Gasoline Supply At Record-Low 20 Days

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. gasoline supplies are the lowest level ever recorded in terms of demand, just 20 days of average fuel consumption, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.

"This is even fewer days than seen following the hurricanes in 2005," the EIA said in its weekly review of the oil market. "While the absolute level of total gasoline inventories has been slightly lower a few times in recent years, when the level of demand is taken into account, it has not been this low before."

The low gasoline inventory will not likely cause a sharp spike in retail fuel prices, but will limit the usual decline in pump prices after this weekend's Labor Day holiday, the EIA said.

Drivers now are enjoying the lowest gasoline prices in almost five months, the government said.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-08-29-gasoline-record-low_N.htm

[hedda_foil]

1. Hmm. Sounds like the perfect time to Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!

Drive up the world price of oil even more and, if they're lucky, kick off WW III and if they're REALLY lucky, bring on the Apocalypse.

[wildhorses]

2. enjoy??

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, i suppose :shrug:

[Purveyor]

3. Oil Rises At NYMEX On Record Low Supply

Oil prices at the NYMEX have been jumping since the EIA data this morning showed a big drop in crude and gasoline supplies and a big decline in refinery runs. This afternoon, oil was up more than 2% at $73.18. This week the draw in crude oil was 3.5 million barrels to 333.6 million barrels. Platt's was expecting a draw of 1.25 million barrels. In gasoline, Platt's expected a 1.7 million barrels draw. Instead, the draw was 3.6 million barrels of gasoline to 192.6 million gallons, or 8.2% below last year's level.

--
CNBC's Rebecca Jarvis covered the inventory data and the market's move. Gasoline was trading at $2.085 per gallon, up 3.5% in afternoon trading.

"There's a couple of interesting points here. I got an interesting note from Andy Lipow talking about the issues of gasoline in the Midwest where inventories are at 17-year lows. One thing that traders have been saying to me for the last couple of weeks has been to follow the cash market in gasoline," said Jarvis. "In the Midwest, gasoline cash cash prices are now 40 cents higher than the NYMEX October contract, and Lipow doesn't see the situation getting any better for the next four to six weeks," she said. Lipow is president of Lipow Oil Associates.

Jarvis also said a high number of unplanned refinery outages throughout the summer have been a factor. "That pinched inventories. The most recent was the Chevron Pascagoula, Miss. refinery that caught on fire in mid August. This is one of the biggest refineries in the U.S. Given the number of planned outages for September, it appear supplies may stay crimped and there's some sense gasoline prices will continue to rise," she said.

---EOE---

http://www.cnbc.com/id/20497300

[AndyA]

4. Drivers now are enjoying the lowest gasoline prices in almost five months, the government said.

Drivers are NOT 'enjoying' the lowest gas prices. Drivers are getting raped without a condom, without a kiss, and without so much as a thank you from the oil companies.

And we can thank Dick Cheney's super secret Energy Policy for that. Peak oil, supply/demand, you can say whatever you want, but the prices we're paying today were designed to be so by that Energy Policy. :mad:

[semillama]

8. Right on

Prices have shot up nearly 40 cents at local gas stations just in the last couple of days.

[Wickerman]

5. Great reporting

nary a mention of why the supplies have dipped so low. Obviously done to once again raise the obscene profits even higher. Typically, they at least make pretense of some other issue as cause - now they just let it fly... :eyes:

[acmavm]

6. What a racket. This is a friggin' racket and RICO should cover it.

[tanyev]

7. Boy, it sure would be a bad time to have some sort of national emergency.

:tinfoilhat:

[dmosh42]

9. Pure Bullshit!

They expected some hurricanes by now, so they have to make up something else....

[Megahurtz]

10. "enjoying the lowest gasoline prices"....???

Fuck You! :argh:

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. Gasoline supply ALLEGEDLY at record low

I assume the EIA is part of the Bush bureaucracy? Why the hell would this be anything more than an excuse to jack profits to record highs?

[Deja Q]

12. But unlike that tv commercial saying "don't do these", we have no price controls OR tax hikes.

So if they're saying price fixing and tax hikes will cause gas shortages, what's going on right now?

Many drivers miss the lowest gas prices since 9/12/01.