Oil Surges to Record After U.S. Says Distillate Supplies Fell

[wildflower]

Oil Surges to Record After U.S. Says Distillate Supplies Fell

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record $54.62 a barrel in New York after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. supplies of distillate fuels, including heating oil and diesel, plunged last week.

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Crude oil for November delivery was up 51 cents, or 1 percent, at $54.15 a barrel at 12:47 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached $54.62, the highest since the contract began trading in 1983. Oil futures were up 70 percent from a year earlier. Prices have risen in 18 of the last 21 sessions.

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Reduced Growth

Record oil prices will help restrain the U.S. economy in the last three months of the year and into 2005, following a third- quarter rebound, a Bloomberg survey showed. The U.S. will grow at a 3.8 percent annual rate from October through December after expanding at a 4 percent pace the previous three months, according to the median of 63 economists in the latest survey.

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Political Issue

Energy prices have become an issue in the U.S. presidential election. In yesterday's debate, Senator John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, cited rising gasoline prices as an example of how Americans have become less well-off in the past four years. Gasoline pump prices are up about 40 percent during George W. Bush's term in office.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aLrsor6tsNKA&refer=home

[hatrack]

1. So, $55 today - or tomorrow?

You make the call!

[OneBlueSky]

2. gas will be $3/gallon very soon . . .

today's prices are artificially low . . . probably the oil companies holding them down to help BushCo . . . look for a big jump after the election . . .

[Zeke]

3. Wow.

Scarey, but think you're correct.

If people cannot drive, the economy is tanked---GREATER DEPRESSION.

[booksenkatz]

4. Yep, and President Kerry will get allllllllll the blame. Sickening. nt