Oil Rises Above $104 to Record on OPEC Output, Venezuela Tanks

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg News

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $104 a barrel to a record in New York after OPEC gave no indication it will increase production, U.S. fuel inventories declined and Venezuela sent tanks to its border with Colombia.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to maintain production targets at a meeting today in Vienna. U.S. supplies fell for the first time in eight weeks, the Energy Department said. Venezuela activated the country's navy and air force in addition to 10 tank battalions being mobilized.

``Venezuela is sending troops to the Colombian border and everyone is a afraid that things will escalate,'' said Adam Sieminski, Deutsche Bank's chief energy economist in New York. ``Analogies with Kuwait in 1990 are being made. As if that's not bad enough crude inventories fell more than 3 million barrels when they were supposed to rise.''

Crude oil for April delivery rose $4.17, or 4.2 percent, to $103.69 a barrel at 11:56 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $104.56 a barrel, the highest since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 72 percent from a year ago.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aLJyxsxYGpp4&refer=home

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. The good news is obesity will be less of an issue in the future.

The bad news is it's because more people won't be able to afford to eat. :(

[Quantess]

11. Okay, Maybe increasing density would be a good plan for the future.

Instead of sprawling suburbs.

I have been opposed to suburbs since I was a teenager in the 1980s.
Holy **** now I live in one!!!

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Smirk." - Commander AWOL & corrupt reublicon oil cronies

[Winterblues]

3. And somehow Exxon keeps chugging out record Profits

Can't figure how they do that. gas prices up, oil prices up, :shrug: Over One hundred million dollars a day Net Profit and they keep raising prices..I wish I could do that..

[sarcasmo]

4. Four bucks a gallon by Memorial Day, five by Labor Day?

[UpInArms]

5. Crude surpasses $104; heating oil at new high (of $104.52 per barrel)

Source: CBS Marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures on Wednesday surged $5 to close above $104 a barrel for the first time, rallying after data showed U.S. inventories fell unexpectedly and after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep its production levels unchanged.

Crude prices were also boosted by the weak dollar, which set a new low against euro on Wednesday, and by increasing flows of investment funds into the oil market.

Wednesday's gain in crude was the biggest in value since crude futures started trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. Also on Nymex, natural-gas and heating-oil futures hit a new high, while gasoline prices also moved up although data showed U.S. gasoline inventories rose to the highest level in 14 years.

Crude for April delivery rallied $5, or 5%, to settle at $104.52 a barrel on Nymex. It soared to $104.95 in electronic trading after floor session was closed. Crude's recent levels have already passed its inflation-adjusted historic highs. See story on historical records.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/crude-closes-above-104-first/story.aspx?guid=%7BF24A65B6%2DAB83%2D48F9%2DA0CD%2D28809328C5E4%7D

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:argh:

[brentspeak]

6. "U.S. inventories fell unexpectedly"

Gee, I'm sure the low inventories came as a real shock to Exxon/Mobile execs. :sarcasm:

[ClintonTyree]

7. Really....

I mean, who could have guessed that people would use more petroleum during the winter months! :wow: That one really caught them off guard. But it won't happen again, and Congress has found there's absolutely NO evidence of price gouging or fixing. :eyes:

In other news, Exxon/Mobil announced record profits for the first quarter of 2008, eclipsing the record profits for the first quarter of 2007 by 75%. :sarcasm:

[Ilsa]

15. Didn't they fall because the US started selling surplus? It couldn't have been

an "unexpected" decline in inventory, could it?

[BrightVictor]

8. Ouch

To think in September 2003 it was trading at under $25/barrel.

[Purveyor]

9. "U.S. gasoline inventories rose to the highest level in 14 years."....uh huh! eom

[poppysgal]

10. That's it I am buying a bike

:blush: Oh, I forgot I already have one. Now I just need to lay off of lunches (breakfast and supper) and learn how to survive without heat and gas and all petroleum based products and I will have this recession licked.

[Ilsa]

14. Plastics, grocery bags, etc. It's going to be difficult. And welcome to DU! nt

[poppysgal]

18. thank you

:hi:

[Joanne98]

12. Thanks to Columbia bombing Ecuador on US orders!

Thank Bush.

[Peace Patriot]

13. "Analogies with Kuwait in 1990 are being made"? ???

Oh, I-I-I get it! They mean those terrible Venezuelan soldiers throwing the babies out of their incubators!

[Ilsa]

16. I didn't see this or other Bloomberg articles mentioning that OPEC is

blaming George W. Bush and the US's economic problems for the high price of crude. At least the AP(?) article in our newspaper did, particularly blaming the dropping dollar.

[Ilsa]

17. Prices briefly spiked to a record of $105.97 earlier today. nt