Crude Oil Jumps to 13-Year High on Falling Gasoline Supplies

[NNN0LHI]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aueE9Noc.dtA&refer=home

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures closed above $38 a barrel for the first time since the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, after the U.S. Energy Department reported a decline in nationwide gasoline inventories.

The 800,000 barrel drop last week left gasoline supplies at 199.6 million barrels, the lowest since November, while demand of 9 million barrels a day was the highest so far this year. Supplies fell as refineries unexpectedly cut their processing rates at a time when they usually build motor-fuel reserves for the peak-use summer months.

``Demand just keeps growing in spite of high prices,'' said Phil Flynn, senior energy trader for Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. ``This is setting us up for a very bad summer driving season.''

Crude oil for April delivery rose 70 cents, or 1.9 percent, to settle at $38.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since Oct. 16, 1990, when Iraqi troops were occupying Kuwait.

more

[lastknowngood]

1. Don't bring up Peak Oil that's a "conspiracy theory"

n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

3. it's "doomsday"

[phantom power]

6. you sound very sure of yourself...

Do you believe the supply of oil is infinite?

[kalian]

7. Was that a sarcastic remark...?

:shrug:

If not, where is your evidence/facts that state that peak oil is a
"conspiracy theory"...

[UpInArms]

2. "I'm gonna pick up whar ma daddy lef' off"

GWB on the campaign trail - 2000

well lookie here folks - we're where his daddy left off

:nuke:

[jpak]

4. How high does it have to go before it hurts?

At some point price will influence demand.

What's the breaking point?

$2 a gallon gas?

$3 a gallon gas?

[Career Prole]

8. It's already there for me.

And I'm only paying $1.52/gal.
Cheap SOB, ain't I? :eyes:

[ClintonTyree]

5. I'm sure there will be..............

another Congressional investigation (as there always is) but surprise........they'll find NO evidence of wrong doing!!

"Supplies fell as refineries unexpectedly cut their processing rates at a time when they usually build motor-fuel reserves for the peak-use summer months".

Golleeeeeeeeeee!! Cutting distillation right before peak driving season. There's nothing unusual going on here, is there? The Bush regime is laughing all the way to the bank. All of these scum are chin deep in the black goo. They're having an orgasm fleecing the people of this country.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Latest FTW article on Saudi Arabian production posted today

A Tale of Two Planets

A Report on the Conference
“Future of Global Oil Supply: Saudi Arabia"
Held at CSIS, Washington DC, February 24th 2004


]March 17, 2004 1800 PST ( FTW ) -- The new millennium has not exactly been one of ‘irrational exuberance' for many industries, and particularly not for the oil industry, despite high oil prices. Major oil discoveries have declined every year so that 2003 saw no new field over 500 million barrels, and in 2001 and 2002 the top ten non-state oil companies spent more on exploration than they discovered in value, a new and alarming record. It is well over twenty years since more oil was found than consumed in a year. From the outset of 2004, large reserve write-downs, starting with Shell, and including El Paso and BP, have shaken the confidence of the financial community, set in motion an official SEC enquiry, and may yet be just the tip of the iceberg.

Comforting then to know that the Middle East, producer of last resort and future saviour of the world oil system, still has nearly 700 billion barrels of reserves, and is publicly confident that it can deliver the required doubling of output to 40 million barrels a day by 2025. Even more reassuring, Saudi Arabia says it can happily deliver 10 million barrels a day for at least the next fifty years, possibly even rising to 15 million barrels a day – and still for fifty years. This output can be guaranteed because Saudi ‘oil in place' will rise to 900 billion barrels by 2025, while new technology will help existing recovery and lead to many new discoveries. This was the message from Saudi Aramco, delivered on February 24 th, at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies), a well-known think-tank in Washington DC, to an audience of diplomats, CIA, EIA (Energy Administration Agency, part of the US Department of Energy), media of record, and many energy companies and analysts of every stripe.

The trouble is that the Saudi Aramco presentations of Mahmoud Abdul-Baqi, Vice President of Exploration, and Nansen Saleri, Manager of Reservoir Management, seemed to be describing not just another country, but another planet when compared with what Matt Simmons, President of Simmons and Co (the world's largest private energy investment banker) had to say. Industry observers noted that Aramco had never before said so much about their reserves and how they hold production steady in their ageing oil fields, but much of the Aramco presentation concentrated on the benefits of new technology, especially in their medium-sized fields, and the possibilities of future discoveries, without noting that well productivity had fallen by more than half since the early 1970s. More than half of Saudi Arabia's oil comes from one giant field, Ghawar, the largest ever discovered, and the health of this field is now in serious doubt, after decades of water injection to maintain pressure.

Simmons' case rests on the painstaking analysis of two hundred SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) reports written over four decades by Saudi petroleum reservoir engineers, as well as a fact-finding mission in 2003, and ten years of other detailed studies of oil and gas depletion. He has been publicly hinting for more than a year that assumptions about Saudi Arabia's seemingly limitless capacity may be misplaced, but now, ahead of the publication of his forthcoming book on Saudi oil, the hints have been replaced by copious data and a dire warning.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031704_two_planets.html

[cliss]

15. Thanks JC, for the article.

From the Wilderness website is a very good one; it's packed with interesting articles.

I have a strong suspicion that worldwide oil supplies are not infinite. All the signs point to the fact that while our demand for oil keeps going up, the supply at some point will start going down.

Consider also China, the new kid on the block. They've just started to get a thirst for petroleum. I've read their energy requirements are going to be staggering over the next decade. Too bad they won't see much of it.

And that's the reason why we marched into Iraq. To keep them from getting their claws on it.

[rfkrocks]

10. pay no attention to this inflationary news folks-look right this way for

The Laci Petersen trial and look at janet jackson's breast there isn't it horrible-

[saigon68]

17. Right-- Nothing to see here move along

Hey Elvis what are you doing here ? and Jimmy, how are your teamsters doing in their new contract talks ?

[JPace]

11. Oil and Energy companies have the best of friends in

the AWOL regime. They can do anything,
charge anything, and the government will
look the other way.

[tabasco]

18. They're talking about drilling ANWR again.

The bastards just won't give up in the quest for one more dollar. Until the criminal cabal is ousted it will be an orgy of destruction as the robber barons pilfer as much as possible. I almost pity Kerry if he gets elected. He will be the leader of a devastated Nation.

[dand]

12. How about a boycott of Exxon-Mobile

If we all stopped feeding these greedy bastards we might get their attention.

[jackstraw45]

13. I thought Bush* was going to "open the spigot"

Hmm..strange how the media froths over whether Kerry said "More leaders" or "foreign leaders" but can't report the DAILY lies of the boy king....

[ZR2]

24. He did open the spigot

The money spigot that is filling the pockets of the oil companies. You did notice that he did not expressly state which spigot he was going to open.

[osaMABUSh]

14. Technically I know nothing about peak oil but common sense

says you keep using something eventually it'll run out. I mean, how long did it take to make oil - millions of years? OK, so in a couple of decades we ain't making any new oil.

The math is quite simple - take the known reserves that can be economically tapped divide the average annual rate of usage over the next couple of decades = how many years of oil left.

[ze_dscherman]

16. kick

Time for even bigger profits among oil companies.

On edit: If prices stay that high, it will kill any chances of economic recovery. Good thing is people will see the connection to bush*.

[Nihil]

20. "Mmmmm ... P-R-O-F-I-T ... mmmm ... tasty ...."

> Time for even bigger profits among oil companies.

Yep, hike the price up now in order to steepen the profit gradient for
the remaining period.

> If prices stay that high, it will kill any chances of economic recovery.

The current generation of directors is only concerned with today's profit.
Economic recovery is something for someone else's kids to worry about ...

[bearfartinthewoods]

19. one bright note

over the weekend i heard that the maintanance which has caused the shut down of refinery capacity is almost done and refineries would be up to full production before the peak summer draw.

[BlueEyedSon]

26. *kick*

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. "demand of 9 million barrels a day" - that damm WarMachine is

.
.
.

just a gobblin' up the fuel.

I wonder how much the Military uses on an average day, and of course the daily consumption must have been just crazy during that laughable(not really) "shawk 'n awe" thing-

Of course, then there's all those 4x4's that never see a back road even

(doh)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Another question...how much gasoline is being siphoned off behind...

...the scenes in preparation for the next invasion of some small, hapless nation for whatever trumped-up charges?

[ConcernedCanuk]

25. LOTS - bet your gas dollars on it!

.
.
.

I hear Syria's in their sites

OH

- and maybe some for Pakistan, their new "ally" ?

:shrug:

[ZR2]

23. Quick boys, warm up the weapons

There are plenty of oil producing countries left to invade.