Oil falls to near $96 as US crude supplies jump

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ALEX KENNEDY

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices fell to near $96 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, extending a weeklong slump after a report showed U.S. crude supplies jumped more than expected last week, suggesting demand remains weak.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 73 cents to $96.28 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 93 cents to settle at $97.01 in New York on Tuesday.

Brent crude for June delivery was down 35 cents at $112.38 per barrel in London.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 7.8 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted an increase of 2.2 million barrels.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120509/D9UL21L00.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. The media almost sounds disappointed that gas prices won't be $4 to $5 a gallon this summer.

[lilithsrevenge12]

16. They are.

Journalists are all glorified tabloid reporters these days. They don't seem to really care about anything gong on in a country the American people can't pronounce or why oil prices are so high. They prefer to focus on things like Zimmerman and what food is killing us.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. I saved a link to this in February, since I thought they'd be wrong

(I suppose they could turn out to be right after all, but it's looking unlikely now):

8 reasons why gas will hit $5 a gallon this year

The price of gasoline today is 10 percent higher than it was just two months ago. The average price for a gallon of regular is almost $3.62. Gas prices in January have been the highest ever recorded price for that month. Many economists and energy analysts believe a rise to $4 a gallon is inevitable. But their estimates could be grossly understated. Gas will reach $5 a gallon before the end of the year.
...
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the major reasons that gas prices have risen in the past quarter and analyzed whether the causes will improve or worsen. We have estimated how much each factor could increase gas prices. Together, those increases would be enough to push gas prices up by another $1.50.

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/25/10496561-8-reasons-why-gas-will-hit-5-a-gallon-this-year

[may3rd]

26. Interesting link and holding "experts" to account. What are these 'experts' predicting about things

Lately ?

By Paul Ausick and Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall St.

http://247wallst.com/about/

[doc03]

2. A month ago all my Rethug friends were blaming Obama for the high gas

prices. This morning their talking points "You can tell the election is this year the gas prices are going down". I
assume they must have heard that on Faux yesterday. Another one is they heard if he gets re-elected this year he is going to take our guns away. That comes from that fair and balanced NRA some DUers defend all the time. Then there is the
one about he didn't have anything to do with killing Bin Laden, any President would have done that if he got the chance.
Then of course Obama got the idea from Mitt Romney to save GM. They just make this shit up as they go.

[bhikkhu]

20. You could send them this picture:

They'd like to blame high prices on low production, regulations, people not being allowed to work, etc, which is all a big fat lie. The oil sector in the US has been booming since Obama came in, and there is pretty close to zero unemployment and zero idle equipment and crews.

[global1]

3. When Will We Start Seeing A Decline In Prices At The Pump?......

In Chicago the pump price of regular gas is still above $4.14/gal.

[Garion_55]

4. we are down 20 cents

here in NOVA

[trumad]

7. down 30 cents here in Central Florida.

3.61 per gallon

[mopinko]

10. it is always high here.

i hear the averages on the news and wonder where the hell they are.

[AllyCat]

5. Why does the price of a gallon jump almost immediately when oil prices rise,

but drops a measly 4 cents a gallon when the price per barrel falls?

[Andy823]

18. Greed

Prices here where I live went up every week, sometimes twice in one week, when oil was going up, but have gone down a mere 6 cents total since oil prices have been dropping, and that took two weeks after other areas had gone done. As of yesterday prices were still up to $4.10 for regular.

It's all about greed and big oil is going to make as much as they can until somehow they are stopped, and that doesn't look like it will be happening soon!

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. "crude supplies jump"

Ooops! Someone miscalculated. They will have to fix that.

[ieoeja]

11. They will. They cap US oil wells below $100.

Not all, I suppose. But I have always heard that $100 a barrel is the price where they start unplugging all the capped wells in the United States. Apparently, we still have quite a bit of oil in this country. Like most things, it's just cheaper getting it from overseas.

And, of course, it lets us save our oil in the case of future need.


On a more negative note, expect to see an uptick in unemployment. When they cap the wells, they also lay off employees.

[cstanleytech]

13. "expect to see an uptick in unemployment" Maybe, maybe not.

Its a coin toss because if people dont have to spend as much on gas it frees them to spend their money elsewhere which could provide a boost to employment because if businesses earn more money they may hire more people because of it.

[FailureToCommunicate]

17. I'm pretty sure it's not "our" oil (even if it come from public land leases)

It belongs to multinational oil companies that drill for it, and price and sell on the world market.



http://www.democraticleader.gov/blog/?p=1406

[DonCoquixote]

8. this is where Bibi

Will start firing up the jets to strike Iran. Gas prices must be high to defeat Obama.

[Phoonzang]

9. Let's see if the President's numbers go up suddenly now.

If so it will prove the complete idiocy and shallowness of the American electorate. I mean...not that I'd mind the Pres's poll numbers jumping....

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. The sound you just heard...

...is the right wing shitting itself.

[Woody Woodpecker]

14. Then the price of the gas needs to go down, big time.

Like under $2.50.

Just re-open the refineries and hire more people. See? Job creation!

[cstanleytech]

15. The oil companies last time I read were claiming they were close to losing money.

Of course that was before there profit reports for the quarter were posted so I would take such a claim with about a billion tons of salt.

[bluestateguy]

21. Good. Cheaper gas.

I know the oil speculators may not like it, but that's too bad.

[Warpy]

22. What a pantload! The world has been awash in oil for a couple of years

because demand dropped in 2008 and never recovered, people economizing any way they can.

What's happened is that a couple of the Koch merry billionaires has realized controlling gas prices through the spot market wasn't working as advertised and have pulled out quickly. Let's hope the Koch boys hang on until the bitter end and are left holding the (empty) bag.

In some ways, this has been Bunky Hunt, part II, men with more money than brains thinking they can grab power by controlling one commodity or other.

[NickB79]

23. Correction: Oil demand dropped in the US. The rest of the world, not so much

In Africa, India, Russia, Mexico, the Middle East, and most of Asia, oil demand recovered rapidly after 2009 as their economies were far less impacted by the global recession.

For example: http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx

You'll note from their table that 2010 saw a new record for global oil consumption.

[NickB79]

24. Sounds like another recession is brewing

And this time, it looks like China and India won't weather it as well as they did the last time, since their economic output is already slowing.

[Thrill]

25. They are still price gouging

At $96 a barrel. Gas should be closer to 3$ than $4