Gasoline rises on Ike, but crude dips below $100

[Nambe]

Source: NEW YORK (AP)

Gasoline prices jumped at the wholesale level Friday as Hurricane Ike swept through Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.

Crude oil on the futures market, however, briefly sank below the psychologically important $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April 2 — showing that investors believe a worsening global economy will continue to drive down demand for some time in the United States and elsewhere.

The fact that U.S. fuel demand is so weak right now might mean the recent surge in the wholesale price of gasoline — which rose to about $4.85 a gallon in the Gulf Coast market Friday — might not be passed along to consumers unless Ike's impact is severe and long-lasting.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD935BD3O0

[TexasProgresive]

1. That makes perfect sense

Refineries close so gasoline supply goes down and price goes up. Refineries close and so crude oil supply goes up and price goes down.

[pattmarty]

2. Do we have a "little" profiteering going on in Texas???

[tsuki]

3. Here, the people are saying that the oil companies are gouging

in case Ike doesn't destroy the refinery and they cannot hike it post Ike. A lot of cynical people.

[Gillian]

4. Global Warming = high gas prices! The light is on.

[Tunkamerica]

5. There are stations in raleigh charging 4.99 a gallon

for regular. The prices are all over the place. 3.69-4.99 within 10 miles of each other.

[ace2u_in_MD]

6. Hang on, it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better

$6.00 before dawn tomorrow...

Florida is getting reports of gouging, with hikes to $5.00 - $5.50 today. Governer CLAIMS he will look into it and have the AG get involved.

North Carolina, south Carolina, also reporting skyrocketing prices.

Don's blame the stations, wholesale gas shot up last night. That is when I first heard about it.

[jpak]

7. Gas rose 11 cents per gallon today in Maine

I topped off my tank and filled three 5 gallon cans last night (@ $3.48/gallon) as a hedge against supply disruptions from Ike.

I think I did the right thing...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. A lot of wholesalers speculated in the markets...

As a hedge against prices. A lot of them got duped and lost a lot of money playing in the markets with the really rampant, non-traditional speculators who were throwing money around like madmen. I suspect that some of this is wholesalers trying to gouge some of those losses back.

Some of them mofos are gonna see jail, before this all shakes out.