Posted on 11/30/2005 8:38:44 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
Oil prices briefly slipped to their lowest level in 5 1/2 months Wednesday as warm weather persisted throughout the U.S. Northeast and supported expectations that U.S. oil reserves are sufficient for the winter.
Analysts suggested the downward trend would continue in the short term, pointing out that over the past three months, the market has seized on a series of developments that support the rationale for cheaper oil.
After touching a low in Asian trading of $55.72 _ a level not seen for a front-month contract since June 13 _ light sweet crude for January delivery was down 34 cents at $56.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.
In London, January Brent crude futures on the ICE Futures exchange fell 18 cents to $54.14 a barrel.
Heating oil rose marginally to $1.6125 a gallon while gasoline slipped slightly to $1.3900 a gallon.
"It's a downward drift that's been going on to close to three months now," said Paul Horsnell, head of energy research at Barclays Capital in London. "And there's no dynamic that brings it around for the moment, so we can keep on drifting down."
Still, estimates for diminishing natural gas inventories and the harsh Midwest weather sent natural gas futures climbing.
Natural gas was up nearly 16 cents at $11.895 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Oil prices have eased recently as mild weather pervaded northeastern U.S. states, which consume three-quarters of the nation's heating oil as the biggest global market for that type of fuel.
A winter storm is battering some midwestern states en route to the Northeast later this week. But temperatures are not expected to fall low enough to drive a rebound in prices.
Traders are awaiting the weekly summary on Wednesday of U.S. crude inventories, an indicator of demand from the world's largest energy consumer.
Ten energy analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast a rise in distillate stocks of 595,000 barrels on average, while gasoline stocks were expected to climb by 755,000 barrels on average. Distillate inventories include heating oil and diesel fuel.
Refinery utilization was expected to show another significant increase, with nine of the 10 analysts projecting runs to increase anywhere from 0.25 of a percentage point to 2 percentage points above last week's 88.1 percent of operable capacity.
Crude inventories were expected to fall by about 220,000 barrels in government and industry data this week, according to the average estimate of analysts.
I demand an investigation! Gas prices in Maryland hit a high of $3.47 and now have fallen to 1.97 in only a few months! I demand a..huh? what? Ooops, sorry, I forgot only radical upward pricing is to met with demands of investigations.
Good thing we opened the Strategic Oil Reserve...
When I went to work yesterday, gas was $1.89. When I drove home, gas was $2.09. Now I understand why. </sarcasm
Oh no, global warming!
Soooooooo prices have gone down.... so if Bush got the blame for high prices who gets the credit for lower prices? Surely not the president....
Time to call your representatives so that we can pass some legislation so that when Big Oil takes a loss the American public will be able to help out...Like they did in years past
You must live in Louisville, KY.
Everybody don't get too excited. I hear it's snowing in Mobridge, South Dakota. As soon as the speculators hear about this the price should jump back up!
Why the Double D-IMMPS, of course.
(Drug Damaged, Intellectual Moral Midget, Piggies)
"Oil Prices Hit Lowest Level in 5 Months"
$56.?? a barrel, is still stratosphericly high.
To hear him say so, Bill O'Rielly.
And I heard some lefty lunatic "oil expert" saying how it will climb to 5 dollars a gallon a few months back. And, of course, it would have been Bush's fault.
I know a few smart individuals who say that a stable price of $45 dollars a barrel is what the actual market demands. So according to them look for oil to fall further. Demand for oil by China has actually decreased by a couple of percent over the last few months.
Impeach Bush NOW!!!
I wish people would realize that Bush could crap Tiffany cuff links, solve world hunger and cure cancer while playing tennis the left will always hate him.
It's a conspiracy to lower prices and reverse gouge!
Maybe someone can explain to me why diesel prices are .20 higher a gallon that gasoline, since it is considerably less expensive to refine.
I understand that it is taxed higher, and that it is used for heating oil, which is nearing its peak use, but until this year, diesel was usually near the cheapest in spite of those things.
Considering that all products are shipped via railroad or truck, it's a problem, IMO. Not to mention that my pickup uses it.
I guess it's possible albeit inconvenient for some consumers to stockpile a supply of gasoline when prices are low.
Speculation in natural gas markets leaves the consumer totally dependent on the speculators since the price will always be highest when consumers actually use the commodity during cold weather.
Wouldn't it be nice if the energy companies offered some free storage for consumers where we could buy (stockpile) some energy when prices are low?
Wouldn't this be more in line with supply and demand?
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