Katrina May Spark $100 Oil (Bloomberg)

[doxieone]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aVwIS5Giw0JM&refer=us

Katrina's Gulf of Mexico Wreckage May Spark $100 Oil (Update2)

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- As Hurricane Katrina slammed through the Gulf of Mexico, energy companies evacuated offshore workers and shut about 91 percent of the region's oil production, or 1.37 million barrels daily.

``There isn't the global spare capacity out there to replace this loss if it continues for a prolonged period,'' says Bart Melek, a senior economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Toronto. ``Already the market is tight as a drum, and if anything else happens, say instability in the Middle East, I wouldn't preclude $100 oil at all.''


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[Demeter]

1. Enough Already!

$100/bbl oil would be simple price gouging, profiteering, speculation, and justifiable homocide would follow.

There won't be $100/bbl oil because no one can afford it. Period.

[durablend]

3. Still enough "oil" around

While things can change drastically if the winter turns sharply frigid, currently there's enough crude oil (US is +30M/BBL above last year), it's the gasoline supply and other refined products which are the issue right now.

[Earth_First]

2. Speculation fear is driving these prices...

"analysts" say. Meanwhile the * Cartel make off like bandits.

:eyes: