Oil hits record $74 on Iran, US gasoline stocks

[robertpaulsen]

Oil hits record $74 on Iran, US gasoline stocks
Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:50 PM ET

By Simon Webb

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil hit a record $74 a barrel Wednesday on fears Iran's intensifying dispute with the West may hit oil supplies and after U.S. gasoline stocks dropped.

London's Brent crude settled $1.22 higher at $73.73 a barrel after peaking at a record $74.

U.S. gasoline stocks slumped more than 5 million barrels last week, government data released Wednesday showed. It was a larger fall than analysts polled by Reuters expected, and supplies are now nearly 5 percent below last year's level.

"The EIA (inventory) data are bullish in light of expectations," said Kyle Cooper, analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston. "There is nothing in this report that can put a damper on the current rally."

more...

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-04-19T195141Z_01_SP70089_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-MARKETS-OIL-DC.XML

[cornermouse]

1. Price went up 20 cents a gallon overnight here.

You think people aren't mad when they fill up? I see a lot of new democrats in the future.

[phantom power]

2. WooHooo! Go $75! Go $75!

:woohoo:

[sarcasmo]

3. $2.87 here in West Michigan. When will the Hummer drivers feel the burn.

$4.00? $5.00?

[jayfish]

6. I Filled Up Yesterday And It Sucked.

I saw gas in Jenison for $2.71 and figured I'd fill-up when I got home. By the time I got there it was $2.85. :mad:

Jay

[sarcasmo]

21. Jenison here too, jayfish. I thought I was the only one in this

Religious whack job town with a D/U bumper sticker.

[jayfish]

23. There Are A Few Of Us...

of us around. I only work in Jenison though. ...thank deity. Keep an eye out for my DU sticker. It's on a big green Chrysler. Speaking of bumper stickers, I'm still waiting for my new one to arrive from the last fund drive. The one I'm sporting now is almost 2 years old and it's nasty.

Well Met,

Jay

[sarcasmo]

29. Mine is a bit old too on a black chevy aveo that gets a sweet

33mpg. I go to get my son in the D and get all the way back to Portland on a tank full.

[mtnester]

4. Gas went up here in one hour 44 cents a gallon

$3.06 southeast exurbs and suburbs of central Ohio

[sarcasmo]

22. Are the bushbots chanting long live the Decider?

[Ezlivin]

5. If people peeked at the Peak Oil phenom their curiosity would be piqued

Peak oil theory states: that any finite resource, (including oil), will have a beginning, middle, and an end of production, and at some point it will reach a level of maximum output as seen in the graph to the left.

Oil production typically follows a bell shaped curve when charted on a graph, with the peak of production occurring when approximately half of the oil has been extracted. With some exceptions, this holds true for a single well, a whole field, an entire region, and presumably the world. The underlying reasons are many and beyond the scope of this primer, suffice to say that oil becomes more difficult and expensive to extract as a field ages past the mid-point of its life.

In the US for example, oil production grew steadily until 1970 and declined thereafter, regardless of market price or improved technologies.

In 1956 M. King Hubbert, a geologist for Shell Oil, predicted the peaking of US Oil production would occur in the late 1960's.

Although derided by most in the industry he was correct. He was the first to assert that oil discovery, and therefore production, would follow a bell shaped curve over its life. After his success in forecasting the US peak, this analysis became known as the Hubbert's Peak.

The amount of oil discovered in the US has dropped since the late 1930s.
40 years later, US oil production had peaked, and has fallen ever since.

World discovery of oil peaked in the 1960s, and has declined since then. If the 40 year cycle seen in the US holds true for world oil production, that puts global peak oil production, right about now; after which oil becomes less available, and more expensive.

Today we consume around 4 times as much oil as we discover.

If we apply Hubbert's Peak to world oil production we estimate that approximately half of all oil that will be recovered, has been recovered, and oil production may reach a peak in the near future, or perhaps already has.

For more details visit The Oil Drum

[robertpaulsen]

8. US News & World Report seems to be saying Peak Oil is here.

Of course, they don't come right out and shout "WE'VE HIT PEAK OIL!" But check out the third paragraph in this article:

The Oil Rush
How high-tech prospectors are trying to squeeze fuel--and fat profits--out of the earth while transforming the petroleum market

By Marianne Lavelle

4/24/06

Much as the storied forty-niners trekked west in their covered wagons to seek a golden future, today a small army of workers boards a fleet of jets each week in Edmonton, Canada, and ventures north into a frozen frontier rich with promise. These latter-day pioneers don't have campfires, but they do have camps--comfortable dormitories with Internet kiosks, catered steak dinners, fitness centers, and satellite TV in every room. The creature comforts come courtesy of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., one of a dozen companies that have descended upon the wilds of Alberta. The company is spending a fortune to build an enormous workforce in the far north, but it's a pittance compared with the profit it expects to pull out of the frozen ground. As long as the high price of oil continues to fatten corporate coffers, the rush will be on for a black gold called oil sands.

The Canadian sands yield fossil fuels nearly identical to those hidden below the drifting sands of the Middle East. But this mother lode lies in a unique geological formation just 500 miles north of the U.S. border, and it won't surrender its treasure without a lot of labor, vast amounts of energy, and oceans of water. It costs more to wrest a barrel of oil from the ground here than virtually anywhere else in the world.

What's happening in Canada today may be just the start of a new chapter in the world's long love affair with oil. Global demand, particularly in China and India, is outstripping supply--an imbalance that has been painfully evident as pump prices climb toward $3 a gallon (box, Page 50). Even the optimists agree that the era of "easy oil" is over. Political risk hovers over most conventional reserves, held by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (including trouble spots like Nigeria and Venezuela) and Russia. So the United States is turning to new possibilities--the largely untapped resource of "unconventional oil" in North America.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/060424/24oil.htm

BTW, Oil Drum is great, as is energybulletin.net, lifeaftertheoilcrash.net, and our own Peak Oil Forum here at DU.

[NickB79]

27. Alberta is becoming semi-desert

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x50730

Apparently the 20th century was an abberation in precipitation for Alberta.

Without a constant water supply to aid in the seperation of the oil from the sands, you can't extract it. I have little hope for the Alberta oil sands.

[TheFarseer]

18. no you're wrong, Rush Limbaugh says

when there is a demand, there will be a supply (this doesn't work with drugs or illegal aliens though). If prices are high enough, they will get more oil and 'supply' us with it. So you see, the oil companies would find more oil, except at these low prices, it's not really worth their while. So oil needs to get higher to motivate them to find more oil. Then oil will be cheap again as soon as the price gets high enough - understand???

[CountAllVotes]

7. $3.25 all over now

Northern California ... of course.

:kick:

[earthmama]

9. Funny though, my Brother-in-law brags

about how much he pays for gas each week ( dodge ram). I think he thinks he is 'better' and 'important' cause he spends that much ... over 100$ a week to go to work.

2.84 here in charlotte, nc ,that was last night. Who knows what it is today.

We have a trip to MI coming up in June. Might have to re-think that.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. He pays a $100 so some guy can pay $10,000 to fill his yacht.

Brilliant.

[earthmama]

17. Brillant indeed

he is a very*smart* man who votes repuke.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Take him yacht shopping.

:think:

[DemoTex]

31. Yacht shopping

That's the ticket.

[caligirl]

10. "One Brooklyn gas station is already charging $4 a gallon as a result."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CNBC/Dispatch/060419markets.aspx

[Earth_First]

11. *sigh*

I remember when I heard speculation of $80-100/barrel and remember thinking how obsurd the idea seemed. $80 is right around the corner...

[VegasWolf]

12. Hey Bush!! U da man! Not! nt

[BluePatriot]

14. Good lord.

I knew I should have got gas on the way home tonight...because in the AM it will be up 15-20 cents...

[lovuian]

15. This is just the beginning.......

wait till there is no gas at some pumps...

[earthmama]

16. scares the shit out of me

I am trying everything I can to be a little less dependant of gas and stuff. trying to find a place to rent so I can grow some of my own food.

[Blue_Tires]

20. that jagg-off from exxon-mobil and his ilk are laughing

all the way to the bank!

[Boxturtle]

24. Just think, hurricane

season is only 2 months off. I wonder how much oil will be going for after the first hurricane goes through the gulf coast?

[Veronica.Franco]

25. oil is tanking our economy ...

The prices of both oil and gold continue to rise; the former is now trading at nominal all-time highs, while the latter has been hitting new quarter-century highs day after day. This is excess liquidity coming home to roost. While the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to mollify foreign central banks, it’s made it clear that any weakness in either the stock market or the economy will be met with massive infusions of liquidity, and dollar-denominated debt will be inflated away. The world is waking up to this, which is why oil and gold march inexorably higher and the long bond is tanking.

http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/

[BigDDem]

26. Bush needs to get on the phone

and "jawbone" OPEC, that's all it takes!

[speedingbullet]

28. Riding my Bike

I've have been riding a bike to work whenever possible. This savings is offset by my wife's 35 mile commute. Glad she is not driving a SUV.

[rman]

30. Nimex: 73.20 (16:05)

a new record i think