Oil Pushes Past Previous Iraq War Peaks

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040428/bs_nm/markets_oil_dc_2

Oil Pushes Past Previous Iraq War Peaks

2 hours, 5 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Andrew Mitchell

LONDON (Reuters) - International crude prices hit their highest level for 3-1/2 years on Wednesday, exceeding peaks hit during last year's Iraq (news - web sites) war, after the U.S. government reported a fall in stocks of green gasoline and violence mounted in the Middle East.

London's Brent crude jumped 50 cents to $34.78 a barrel, its highest since October 13, 2000, when it reached $35.07. U.S. light crude in New York rose 45 cents to $37.98 a barrel, within 20 cents of a 13-year closing high hit last month.

Low U.S. fuel inventories have combined with rising Chinese demand, heavy buying from speculative hedge funds and Middle East tensions to drive up international oil prices.

Wednesday's rise followed a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing a fall of 1.4 million barrels, or 5.5 percent, last week in stocks of reformulated gasoline (RFG), sold at a third of U.S. pumps mostly in smog-prone urban areas.

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[jpak]

1. NYMEX crude was above $38 a barrel for a while today

http://www.bloomberg.com/

[comerpatrick]

2. up up up

It's simple supply and demand. Supply (production) is levelling of at best while demand (especially SE Asia) is skyrocketing.

OPEC may have reserves but I'd be surprised if production can increase much.

[newyawker99]

4. Hi comerpatrick!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ze_dscherman]

3. Asia Times: Adios, cheap oil, bring on the big bucks

CARACAS - The high oil prices seen since the US-led invasion of Iraq could be followed by a drop, as has occurred for decades after every rise in prices. But even then, signs pointing to shortages in the medium to long term indicate that the era of cheap oil is officially over.

Indeed, within a generation there might not be enough "conventional" oil available to satisfy the insatiable demand in a world that consumes more fossil fuel each year.

"The mechanism by which global oil prices are set is intact, but the normal behavior of supply and demand is not," Victor Poleo, a professor in the graduate program on the oil economy at Venezuela's Central University, told Inter Press Service.

SNIP

Poleo said the root of the problem is that the US "is a terminal victim of its energetic metastasis. It has neither the oil nor the natural gas needed to feed its style of development. With just 6 percent of the world population, it consumes nearly 25 percent of the oil and gas produced worldwide."

More: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/FD29Dj04.html