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View Full Version : Oil jumps to near $107 amid fierce Libya fighting



Teh One Who Knocks
03-07-2011, 02:57 PM
By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press


Oil prices climbed to near $106 a barrel Monday as intense fighting between Libyan government forces and rebels appeared to be turning into a civil war and raised the prospect of a prolonged cut in crude exports from the OPEC nation.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery was up $2.25 to $106.67 a barrel, the highest since September 2008, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had gained $2.51 to settle at $104.42 a barrel on Friday.

In London, Brent crude for April delivery was up $1.80 to $117.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Over the weekend, supporters and opponents of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fought in several cities, heightening fears that the country is headed for a protracted conflict. Libya's oil output has fallen by at least 1 million barrels per day from 1.6 million since the uprising began last month.

Investors also are concerned violent protests and political upheaval could intensify in the Middle East, where Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia have more than 60 percent of the world's proven oil reserves.

"It is essentially the fear of the unrest spreading across the entire region which is pushing oil prices up," said Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "Northern Africa and the Middle East produce more than one-third of the global supply of crude oil."

Citigroup said it raised its 2011 average forecast for Brent crude to $105 from $90, but doesn't expect the violent protests in North Africa and the Middle East to spread to Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.

"We assume that output disruption is maintained through the second quarter," Citigroup said in a report. "Output disruption, or at least the threat of, will support a fear premium for the rest of 2011."

Some analysts expect the recent jump in oil prices — up 26 percent since Feb. 15 — will only have a negligible impact on inflation and economic growth in the U.S., the world's largest oil consumer.

"Oil above $100 will not send the economy back into a recession," Capital Economics said in a report. "The oil price would have to rise much further to seriously threaten the U.S. economy."

Nonetheless, President Barack Obama's chief of staff said Sunday that the administration was evaluating the possibility of tapping into the country's strategic oil reserves — totaling 727 million barrels — as a way of contending with rising gasoline prices.

While the fear of supply disruptions was usually mentioned as the key factor for higher oil prices, analysts said speculators also were playing a role.

The large trading volumes tied to speculative investments had helped boost market transparency and liquidity, Commerzbank said.

"Things become critical, though, when speculators become the main driving force behind prices and, as we see it, this is the case at the moment on the energy markets," the German bank said.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 3.6 cents to $3.1253 a gallon, and gasoline gained 3.74 cents to $3.0838 a gallon. Natural gas futures were down 7 cents at $3.74 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Arkady Renko
03-07-2011, 03:14 PM
Every time I stop at the petrol station I feel nausea...

Teh One Who Knocks
03-07-2011, 03:17 PM
As bad as it is here, I can only imagine what you are going thru over there with fuel prices.

Gasoline is up more than 50 cents a gallon here in the last 2 weeks :|

Arkady Renko
03-07-2011, 04:10 PM
it's roughly the same - a little over ten cents per litre. My car gets excellent gas mileage so it's not an awful lot of money per month, but still annoying. The real problem is our heating fuel. I think there's nothing for it but to get a heat pump thingy combined with a photovoltaic panel on the roof. that should provide enough energy to power the pump and then some. Costs about twice as much as a new oil or gas heating system but since the present one is almost worn out and with the rising oil prices, it's got a lot of attraction to it.

Godfather
03-07-2011, 06:24 PM
Gas is just fucked here too :(


I'm looking for a new car but even the Mazda 3 I'm looking at isn't as great on gas as I wish it were given the prices right now :lol:

How long until this shit will go under 100$ again!??! I'm reading a book where the Russians find easy-to-drill oil larger than the Middle East just sitting there in Siberia. Wouldn't that be nice :lol: A more-stable country with something to offer as opposed to these backwards as fuck dumps screwing with prices?

AntZ
03-07-2011, 06:54 PM
it's roughly the same - a little over ten cents per litre. My car gets excellent gas mileage so it's not an awful lot of money per month, but still annoying. The real problem is our heating fuel. I think there's nothing for it but to get a heat pump thingy combined with a photovoltaic panel on the roof. that should provide enough energy to power the pump and then some. Costs about twice as much as a new oil or gas heating system but since the present one is almost worn out and with the rising oil prices, it's got a lot of attraction to it.



:slap:

With all your concern about CO2, you don't even have a heat pump? :huh:


Here's the smoke pipe on rokr's house! :-s


http://minimages.com/images/03587176323872418777.jpg

Hugh_Janus
03-07-2011, 08:27 PM
I'm looking for a new car but even the Mazda 3 I'm looking at isn't as great on gas as I wish it were given the prices right now :lol:
haha! If you get anywhere near the book figures for a petrol mazda 3, I will pay for the car

Hal-9000
03-07-2011, 08:29 PM
and to add insult...we're one the largest suppliers after the Saudi's...we have unique ways to explore and extract oil (sideways oilsands drilling) and we still get killed at the pumps!!!

I drive a relatively small 4 cylinder and pay 55 bucks to fill it up? Living in Alberta????

we need to make some middle east arrangements...like changing some of the map points via bombing :lol:

Godfather
03-07-2011, 10:52 PM
and to add insult...we're one the largest suppliers after the Saudi's...we have unique ways to explore and extract oil (sideways oilsands drilling) and we still get killed at the pumps!!!

I drive a relatively small 4 cylinder and pay 55 bucks to fill it up? Living in Alberta????

we need to make some middle east arrangements...like changing some of the map points via bombing :lol:

That's fucked.. we have more oil than we need, we're a decently large exporter (we import some to save shipping costs to obscure corners of our oversized country) and yet we pay 20% more than the Yanks

It's horseshit... I can't stand these imaginary market problems speculating the price of oil up and up because everyone is paying attention to how the Middle East is fucked up as per usual

Hal-9000
03-07-2011, 10:57 PM
you know me..I usually take a pacifist stance on things.


Grease-spot the whole Middle East, make some new maps and get the world's economy back on track :thumbsup:

Arkady Renko
03-07-2011, 11:38 PM
:slap:

With all your concern about CO2, you don't even have a heat pump? :huh:


Here's the smoke pipe on rokr's house! :-s


http://minimages.com/images/03587176323872418777.jpg

aren't you in early retirement o something? Why don't you come over here and get us some quotes from potential contractors while I'm at work or busy with the brats? :nana: