Unbelievable! Who wants to make a bet that oil will cross the $100/barrel mark in the next 5 years? Our country is committing economic-suicide if we keep going down this path. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=8874485 Oil hits $60 on worries over demand Thu Jun 23, 2005 02:05 PM ET By Richard Valdmanis NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged nearly $2 on Thursday to a record $60 a barrel as dealers worried that continued strong demand growth would strain global production capacity. U.S. crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (CLc1: Quote, Profile, Research) rose $1.91 to $60 a barrel, bringing gains this year to nearly 40 percent. London Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange (LCOc1: Quote, Profile, Research) rose $1.80 to $58.38. "Where this cycle will end, we can all speculate on that, but I would suggest to you it will take a few years to sort out where it'll all end," Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) CEO Lee Raymond told Reuters this week. U.S. government data on Wednesday showed ballooning energy costs had yet to dent demand, underscoring concerns about tight spare oil production and refining capacity. Distillate demand is roughly 7 percent higher than a year ago, adding to concerns that refiners will struggle to build stockpiles ahead of peak demand in the fourth quarter, while gasoline demand is running 2.5 percent higher. "What's really driving the market are longer term concerns," said Helen Henton, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered. "Refinery capacity issues are enough to keep the price high, although maybe not to put it above $60 for long." As refiners worked close to full-throttle to try to meet demand, overall crude stocks eased further from six-year highs touched last month, but were still 8 percent higher than a year ago, the U.S. data showed. Signs that U.S. consumption is holding firm have encouraged many investors to keep betting on gains, though analysts say investment flows are becoming more cautious as the world tries to gauge the impact of record high prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping virtually flat out, but has said repeatedly that it cannot solve the problem of a global lack of refining capacity.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aJIKrbF60dA8&refer=home U.S. Stocks Drop as Oil Hits $60; Transportation Shares Decline June 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped after oil prices climbed to a record $60 a barrel, raising concern that higher energy prices will hurt corporate profits. Transportation companies including FedEx Corp. led the decline. FedEx, the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company, forecast earnings may fall short of analysts' estimates in the next fiscal year. ``Fuel costs are a problem,'' said David Tice, manager of the Prudent Bear Fund, which oversees more than $400 million in the U.S. Virgin Islands. ``Most companies don't have pricing power to continue to pass that through. We believe this market is going to be lower in the next 18 months.'' The Dow Jones Industrial Average had the biggest drop among the three benchmarks as General Electric Co. fell on the company's reorganization plan and profit forecast, while Merck & Co. slid on a report the drugmaker had sought a combination drug to counter risks of its Vioxx treatment. The benchmark fell 101.66, or 1 percent, to 10,486.27 as of 2:06 p.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 7.44, or 0.6 percent, at 1206.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 10.47, or 0.5 percent, to 2081.56. A two-month rally in stocks has stalled this week. The S&P 500 has jumped 6.1 percent from its 2005 low on April 20 and ended last week at a three-month high and a year-to-date increase. Seven stocks declined for every three that advanced on the New York Stock Exchange. Some 947 million shares changed hands on the Big Board, 9.2 percent less than the same time a week ago. $60 Crude oil for August delivery added 1.7 percent to $59.80 a barrel in New York amid speculation U.S. refiners will strain to meet rising diesel and gasoline demand during the second half of the year. Prices touched $60 a barrel, the highest price for a contract closest to expiration since trading began on Nymex in 1983. Crude is up 59 percent in the past year. ``The high price of oil is affecting economic growth,'' said Tim Smalls, head of U.S. trading at Execution LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. It ``is a tremendous factor.'' FedEx slid $6.83, or 7.8 percent, to $81.29 for the worst performance in the S&P 500. The company said 2006 profit will be $5.20 to $5.45 a share, lower than the $5.48 average analyst estimate in a Thomson Financial survey. Soaring oil prices have sent the price of jet fuel up 39 percent this year. The Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 2.9 percent, its biggest drop in two months. United Parcel Services Inc., FedEx's larger rival, fell $1.55 to $68.68. Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 U.S. carrier, slid 15 cents to $3.96. GE, Merck GE slipped 60 cents to $34.90. The No. 2 company by market value announced a plan to consolidate its 11 businesses into six groups. The restructuring, which includes the naming of three vice chairmen, is the broadest since Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt took control in September 2001. GE also forecast profit for the year of $1.78 to $1.83 a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected, on average, $1.82. Merck, the third-largest U.S. drugmaker, lost 49 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $31.49. Merck researchers sought to patent a combination drug to mix pain relief medication Vioxx with another chemical to decrease cardiovascular problems, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an internal Merck document.
Great. $50 everytime at the pumps. In addition to the heating cost for those of us who live up north now. My wallet is getting a kick in the balls.
Ok liberals, you've dug your own grave here. Either allow refineries to be built in this country or we'll have to suffer this pain of high oil prices. Your choice. The last refinery was built over 30 years ago in the US. America can thank the tree huggers for a large part of the high prices. Saudi can pump us all the oil they want, but we don't have the capacity to refine it.
That's why I moved in town and take the train to work. I've spent about $300 on gas so far this year. Yee hah! Only thing that would have made that even better is if I diversified more in oil stocks too.
Yep it's those tree hugging liberals driving all those 12 MPg Hummers and dualies. I do find a sense of dissonance that even as the American President is making speeches about holding down gasoline prices almost every auto commercial run in this country emphasizes horsepower and speed over mileage. At what point of pain do we finally realize that innovations must be made in our country's energy usage. Jimmy Carter told us that energy conservation was the moral equilvalent of war in 1980. If congress had started enforcing realistic mileage requirements for auto starting back then we might be averaging 60 mpg by now.
Of course it has nothing to do with the slashing of emissions controls and no attempts at conservation since Carter was President...ain't that right T. Boone?
Texx I don't doubt that a man with a wife worth $500 Million bucks probably has some gas guzzlers, but your picture is a Secret Service vehicle. My point is Americans have no right to b**** about gas prices since we have done absolutely nothing to help ourselves be more efficient. We all drool over a 350 HP, 160 MPH Sedan when we will never need 350 HP and have no place to go 160 MPH. We never drool over a sensible car than gets 40 MPG and won't until it is the only car anyone can afford to drive. I am the world's biggest advocate for the freedom of having individual transportation but why are we so stupid about it?
It is like one person said the other day in a news report, oil companies and investors are going to keep finding ways to keep raising prices, they can always find something.
