA. Of course didn't they just take the zero's off
their money. Such a caring person, Chavez is...... :rolleyes

[Nbadan]

Yes, it would be much better for the people of Venezuela to support a President who sells his countries non-replenish able resources at bargain prices and then funnels the money to business cronies and into Cayman bank accounts like most Mexican presidents, right?

:rolleyes

[smeagol]

Yes, it would be much better for the people of Venezuela to support a President who sells his countries non-replenish able resources at bargain prices and then funnels the money to business cronies and into Cayman bank accounts like most Mexican presidents, right?

:rolleyes

You don't think Chavez and his cronies make money off PDVSA and Venezuella's oil, in an illegal way, I might add?

:lol :lol :lol :lol

[Nbadan]

...at least Chavez spreads some of it around to the poor.....what about the poor in Mexico? They get jack....

[Extra Stout]

...at least Chavez spreads some of it around to the poor.....what about the poor in Mexico? They get jack....
Well, with Chavez's economic policies, there are a lot more extreme poor in Venezuela to throw crumbs to (38% vs. 18% in Mexico).

Woo-hoo! 22% inflation! Now that's the way to sustainable growth!

[Nbadan]

Woo-hoo! 22% inflation! Now that's the way to sustainable growth!

There have always been more poor in Venezuela, and Chavez is working against internal and external sources that hope his experimentation in socialism fails....fact of matter is that the U.S. supports Chavez-like social engineering financed with oil-profits throughout the Middle East...only in the middle east the money doesn't go to the poor or rising middle-class either, it goes to the ruling oligarchy...

....which do you think is more susceptible to sudden collapse?

[xrayzebra]

There have always been more poor in Venezuela, and Chavez is working against internal and external sources that hope his experimentation in socialism fails....fact of matter is that the U.S. supports Chavez-like social engineering financed with oil-profits throughout the Middle East...only in the middle east the money doesn't go to the poor or rising middle-class either, it goes to the ruling oligarchy...

....which do you think is more susceptible to sudden collapse?

Poor Chavez, he is working against all these people.
Maybe if he stayed home once in a while and took care
of business and quite trying to whip up his folks about
our imminent invasion of his country he could accomplish
something other than line his and his cronies pockets.

[Nbadan]

Meanwhile, in Pakistan...

Bush's best-laid plans
The Bhutto assassination demonstrates anew the folly of the administration's efforts to manage history.
By Andrew J. Bacevich
December 30, 2007


Viewed from a historian's perspective, the Bush administration since 9/11 has ransacked the past to conjure up comforting expectations for the future. President Bush excels in this exercise, expressing confidence that the "untamed fire of freedom" will one day soon "reach the darkest corners of our world." Yet as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto reminds us yet again, events refuse to play along. History remains stubbornly recalcitrant.

Bush would have us believe otherwise. History, he insists, "has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty." That direction, the president believes, tends toward peace, democracy and freedom for all humankind. America's purpose, assigned by the Author of Liberty, is to nudge history toward its intended destination. More immediately, America's ostensible aim since 9/11 has been to make the blessings of liberty available to the Islamic world. As democracy spreads there, the threat posed by terrorism will diminish. Such at least has been the assumption underlying Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, the two wars begun on Bush's watch.

This strategy of militarized liberation has been fraught with contradictions, not the least of which has been the partnership forged between the United States and Pakistan. Bush has repeatedly declared Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf a valued and trusted ally. Since 9/11, the U.S. has provided Pakistan with at least $10 billion in aid, most of it going to the army. In hopes of ensuring Pakistani cooperation in the global war on terrorism, Washington has ignored that nation's record as perhaps the world's most egregious nuclear weapons proliferator.

Yet Musharraf has never shared Bush's professed commitment to democracy and freedom. A career soldier, Musharraf seized power in 1999 through a military coup. He is an authoritarian dictator who represents the interests of the Pakistani officer corps, distinguished less by any liberal inclinations than by its pronounced Islamist sympathies and a paranoid obsession with India. On Nov. 3, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, a pretext for jailing critics and getting rid of a troublesome Supreme Court. He ended the emergency on Dec. 15. Although Musharraf offers up occasional testimonials on behalf of democracy, they deserve to be taken about as seriously as Bush's calls for bipartisanship in Washington. It's cheap window dressing..........

LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-bacevich30dec30,1,1363928.story?coll=la-news-comment)

So let's review

Socialist wanna-be kings - bad...
Tyrannical authoritarian dictators - good....

[boutons_]

Collusion between US/UK oilcos and their allied oil producers, to keep the price of oil as high as possible (to their mutual profits) without triggering a 1973-war type world-wide recession, which would reduce demand. The oil speculators also play a role recently.

Why would US oilcos bitch about lower gasoline margins when all they need to do is raise the price of gasoline?

Because they need to help Repug campaigns and realistically high gas prices don't help Repugs.

Because if the refiners raise the price of gas too high, alternative fuels become more viable, and more researched.

aka, the sacred "free market" at work, screwing over everybody and the environment as hostages to the corps.

[Holt's Cat]

Maybe the price doesn't rise because gas consumption would go down by an amount sufficient to lower those firms' profits? I guess that doesn't involve 'darth cheney' and 'dubya dickhead'.

[boutons_]

"to lower those firms' profits"

nah, the demand is pretty inelastic. The vast majority the miles driven are not "entertainment/recreation" miles outside of summer, but required (commuting, groceries, company fleet vehicules, etc) , as well as the people who have enough money to spend on inefficient SUVs, etc aren't that price sensitive. People think they have a right to drive, but they don't think they have right to reasonable health care prices.

Enjoy your fantasy that the "free market" of gas prices is totally policy/politics free.

[Extra Stout]

Collusion between US/UK oilcos and their allied oil producers, to keep the price of oil as high as possible (to their mutual profits) without triggering a 1973-war type world-wide recession, which would reduce demand. The oil speculators also play a role recently.
.
OPEC did not emerge in order to collude with US/UK oilcos. OPEC emerged in order in collude against US/UK/Dutch/French oilcos and the governments which meddled in the affairs of oil-rich nations on behalf of the Western powers.


Why would US oilcos bitch about lower gasoline margins when all they need to do is raise the price of gasoline? Because gasoline is a commodity, and the oil companies cannot control its price.


Because they need to help Repug campaigns and realistically high gas prices don't help Repugs.Hillary is an oilco favorite this cycle.


Because if the refiners raise the price of gas too high, alternative fuels become more viable, and more researched.Which is why several major oilcos are investing in alternative fuels.


aka, the sacred "free market" at work, screwing over everybody and the environment as hostages to the corpsYou need wait eight years for Trabant comrade.

Note: obviously I am not attempting to debate boutons_. That would give him too much credit for being able to form coherent thoughts, which we all know isn't the case. But his errors were immediate and obvious to educated humans, and I couldn't resist.

[Extra Stout]

"to lower those firms' profits"

nah, the demand is pretty inelastic. The vast majority the miles driven are not "entertainment/recreation" miles outside of summer, but required (commuting, groceries, company fleet vehicules, etc) , as well as the people who have enough money to spend on inefficient SUVs, etc aren't that price sensitive. People think they have a right to drive, but they don't think they have right to reasonable health care prices.

Enjoy your fantasy that the "free market" of gas prices is totally policy/politics free.
Oil consumption is inelastic in the short term, but elastic in the medium to long-term, as fuel prices affect vehicle, home, and job choices.

After several months of persistent high prices and flat gasoline consumption, demand is actually down as much as 3% from December 2006.

Again, I am not debating boutons_ so much as refuting his obvious misstatements, since he apparently researches his arguments by sniffing his farts.

[xrayzebra]

OPEC did not emerge in order to collude with US/UK oilcos. OPEC emerged in order in collude against US/UK/Dutch/French oilcos and the governments which meddled in the affairs of oil-rich nations on behalf of the Western powers.
.

Anyone ever heard of Henry Kessinger........hellooooo
OPEC

[inconvertible]

you guys get my point. do you all think that profits aren't managed.....please. why do you think a Wii @ circuit city is the same price at walmart is the same price at best buy...........why don't we ask these questioned....are we blind and dumb.

[mikejones99]

ride the bus, or walk ya lazy fat fucks, nobody has to have fucking gas.

[Nbadan]

Well, there goes Hugo Chavez again acting like a ruthless dictator; granting amnesty and pardoning his opponents that planned and participated in the 2002 coup to overthrow him....

Venezuela's Chavez grants amnesty in coup
Tue Jan 1, 2008 5:57am IST


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday he will pardon opponents accused of participating in a coup that ousted him briefly five years ago, a conciliatory move after a stinging electoral defeat this month.

Chavez said he would publish the law in a day or so to show the government did not persecute its political rivals.
(snip)

It was not immediately clear how may people would benefit from the amnesty, which also wipes the legal slate for people involved in a shutdown of the South American nation's vital oil industry and smaller attacks on the government.

The left-wing Chavez has long faced fierce opposition from middle-class and wealthy sectors of society who have been sidelined by his policies, which are focused on the poor who make up the bulk of his supporters.

Reuters (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-31191820080101)

The gull of this guy...what's next? healing the sick?

[smeagol]

Dan, have you ever been to Chavez' Venezuela?

[01Snake]

Single trader behind oil record


The man behind the record rise in oil prices to $100 a barrel was a lone trader, seeking bragging rights and a minute of fame, market watchers say.
A single trader bid up the price by buying a modest lot and then sold it immediately at a loss, they said.

The New York Mercantile Exchange confirmed that US crude oil futures traded just once in triple figures.

But prices have since remained below that historic level and market analysts questioned the validity of the trade.

Stephen Schork, a former floor trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the editor of an oil market newsletter, said one floor trader bought 1,000 barrels, the smallest amount permitted, and sold it immediately for $99.40 at a $600 loss.

"They absolutely overpaid," he told Radio Four's Today Programme.

"He paid $600 for the right to tell his grandchildren that he was the first in the world to buy $100 oil."

Most trading in energy futures has shifted away from the trading floor and takes place on electronic platforms.

The NYMEX, along with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is one of the last bastions of "open outcry", where traders use frantic hand signals to trade securities.

In London, open outcry trading still takes place on the London Metal Exchange, where aluminium, copper and zinc are traded.

The supporters of electronic trading claim that it is faster, cheaper, more efficient for users, and less prone to manipulation by market makers.

The dwindling liquidity on the NYMEX trading floor has led to considerable speculation that the exchange will soon shut down the trading floor to cut costs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7169543.stm

[Fabbs]

Mission accomplished!

[Wild Cobra]

...just removing Cheney/Dubya from office would drop the price of gas by $1/gallon.....
Come on Dan. You don't really believe that do you? Are you that gullible?

Oil prices do not cause gold prices to change. Both are world commodities. The devaluation of the dollar has most the effect doesn't it? Even for the markets. The farther our dollar drops, the more people pull money out of the market to place in foreign markets. As long as we have a declining dollar, that is the smart move. When the dollar stabilizes at what ever point it will, that is when the investors will sell gold and foreign stocks, and reinvest in our markets.

Follow the money. Not the Lemmings and propaganda.

[LaMarcus Bryant]

:lmao
rack the extra stout