oil futures thru november 2009...

[phantom power]

Oil futures contracts through November 2009 are now trading above $70 a barrel, indicating traders believe high prices could be here to stay.

(...)

In its weekly report, the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday that the nation's supply of gasoline shrank by a larger-than-expected 5.4 million barrels last week to 202.5 million barrels. The decline, the seventh in as many weeks, pushed gasoline stocks to 4.6 percent below year-ago levels, their lowest level since November.

(...)

The U.S. Energy Department report also showed that crude oil stocks fell by 800,000 barrels last week to 345.2 million barrels, while distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 2.8 million barrels.

(...)

Gasoline futures declined 5.94 cents to $2.18 a gallon midday Thursday while heating oil prices fell 2.43 cents to $2.0380 a gallon. Natural gas prices fell more than 17 cents to $8.02 per 1,000 cubic feet, after the U.S.
Department of Energy said natural gas storage rose to 1.761 trillion cubic feet, more than 60 percent above the five-year average.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060420/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices_68

[Warpy]

1. I told the oil guys who said prices would go back to $40/bbl

that they were dreaming back in February and I told them WHY.

I guess it sank in.

[megatherium]

2. oil imports have dropped since February, according to

Jeffrey J. Brown, writing for the Energy Bulletin: http://www.energybulletin.net/15126.html

He claims this is the real reason oil prices have gone up, demand has forced oil importers to bid more.

on edit: typo

[Delphinus]

3. Do you really mean 2009?????

That's three years from now! I'm not a futures trader or a stock market person at all, so it's possible you do mean three years in the future ...

[phantom power]

4. That's what they said. Of course...

they repeatedly trade these futures, so those same futures might trade lower a month from now. It does not imply an actual committment to pay that much for the next three years.

However, it does imply that these people believe the prices will remain at their current level for the next three years. Today. Tomorrow, who knows what they'll believe :-)

[Dogmudgeon]

5. They peaked over $105/bbl last winter

I heard it on NPR (WXPN in Philly picks up the feed).

I don't have the charts tracking the price, though, and I don't remember which traders set the price.

Any finance wonks want to check this out?

--p!