Oil Drops

Wishful thinking..
"Crude oil, meanwhile, closed at a new high of $143.57 a barrel in New York, up $2.60 from Tuesday, and hit $144.19 a barrel in electronic trading late in the day. Crude is up nearly 50% this year."
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...02markets.aspx

[imported_elp6n]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Spuds</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wishful thinking..
"Crude oil, meanwhile, closed at a new high of $143.57 a barrel in New York, up $2.60 from Tuesday, and hit $144.19 a barrel in electronic trading late in the day. Crude is up nearly 50% this year."
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...02markets.aspx

</div></div>
The article listed from above is from July 2.

This one is from today, July 22:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Oil prices tumble to settle at $127 a barrel
Storm is not expected to disrupt operations in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil prices tumbled more than $3 a barrel Tuesday as Tropical Storm Dolly grew increasingly unlikely to threaten supply, knocking out one more reason traders had to prop up prices.

The sell-off was a throwback to last week's sharp declines, and dragged crude to its lowest level since early June. A stronger dollar helped keep prices in check.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $3.09 to settle at $127.95 a barrel in its last trading day on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier the contract, which will be replaced by September crude Wednesday, dropped as low as $125.63. It was crude's fourth decline in the last five sessions.

In London, September Brent fell $2.27 to settle at $129.55 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

An interim report released Tuesday by a federal task force set up to examine the sharp run-up in oil prices said that fundamental supply-and-demand factors are most likely to blame.

A number of lawmakers and other critics have blamed the historic rise in prices on speculators that they say are manipulating prices.

The Interagency Task Force on Commodity Markets, chaired by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was formed last month to examine investment practices and fundamental market factors.

The drop in prices Tuesday offered further evidence that investors who only a week and a half ago drove prices to a new high above $147 a barrel are now quickly pulling money out of the market. It was also a reminder that the lack of major news can push the market down in the same way that incremental supply concerns previously pushed prices sharply higher.

"This is more of the long exit from the market by the hedge funds," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "A lot of these investors who have been supporting prices are hitting the road."

There are also new indications that high oil prices are killing off demand, especially in the U.S., the world's largest oil consumer.

In its weekly pump spending survey, MasterCard found U.S. gasoline demand dropped last week for the thirteenth week in a row. Demand fell 3.3 percent compared with the same week a year earlier, according to the survey. Since the start of 2008, gasoline demand is down 2.2 percent.

At the same time, three more airlines posted hefty quarterly losses "? including a $2.3 billion charge by No. 2 carrier United "? primarily because of rising fuel costs.

Oil prices rose Monday as Tropical Storm Dolly bore down on oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico, but that did little to dent the steep declines left over from last week's sell-off.

"Most people I knew were looking for a stronger price rally," Ritterbusch said. "When we can't muster up much steam," he added, large investors dump bets that prices will rise because they sense there is little support for sustained gains.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) Tuesday, the center of Tropical Storm Dolly was located over the Gulf about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Brownsville. It was moving west-northwest at about 12 mph (20 kph), putting it on course to miss major U.S. oil and gas platforms.

"Unless new projections put the storm on a more northerly track, it is unlikely to have a bullish impact on oil and natural gas prices," Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy, said in a research note.

Oil prices came under added pressure from a stronger dollar. The currency rose sharply against the euro after Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and a voting member of the Fed's Open Market Committee, said the central bank will probably need to boost interest rates "sooner rather than later."

The dollar's decline has been a major factor in oil's ascent, as investors bought dollar-denominated crude contracts as a hedge against inflation and a weakening greenback. When the dollar strengthens, such currency-related buying often unwinds.

Other energy commodities followed crude sharply lower.

Natural gas fell below $10 per 1,000 cubic feet for the first time since April. Prices for the power generation and cooking fuel dropped to $10.032 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 47.8 cents. Earlier, prices dipped as low as $9.889.

Natural gas has plummeted since early July, when it reached its highest point in more than two years following a sharp run-up fueled by expectations of strong summer demand.

"We're not getting a real hot summer as some had forecast," reducing the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning, Ritterbusch said. "Natural gas had a much larger rally than crude this year. Now we're seeing a much larger decline."

In other Nymex trading, heating oil sank 6.97 cents to settle at $3.6782 per gallon, while gasoline futures tumbled 7.01 cents to settle at $3.147 per gallon.

[ms pemberley]

Wouldn't it be nice to pay $3.147 per gallon at the pumps again? Never thought that would sound like a bargain, but it does right now.

[imported_elp6n]

I was actually happy to find gas at $3.75 this weekend. Sad, but true.

[neutral88]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Spuds</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wishful thinking..
"Crude oil, meanwhile, closed at a new high of $143.57 a barrel in New York, up $2.60 from Tuesday, and hit $144.19 a barrel in electronic trading late in the day. Crude is up nearly 50% this year."
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...02markets.aspx

</div></div>


You just dismissed yourself from any political arguement you get in on here....And lord knows there are plenty of them...

Didn't check the date, you got me. I wondered about the sudden "about face."

[neutral88]

I thought you were some kind of up-to-date politician??? That is all that has been on the news for over a week...

[imported_elp6n]

Oil hits 7-week low on demand worries, dollar gain
By STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Business Writer
4 HOURS AGO
NEW YORK - Oil prices tumbled more than $2 a barrel Tuesday, finishing at their lowest level in seven weeks as a stronger dollar and beliefs that record prices are eroding the world's thirst for energy sparked another dramatic sell-off.

The drop _ which surpassed $4 a barrel at one point during the day _ was a throwback to oil's nosedive over the past two weeks and outweighed supply concerns touched off by a militant attack Monday on two Nigerian crude pipelines. It was oil's seventh decline in the last 10 sessions.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $2.54 to settle at $122.19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest settlement price for a front-month contract since June 10. Earlier, prices fell to $120.42, also the lowest level since June 10. Oil has now fallen more than $25 from its trading high of $147.27, reached July 11.

More concerns that crude's run-up over the past year has pushed prices to unsustainable levels fed Tuesday's decline. The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday that U.S. drivers logged 9.6 billion fewer vehicle miles in May _ or 3.7 percent _ compared to the same period last year, the biggest drop ever for the historically busy summer driving month.

And demand for oil in the U.S. _ the world's thirstiest consumer _ continues to fall, dropping by 891,000 barrels per day in May compared the same month a year ago, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Monday.

"We're seeing both statistical and anecdotal evidence of a very rapidly weakening demand picture," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

The declines accelerated after oil briefly dipped below $122, a key resistance level that triggered technical selling by computers programmed to dump oil contracts once prices fall under a certain threshold.

"Once we break through $120, we could easily slide through to $100," said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN in Omaha.

Also weighing on prices was a sharply stronger dollar compared to the euro, which made commodities less attractive to investors who have bought oil futures as a hedge against inflation and weakness in the U.S. currency.

The euro bought $1.5584 compared with $1.5752 late Monday in New York.

"It looks like oil is selling off today with the very, very strong dollar and nothing to drive it higher. Quiet seems to be bearish these days," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.

In another sign that high prices are curbing Americans' consumption for fuel, retail gas prices fell further below the $4-a-gallon mark. The average price of a regular gas fell 1.7 cents to $3.941, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Prices Information Service and Wright Express.

Monday's attack in Nigeria targeted two pipelines believed to be owned by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and was the latest in a two-year campaign of attacks on the country's oil industry. Shell said a pipeline had been damaged in attacks and that some crude production had been shut down to prevent the oil from spilling into the environment.

The oil company said Tuesday it may not be able to fulfill some oil-export contracts because of the damage. Shell didn't specify how much oil production was cut by the attack or how long repairs would take.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it is acting to force the Nigerian federal government to send more oil industry funds to the southern region, which produces all of Nigeria's crude oil but remains impoverished after decades of corrupt and wasteful governance.

Analysts at JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria, estimated the repeated attacks on country's oil installations, Nigeria's output had fallen to just below 1.9 million barrels a day from more than 2.4 million barrels a day in 2005.

Oil market analysts are awaiting U.S. data later in the week for indications of how the world's largest economy could be expected to perform in coming months. Figures for gross domestic product for the second quarter will be released Thursday, while July auto sales and the July employment report are both due Friday.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 8.98 cents to settle at $3.4722 a gallon while gasoline prices fell 6.23 cents to settle at $3.0077 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 5.4 cents to settle at $9.217 per 1,000 cubic feet after trading lower most of the day.

In London, September Brent crude lost $3.07 to $122.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

[imported_elp6n]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/31/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Exxon posts new profit record
World's largest publicly traded oil firm makes $11.68 billion in the quarter, but misses forecasts.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.

That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second.

That barely beat the previous corporate record of $11.66 billion, also set by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2007.

But Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) profit fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Analysts predicted the company, the world's largest publicly traded oil firm, would make $12.1 billion in profit on $144.4 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Exxon shares fell about 2% in pre-market trading.

Exxon was both helped and hurt by high oil prices. As an oil producer, the company makes a lot of money when crude prices rise. But as a refiner, it must also buy crude oil to turn into gasoline. Exxon is a net buyer of crude.

"Record crude oil and natural gas realizations were partly offset by lower refining and chemical margins, lower production volumes and higher operating costs," Exxon said in a statement.

Oil prices in the quarter were nearly twice as high as the same time last year, while gasoline prices were an average of nearly 30% higher.

Exxon spent $7 billion in the second quarter finding and producing more new oil, up 38% from last year. Still, oil and natural gas production from the company fell 8%. Even excluding special events like a labor strike in Nigeria and seizure of fields in Venezuela, production slipped 3%.

The company returned $10.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, 12% more than last year.

The big international oil companies have been criticized for plowing much of their profits back into stock buybacks and other programs to benefit shareholders, as opposed to exploring for more oil which could bring down the price of crude for everyone.

Critics charge the oil companies with deliberately restricting production in an attempt to keep prices high.

The industry says it's investing as much as it can in finding new oil, but is having a hard time given the shortage of workers and equipment in the sector.

Recent efforts by countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan to gain greater control of their own domestic oil resources have also hampered the ability of international oil companies to increase production.

With Americans paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas, oil company earnings have been political fodder of late.

Several bills have been introduced in Congress to enact a 'windfall' profits tax on these earnings, or at the very least eliminate manufacturing tax exemption oil companies now enjoy. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama wants to tax oil companies at a special rate every time crude goes over $80 a barrel.

Most plans would either use this newfound tax money to fund investments in renewable energy, or give it to low income Americans struggling with high energy prices.

But so far those efforts have been blocked - mainly by Republicans - who say raising taxes on oil companies will only discourage investments in finding new oil and raise the price of crude.

[imported_elp6n]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Oil prices fall on expectations of slack demand
Traders think downturn will erode consumer demand for crude products

Oil prices sank as low as $118 a barrel Tuesday on the growing belief that a U.S. economic slowdown and high energy costs are curbing consumer demand for gasoline and other petroleum products.

Crude's decline is giving Americans more relief at the pump. A gallon of regular gasoline on average fell another penny overnight to $3.871, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Gas prices have fallen four straight weeks for the first time since December; prices are off 5.9 percent from their July high as U.S. motorists cut back on their driving to save money.

And natural gas prices rebounded somewhat after Monday's steep drop.

A day after plunging as much as $5 a barrel in a dramatic sell-off, crude continued its downward trend Tuesday as traders sold oil contracts on the belief that prices are still too high in relation to demand and have further room to fall.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost $1.27 to trade at $120.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier falling to $118, the lowest level since May 5.

Crude has now fallen more than $25 since reaching a trading high of $147.27 on July 11.

"The market psychology has finally shifted," said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa., adding that "$4-a-gallon gasoline has clearly killed demand."

Still, some analysts say oil has the potential to jump back up.

After hitting $118 a barrel, some buyers returned to the market "? "That shows me there's still some inherent strength in there," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president of energy and risk management at MF Global LLC.

And there are many factors that could keep oil from descending further, he said, including political tensions in Nigeria and the Middle East, the potential for a big hurricane along the Gulf Coast, and global demand that is still growing "? just not at the same pace that it had been.

"Even if it seems as though China's economic demand run has slowed some, those changes at the margins still make them a huge consumer of crude products," Fitzpatrick said.

On Monday, the Commerce Department said consumer spending after adjusting for inflation fell 0.2 percent in June "? the biggest drop since February "? as shoppers dealt with higher prices for gasoline, food and other items.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Edouard did not severely disrupt oil and natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico. Valero, for one, said its refineries in the region were operating at slightly reduced rates due to rain and high winds, but that they do not expect production to be materially affected.

The dollar's gains against the euro also contributed to oil's decline Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.5467 from the $1.5587 it bought late in New York trading Monday, making oil and other commodities less attractive to investors seeking a hedge against inflation and dollar weakness.

Meanwhile, natural gas futures rose 11.4 cents to $8.84 per 1,000 cubic feet. On Monday, natural gas plunged 66.3 cents, or 7 percent, to $8.726 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest level in nearly six months. Prices have closed lower in eight of the last 11 sessions and dropped 36 percent from the contract's all-time trading high of $13.752, reached July 2.

The pullback is double the size of crude's recent slide. That has fed speculation on Wall Street that a large hedge fund or something like it may be near collapse and has dumped a vast amount of natural gas contracts to free up cash. Last month, SemGroup LP, based in Tulsa, Okla., folded after losing $2.4 billion in bad bets on oil futures. SemGroup's collapse came amid a massive sell off in the oil market.

"Anytime you get that kind of violent price action in a short amount of time, it reeks of someone big being in trouble," Schork said.

Meanwhile, investors ignored continued tension over Iran's nuclear program. Representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed Monday to seek new sanctions against Iran after the country failed to meet a weekend deadline to respond to an offer intended to defuse the dispute, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

Also Monday, Iran announced that it has tested a new weapon capable of sinking ships nearly 200 miles away, and Tehran reiterated threats to close a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Gulf if attacked. Up to 40 percent of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage along Iran's southern coast, and any move by Iran to close it to tanker traffic would send oil prices skyrocketing.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.22 cents to $3.3279 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 2.68 cents to $2.9734 a gallon. Brent crude futures on London's ICE futures exchange fell $1.80 to $118.88 a barrel.