i think you're talking about 2 different issues: 1. the bottleneck is related to the price of gasoline. i think there's some truth to the idea that there is not enough refinery capacity to adequately meet demand. 2. as for oil traders waiting on catastrophic events...i agree with you...that was really the crux of my original thread on this and why i thought the price would fall. and i've heard the same from a friend who has buddies who are traders who are just waiting for the sky to fall so they can be proven right.
Its hilarious hilarity NEW YORK — Gasoline futures fell today after the government reported an unexpectedly large increase in gasoline inventories last week and a surprising decline in refinery utilization. But while July oil initially followed gasoline lower, it jumped when news broke that several thousand Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish guerrillas. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose 36 cents to $65.97 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline futures for July dropped 3.14 cents to $2.1759 a gallon on the Nymex. Retail gas prices also continued their downward track. The average national price of a gallon of gas slipped 0.8 cent overnight to $3.14, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices at the pump peaked at $3.227 a gallon last month. Also on the Nymex, heating oil futures rose 1.06 cents to $1.975 a gallon while natural gas futures rose 8 cents to $8.144 per 1,000 cubic feet. Brent crude for July jumped 58 cents to $71.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Gasoline inventories jumped by 3.5 million barrels in the week ended June 1, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report, handily beating estimates. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 1.5 million barrel increase. However, the EIA noted that gasoline stocks were still well below the average range for this time of year. Crude inventories rose by 100,000 barrels, in line with expectations. But refinery utilization — a measure some analysts consider more important than inventories — fell by 1.5 percent to 89.6 percent. Analysts had expected a 0.6 percent increase. Still, gasoline traders appeared to shrug that news off, analysts said. Inventories of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, rose by 1.9 million barrels per day. Analysts had expected distillate stocks to grow by 800,000 barrels. Imports of crude oil grew last week by 222,000 barrels per day to 10.2 million barrels a day, while gasoline imports averaged 1.5 million barrels a day, down about 100,000 barrels a day from the week before. Traders' initial focus was on the big increase in gasoline inventories, said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets. "This market's not getting tighter, it's building inventories," Evans said. Traders and analysts have been concerned about gasoline supplies throughout the spring. An unusually high number of refinery outages has kept gas supplies far below their normal levels, part of the reason retail prices shot up to record levels. Though another round of refiners reported outages Tuesday, those reports do not carry the impact they once did, analysts say. "Rising inventories do indicate a surplus," Evans said. However, Evans said there were a number of inconsistencies in the inventory report's numbers. It would not be surprising to see prices fluctuate as traders assess different parts of the report, he said. "I've got a lot of questions, and I don't have full answers," Evans said. "The day is not over." Indeed, shortly after the inventory report sent markets lower, Turkish troops moved into Iraq. "That's something brand new to the mix," said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa. "That's what caused the turnaround this morning." Other than gasoline, the entire energy complex followed oil futures higher on the Iraq news. Cordier said gas will have a tough time rallying over the next couple of days in light of the inventory report. Cyclone Gonu, which forced evacuations in Oman and a partial shutdown of the country's oil facilities, has already been built into oil prices, analysts said. While Gonu appears headed toward the Strait of Hormuz — a major transport artery for Persian Gulf oil — and Iran, traders see its impact as logistical, Evans said. In other words, it might delay oil shipments, but that oil will eventually get to its destination. the supply is rising yet these guys are still trying to find a reason to bid the prices up.
Top Story in the Paper today http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4869099.html Not everyone is complaining about high gas prices. The major U.S. refiners of gasoline, from Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. to stand-alone refiners like Valero Energy, are seeing some of the strongest profits ever as pump prices reach new peaks. In the first quarter, profits for the 11 companies with domestic refining operations shot up 22 percent to $4.7 billion, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. For the stand-alone refiners, the jump was a mind-blowing 579 percent to $248 million, as refineries boosted output and the spread widened between what the companies paid for crude oil and what they charged for gasoline, said the agency, part of the Department of Energy. And with tight gas supplies and fuel demand expected to rise during the summer travel season, analysts said, refiners are likely to post strong profits again in the second quarter. "There's going to be three to four years of a healthy economic environment for companies in the refining business," said Phillip Verleger, an energy industry consultant in Aspen, Colo. Higher refining profits this year also reflect a spate of refinery outages, high crude prices and higher-than expected fuel usage by American drivers. The difference between what refiners pay for a barrel of oil, and the price they sell the products typically made from that amount of crude, is known as the gross refining margin. This figure, calculated before taxes and expenses are subtracted, is widely used as a rough indicator of the profitability of the refining business. This week, that margin hovered around $26 per barrel, up from $21 at the same time a year ago, and $11 in 2004, according to Eitan Bernstein, industry analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Va. Only after 2005 hurricanes hobbled more than a quarter of the nation's gas-making infrastructure did this margin shoot higher, he said. The record of $34.15 per barrel was set on Aug. 31, 2005, said Peter Beutel, an analyst at Cameron Hanover. For this year, he predicts the U.S. margin will average $18.45. In recent weeks, some Washington lawmakers have accused refiners of profiteering, and even intentionally closing refineries to drive up prices by limiting supplies. But industry officials say when prices are high there is more incentive, not less, to keep refineries up and running. Every unexpected shutdown forces the companies to buy gasoline on the wholesale, or spot, market to fill orders. Plus, the refineries must continue to pay their workers and sometimes hire extra personnel to fix problems. "We're in the business to make money, not to shut our facilities down," Rob Routs, Shell Oil's top executive over refining operations, said in an interview with the Chronicle last month. Refiners could conceivably drive up the wholesale price of gasoline by shutting down some gasoline-making units. Wholesale prices are largely based on the futures prices set by traders in New York who try to profit by placing bets on what gasoline will be worth in the future. If a plant goes down during the summer driving season, gasoline prices will rise if those traders see it significantly tightening supplies. But closing a plant to rig prices is not only illegal, it would probably only drive up prices by a small amount, said Beutel. With margins where they are today, he said, "You would make more money by running everything you've got." The current high profit environment is simply a function of basic economics, said Charlie Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, the industry's main trade group in Washington. "Refining margins are high because supply continues to fall below demand," he said. Drevna pointed out the industry invested $50 billion to comply with federal regulations during the '90s when profits were lean. Can be hard to explain Yet the big gains can be hard to explain to the public at a time when gasoline costs so much. The national average price Wednesday was $3.14 a gallon, according to AAA. With refining profits up sharply, some have argued that the industry should expand its refineries or build new ones. But industry officials respond that there is less incentive to spend on such projects now that President Bush is pushing a plan to cut gasoline usage 20 percent by 2017, mostly by blending more ethanol into gasoline. "You have to say, 'Why would I invest in additional gasoline refining capacity until I understand a little bit more what's happening in the market?' " said Chevron Vice Chairman Peter Robertson in a recent interview. A new refinery hasn't been built since 1976, but existing refineries have been slowly expanding their production. With better profits in recent years, refiners had planned to add more than 1.5 million barrels a day of new refining capacity, Drevna said. But some refiners have since pulled back because of the cloudy demand picture and rising costs of materials and labor. Now, plans call for less than 1 million barrels-a-day of additions, he said. "And even that's being looked at." Chronicle reporter David Ivanovich contributed to this report.
Thanks for the articles pgabriel. That's one thing I don't fully understand and maybe somebody on here can explain it to me. If our prices for gas increase, why do the prices for the oil companies not increase therefore giving them record profits?
Here we go again. Gas Prices Expected to Rise NEW YORK (AP) -- Gasoline futures extended their rally Friday, raising the prospect that prices at the pump will reverse course and again head higher in the coming weeks. Oil futures moved above $68 a barrel. Retail gasoline prices, which typically lag the futures market, fell again by 1.4 cents overnight to a national average price of $3.029 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices peaked at $3.227 a gallon on May 24. "Unfortunately, I think this is about as good as it gets," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. That's because gasoline futures have risen sharply in the wake of a government report on Wednesday that shocked traders by showing gasoline inventories remained flat as refineries used less of their capacity than they had the week before. Also boosting prices on Friday was a lower-than-expected core inflation figure, which encouraged investors to move money from fixed income investments to commodities. Gasoline for July jumped 4.42 cents to $2.2689 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Light, sweet crude rose 52 cents to $68.17 a barrel in midday trading. Brent crude for August delivery rose 29 cents to $74.12 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. Also on the Nymex, heating oil futures rose less than a penny to $2.02 a gallon while natural gas prices added 17.1 cents to $7.979 per 1,000 cubic feet. Analysts said traders continued to react to Wednesday's report by the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. "The report we got this week ... that was just incredibly disappointing and extremely bullish," said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group, in Tampa, Fla. The report showed that refinery utilization, which had been expected to grow by 0.8 percent, fell 0.4 percent to 89.2 percent, the second straight weekly decline, in the week ended June 8. Most analysts say refineries should be using 94 percent to 95 percent of their capacity at this time of year. The report also showed gasoline inventories unchanged at 201.5 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected inventories to rise by 2 million barrels. The report killed any sentiment that the domestic refining industry, beset by an unusual number of outages this spring, has recovered. Analysts have warned for months that the industry is not producing enough gasoline to meet summer driving demand, which typically peaks between the July 4 and Labor Day holidays. "The thing about those numbers is everybody knew that they (were) going to be struggling to keep up with gasoline demand as it was ... but they didn't seem to make any progress refining-wise," said Tobin Gorey, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. On Friday there were new reports that Corpus Christi, Texas, refineries owned by Valero Energy Corp. and Flint Hills Resources were temporarily shutting down equipment for maintenance. "We needed some big builds (in gas inventories)," said Cordier. "We got one or two big builds, then this figure just threw cold water on it." The report attracted hedge funds and technical buying, analysts said, further adding to the price increases. Before Thursday, crude oil had not settled above $67 a barrel since September. "We're going to probably rally until we see another figure next week," Cordier said. However, Kloza doubts the rally will continue much longer. He thinks futures will trade in a defined range of a few dollars for oil, and 10 to 20 cents for gasoline, rather than breaking out to new highs. "I do not believe this is the beginning of another tremendous bounce," Kloza said. Retail gas will follow suit, he said: It won't fall any further, but it also won't jump back to late May's records. Cordier said energy futures prices are also being supported by Friday's core inflation figure, which a government report said rose a lower-than-expected 0.1 percent. That dampened sentiment the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Investors flee equity and commodities markets for fixed income investments when interest rates are believed to be on their way up, Cordier explained. When investors think rates will hold steady or fall, they're more likely to invest in commodities, he said. "It relieves downward pressure on commodities," Cordier said. "The core figure on inflation today kind of took the cap off the market." Associated Press Writers Pablo Gorondi, in Budapest, and Gillian Wong, in Singapore, contributed to this report.
Time to get my motorcycle back on the road. Don't laugh at me when you see a Ninja 250 buzzing down the road, getting 70 mpg. I drive 90 miles a day for work.
Expansion of Refineries is Scaled Back WASHINGTON - With Congress and the White House pushing to increases the use of ethanol, the oil industry is scaling back its plans to expand refineries — which could keep gasoline prices high, possibly for years to come. President Bush has called for a 20 percent decline in gasoline use by 2017 and the Senate is debating legislation for huge increases in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel. So, oil companies see a growing uncertainty about future gasoline demand and less need to increase refinery capacity to make more gasoline. A shortage of refineries frequently has been blamed by politicians for the sharp price spikes in gasoline. This spring, refiners, hampered by outages, could not keep up with demand and imports were down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere. Despite stable — even sometimes declining — oil prices, gasoline prices soared to record levels and remain well above $3 a gallon. Consumer advocates maintain the oil industry likes it that way. "By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level," says Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. He argues the refining industry "has no interest in creating spare (refining) capacity." Only last year, the Energy Department was told that refiners, reaping big profits and anticipating growing demand, were looking at boosting their refining capacity by 1.6 million barrels a day, a roughly 10 percent increase. But oil companies already have scaled those expansion plans back by nearly 40 percent. More cancelations are expected if Congress passes legislation now before the Sensate calling for 15 billion gallons of ethanol use by 2015 and more than double that by 2022, say industry and government officials. "These (expansion) decisions are being revisited in boardrooms across the refining sector," says Charlie Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/ NEW YORK - Gasoline and oil futures fell sharply Wednesday after the government reported larger-than-expected increases in crude oil and gas inventories. The contract for light, sweet crude for July delivery, which expires later Wednesday, dropped $1.36 to $67.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was a huge turnaround after the contract closed Tuesday at $69.10, its highest finish since Sept. 1. Gas futures for July fell 5.09 cents Wednesday to $2.1837 a gallon. Traders and analysts have questioned the domestic refining industry’s ability to meet peak summer demand for gas. Their concerns have been fed by an unusually large number of refinery outages, and left traders eagerly awaiting each week’s inventory report from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration. The EIA said crude inventories jumped by 6.9 million barrels in the week ended June 15. Analysts had expected crude stocks to drop by 150,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels, more than the 1 million barrel increase expected by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Refinery utilization, however, fell 1.6 percent to 87.6 percent. Analysts had expected utilization to grow by 0.6 percent. Energy futures have rallied since last week’s report, which showed no increase in gas supplies and a decline in refinery utilization. But Wednesday’s report helped pull them downward. “That came in out of left field,” said Chip Hodge, energy portfolio manager at John Hancock Financial Securities in Boston. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures lost 2.48 cents to $2.002 a gallon, while natural gas prices rose less than a penny to $7.525 per 1,000 cubic feet. August Brent crude dropped $1.79 to $70.05 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. there still seems to be an unnecessary premium on oil prices that is constantly being proven unnecessary every week these reports come out. Even the report last week showed no decline in inventory. And I still would like to see proof that demand actually goes up in the summer. Maybe it does but I want to see proof.
My guess is that they know prices will fall from a downturn in the economy. Since everyone is still optimistic, they'll gouge as long as they can. They=speculators and oil companies that can influence inventories. Despite the optimism, I still think the housing market is worse than those economists who try brush it off as "7% of the GDP". They'll probably say anything to keep the stock prices high.
I'm watching the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" on the Starz Network and there is some really interesting stuff in this documentary so far. Has anybody else seen this?
link Gas prices rise as oil, gas futures gain on Nigeria worries By JOHN WILEN Associated Press TOOLS Email Get section feed Print Subscribe NOW Comments Recommend NEW YORK — Gas prices rose overnight for the first time in more than a month as the closure of a Kansas refinery sent prices in the center of the country sharply higher. The average national price of a gallon of gas inched up 0.3 cent overnight to $2.952, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail prices, which typically lag futures, had fallen steadily since their late May peak of $3.227 a gallon. Analysts have long argued that the slide was due to end and that prices were likely to start following futures prices higher. Futures have rallied in recent weeks on concerns about domestic refining capacity. It's unclear how much prices will rise. Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said the overnight increase is almost all attributable to price jumps in the Plains and front-range Rockies states. Supplies there have been cut by the flooding and closure of a refinery in Coffeyville, Kan., that can produce 2.1 million gallons of gasoline per day. "They just lost about one-seventh of their gasoline supply for the summer," Kloza said. However, if retail gas prices are destined to follow futures higher, then they're likely to keep rising. Oil and gasoline futures rose today on continuing concerns about violence and kidnappings in Nigeria and a sense that domestic refiners are struggling to produce enough gas. Light, sweet crude for August delivery gained 85 cents to $72.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. August gasoline rose 1.45 cents to $2.2988 on the Nymex. August Brent crude rose 75 cents to $75.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Nymex heating oil futures rose 1.03 cents to $2.0976 a gallon, while natural gas prices fell 12.3 cents to $6.495 per 1,000 cubic feet. The government reported that natural gas inventories rose by 78 billion cubic feet last week, in line with analyst expectations. In Nigeria, kidnappers today threatened to kill a 3-year-old British girl abducted on Thursday if their demands aren't met. On Wednesday, gunmen attacked a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil rig in Nigeria's southern oil heartland and seized five foreign workers. Traders had hoped the situation in Africa's largest oil-producing nation would stabilize following the May election of President Umaru Yar'Adua. "A new spiral of violence could not only further delay an elusive recovery in Nigerian crude production, but also severely undermine the stability of the fragile, budding Yar'Adua administration," said Antoine Halff, head of energy research at Fimat USA LLC. The Nigerian news drove Brent crude futures higher, and the rest of the energy complex followed, analysts said. "The leadership has been coming from overseas," said Kloza. Traders are also focusing on what they see as bad news in Thursday's inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. The report showed surprise increases in both oil and gasoline inventories last week. But it also showed a surprisingly small increase in refinery utilization. On closer inspection, traders noticed that crude inventories increased mostly in the states along the Gulf of Mexico, but fell in Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery point. That has led to a sense that demand for crude will grow, at least in Cushing. "In other words, despite being at a nine-year high, crude oil stocks are falling where it most counts," wrote Stephen Schork, an energy trader, in a research note. Traders are also concerned about refinery utilization levels, which rose to 90 percent but are still far below the 94 percent to 95 percent most think is necessary to meet peak summer driving demand. Analysts have worried for months that the refining industry isn't producing enough gas to meet demand. Those concerns have been exacerbated by an unusually high number of refinery outages this year. Jan Stuart, an analyst at UBS Securities LLC, says the outage situation isn't likely to improve. A new set of refinery inspections planned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration may make matters worse, Stuart said. "There is no telling how many more 'unplanned' outages might result from these inspections," Stuart wrote in a research note. in other words, despite stocks increasing, we're still gonna drive up the prices. can someone explain how this makes sense?
was watching msnbc on my break, they had two oil analysts debating the topic of what's driving prices. speculation or supply. well it wasn't much of a debate because both guys agreed that there are refining issues, however, oil stocks are at a something like a ten year high, and logically, if there is a refining issue with capacity usage right now, then that should mean that there is excess oil on the market that isn't being refined right now. so while the gasoline prices may be somewhat justifiable, the oil prices aren't. one of the guys said there was about a $10 premium on oil prices right now.
That's the thing I just don't get. How is it that there is this excess oil out there but oil prices go up when it is there? Every other commodity falls when excess supplies exist except for oil.
not to keep upping this thread but I think its important that the consumer know what's going on out there. Again, inventories are actually rising, even on gasoline prices but the traders are keeping our prices high because of speculation. yes refinery usage is down, but obviously the guys running the refineries see it as a good time to ramp down operations because it obviously hasn't affected inventory. I've been following this gov't inventory report for a few weeks now and only one report showed a decrease in inventory over the past month. the report comes out every wed. however prices have continued to increase. as lil pun asks, what other markets would this occur. NEW YORK - Gas prices jumped 2.5 cents overnight as the closure of two refineries in the Midwest continued to curb gasoline supplies in the Midwest and Plains states. Oil and gasoline futures, meanwhile, traded lower after a government inventory report presented a mixed picture of the domestic refining industry. “The market is just trying to find its way right now,” said Stephen Schork, an oil analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa. The closure of a refinery in Coffeyville, Kan., due to flooding and the shutdown of a huge piece of oil processing equipment at a BP PLC refinery in Whiting, Ind., have pushed gas prices in the center of the country higher in recent days, in turn forcing the national average up, analysts say. At the pump, prices jumped another 2.5 cents overnight to a national average of $3 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail prices, which typically lag the futures market, fell steadily from a late May peak of $3.227 a gallon until last week, when Coffeyville’s loss cut supplies. The Whiting refinery unit was shut down on Monday, but should be restarted later in the week or over the weekend after minor repairs, a source familiar with the refinery said. The loss of the refineries has wholesale gasoline in the Midwest selling for 30 cents a gallon more than futures prices, said Jack Hunter, an energy trader at FC Stone Group in Kansas City, Mo. “The refinery problems pushed Midwest prices sharply higher,” Stone said. Meanwhile, a report by the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration showed that refinery utilization grew less than expected last week, while gasoline inventories jumped twice as much as expected. Crude oil inventories fell more than predicted. Light, sweet crude for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 17 cents to $72.64 a barrel, while gasoline for August fell 3.38 cents to $2.3356 a gallon. Both contracts were trading above lows set below the inventory report was released. August Brent crude fell 51 cents to $75.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Nymex heating oil futures fell 1.28 cents to $2.111 a gallon, and natural gas prices gained 3 cents to $6.729 per 1,000 cubic feet. The EIA reported that refinery utilization rose by 0.2 percent in the week ended July 6 to 90.2 percent. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected utilization to grow by half a percentage point, on average. Gasoline inventories, however, jumped by 1.2 million barrels, almost double analyst predictions of a 640,000-barrel increase. Crude inventories fell last week by 1.4 million barrels, more than twice analyst expectations for a 600,000-barrel decline. And distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 800,000 barrels, in line with analyst expectations. Imports of gasoline rose by 31,000 barrels a day to 1.423 million barrels a day last week, while imports of crude oil fell by 753,000 barrels a day to 10.025 million barrels a day. Gasoline demand grew last week, to 9.6 million barrels a day, 1.4 percent higher than the same period last year. The report’s conclusions are mixed. On one hand, gasoline inventories grew. But so did gasoline imports, showing that the nation is increasingly relying on gasoline produced overseas. “The market is utterly relying on imports to get us through the summer,” Schork said. Also, refinery utilization grew, but is still well below the 94 percent to 95 percent analysts would like to see. “We’re still well below where we were last year, which I think makes the market a little nervous,” Hunter said. But because the report was largely neutral, many traders are waiting to see what hedge funds do, Hunter said. Recent data has shown that speculative buyers have jumped into the market over the last week or so, part of the reason for a two-week rally that has sent oil prices above $72 a barrel for the first time in 10 months. “The record net-long position of the large speculators (are a) potential fly in the ointment that could lead to a major (decline) should recent longs decide the fundamentals cannot support further upside gains,” wrote Addison Armstrong, an analyst at TFS Energy Futures in Stamford, Conn., in a research note. link
so we're just gonna keep doing this over and over again? over-speculating leading to declines in the fall and winter months....and eventually a dramatic decline which will have negative reprecussions in houston? everything you suggest makes sense to me, pgabriel, but i'm certainly no expert. but it has to be the only commodity out there that finds price going up while supplies are going up.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4998537.html Oil Jumped up almost three dollars today, on mixed news. Crude oil jumps more than $2 a barrel Associated Press TOOLS Email Get section feed Print Subscribe NOW Comments Recommend NEW YORK — Oil futures jumped more than $2 a barrel today, pulling gasoline futures higher after the government reported that inventories of crude oil at a key Oklahoma terminal fell last week. Gas prices at the pump, meanwhile, extended their nationwide decline. The report, from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, showed overall increases in gasoline inventories and refinery utilization, and declines in inventories of crude oil, roughly in line with analyst expectations. But traders chose to focus on a 1.4 million barrel decline in oil inventories in and around Cushing, Okla., delivery point for crude traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "The one location in the U.S. that seems to be short of crude oil is Cushing, Okla.," said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup in New York. At the pump, gas prices maintained their downward track overnight, falling 1.1 cents to a national average of $2.945 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices peaked at $3.227 a gallon in late May. Retail prices typically lag the gasoline futures market. Both retail and futures prices spiked higher this spring on concerns refiners were not producing enough gas to meed growing consumer demand. But gas futures have fallen more than 32 cents a gallon over the last two weeks on growing evidence refiners are increasing gasoline production. That trend reversed today, as gasoline futures rose 4.02 cents to settle at $2.0879 a gallon on the Nymex. Gasoline futures were being pulled higher by light, sweet crude for September delivery, which rose $2.32 to settle at $75.88 a barrel after falling immediately after the inventory report was released. "There is a temptation to interpret a decline in inventories as bullish," Evans said. Oil's rise pulled the rest of the energy complex higher. Nymex heating oil futures rose 3.5 cents to settle at $2.0659 a gallon, and natural gas futures added 6.2 cents settle at $5.925 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Close to an all-time high. One guy even says investors are getting comfortable about the idea of $100 per barrel oil. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070727/bs_afp/commoditiesenergyoil_070727200039 Some good news though is that hydrogen cars and technology seems to be progressing faster than many expected as car makers turn their attention to it and GM states it can have a hydrogen fueled cars on the road in as little as 5 years. http://www.moorparkacorn.com/news/2007/0727/Community/012.html
I wasn't really surprised by them stating anything about oil being $100 per barrel just surprised that they feel somebody would be comfortable with that price.
