Oil Hits New Record

From Netscape News comes this report. I have to ask: what happened to those supercool hydrogen cars that Bush so highly touted in one of his State of the Union speeches. Did they go up in a mushroom cloud like so many of his other promises? According to many, many sources we have in our automakers' hands the technology to build car engines that can get 80-120 miles per gallon of regular gas, hydrogen, electricity or any combination of the three. Why are we not seeing this come to fruition? Could it be because the energy industry was involved in creating current administraion policies? And they would not like it at all if we weaned ourselves off of dependence on foreign oil or began to seriously look at alternative sources of energy (particularly renewable ones)? Help me out here Enron, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Texaco, British Petroleum...et al.
And if the prices to not decrease, expect a draft in the next three years, because that's how long we have until our volunteer army is expended beyond its capabilities and we will definately need to invade another oil-producing country in the name of "freedom". Not that the last two produced any "benefits" for the average person in any country and certainly not for the average SUV driver. No pipeline across Afghanistan yet and no privatised oil producers in Iraq.
Oil Hits New Record
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices raced to a new all-time peak on Monday, climbing toward $58 a barrel as OPEC signaled it would discuss a second output rise to try to quell the market's relentless rally. U.S. light crude hit a record $57.79 a barrel, surpassing Friday's high of $57.70, which was triggered by a forecast that prices could spike above $100 due to robust global demand and tight spare capacity. At 10:33 p.m. EDT Sunday, U.S. crude was up 31 cents at $57.58, while London's Brent crude struck an all-time peak at $56.80 a barrel, marking a gain of 29 cents. "I would have thought prices would struggle to go much higher. The market fundamentals suggest lower prices," said Mark Pervan, an analyst with Daiwa Securities in Melbourne.
"I think they will struggle to get over $60 in the next couple of weeks -- that is a big psychological barrier."
OPEC President Sheikh Amhad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Saturday he would likely start consulting member producers on Sunday over a 500,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) increase to group supplies to cool the market.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lifted output limits by 500,000 bpd to 27.5 million bpd in mid-March and left room for a second rise before a June ministerial meeting if prices failed to ease below $55.
"We had suspended (consultations) for a period of time because of the decline in prices," Sheikh Ahmad said.
"But now, the reality of prices requires that we once again undertake communications for the purpose of consultations with the fellow OPEC oil ministers ... pertaining to the 500,000-bpd hike."
Nigerian Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Edmund Daukoru said on Sunday the increase could happen within two weeks if prices stayed above $55 for at least the next 10 to 14 days.
U.S. oil prices have surged 33 percent this year, with big-money speculative funds buying heavily on signs that rapid demand growth in Asia's emerging economies and the United States would strain world supply.
Prices have gained more than $3 since Thursday when top energy derivatives trader Goldman Sachs (GS) released a report saying oil markets might have entered a "super-spike" period which could eventually drive them toward $105.
Concerns about the adequacy of U.S. gasoline stocks ahead of the peak summer demand season were also partly behind last week's price jump after a handful of refiners had production problems.
U.S. gasoline futures struck a new all-time high on Monday at $1.7380 a gallon, an increase of 0.007 cents.
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.
04/03/2005 22:43