Oil Near $79 a Barrel; Pump Prices Ticking Up

[steven johnson]

Source: Associated Press

Energy prices flattened Tuesday with a majority of futures traders taking the holiday week off, though a stronger dollar helped keep a barrel of oil below $79.

Benchmark crude for February delivery added a penny to $78.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for February delivery increased 25 cents to $77.57 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

A rise in the dollar versus other currencies tends to push oil prices lower. Crude barrels are priced in dollars, and investors holding foreign money can't buy as much when the dollar rises.

Retail gas prices increased for the fourth straight day, the first time it's done that since October. The national average climbed a half penny overnight to a new national average of $2.608, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.





Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9438930

[AndyA]

1. And still no investigation into price gouging in 2008, leading up to the recession.

Gas prices contributed much more than most people think they did to the recession. And what has been done about it? Those obscene oil company profits when most other companies were hurting certainly stand out from the norm.

[fascisthunter]

2. yeah... seems this government has swept that one under the rug too

I knew this shit would happen.

[proudohioan]

3. I watched my local gas prices go from $2.53 about a week and a half ago

to $2.67 on Sunday. WTF?????? Silly me, I just figured it was a way for the oil companies to gouge the holiday travelers.....

[Lindsay]

5. The magic

of the free market.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Gas Prices went up 16 cents a gallon

from Monday night to Tuesday morning in South Mississippi.

[Lugnut]

6. I just filled up.

It was $2.699 for regular.

[WriteDown]

7. I filled up this morning....

2.39 per gallon.

[jonathan_seer]

8. Oil prices are now determined the same way the price of gold is

It's all speculation.

It's used as "chips" in the giant financial gambling pit known as the world economic oil market.

This change is recent, as recent as just before the rapid rise to 4.50/gallon gas a couple of years ago.

The government was allowed to NOT see it thanks in large part to the Left, who was all to eager to say this was proof that peak oil is here, and also eager to say we deserve to suffer.

That is until it sunk in that it was NOT due to peak oil.

It was due to the need of large financial institutions to find/create something that could produce quick returns on their money.

Oil happened to be their choice. It seemed the ideal choice, for no matter how much we might complain the world will always need oil in the lifetimes of the men who decided to rip oil pricing out of the hands of the major users and put it into the hands of financial gambling institutions like Goldman and the banks.

If you want to fix the problem it's easy. Return the market to the structure that precluded pure speculation by NON-oil using entities like hedge funds, banks Etc.

As much as we might loathe them, big oil companies did a fantastic job of ensuring the price of gasoline reflected the actual price of producing it.

Banks have no such desire. Their desire is to rachet up the price to maximize quick profits. One bank trader was rewarded with a 100 million dollar payout for the success he had in running up the prices.

Sure using oil is not wise. We should cut back Etc., but as long as we're using it we should ensure the price is honest, and not a source of massive gambling profits for non-energy companies as it has become today.

I mean do we really want to trust the price abuse of Goldman Sachs to reduce our use of oil, considering that the ones hurt most are those least able to afford it and the worst times. The working poor lose jobs they can't afford to drive to Etc.