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World oil prices are controlled by the amount of crude oil stored at Cushing, Oklahoma. That’s because Cushing is the pricing point for WTI (West Texas Intermediate) oil prices, the most-traded oil futures contract in the world. Cushing Storage Rules World Oil Prices WTI and Brent oil prices have good negative correlation with the volume of crude oil stored at Cushing. Comparative inventory, the present volume of oil compared with the 5-year average, and oil-price volatility, the rate at which the price of oil moves up and down

After increasing for 15 consecutive weeks, crude oil storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, reached 54.4 million barrels on March 13, according to EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report. This volume is the highest on record, but not the highest percent of storage utilization, as working storage capacity at Cushing has also increased over time. Storage levels at Cushing are significant, because Cushing serves as the delivery point for the United States crude oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate. Sited in central Oklahoma, Cushing is home to both a network of crude oil pipelines and storage capacity. The 70.8 million barrels of storage capacity...

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. has so much crude that it is running out of places to put it, and that could drive oil and gasoline prices even lower in the coming months. For the past seven weeks, the United States has been producing and importing an average of 1 million more barrels of oil every day than it is consuming. That extra crude is flowing into storage tanks, especially at the country's main trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, pushing U.S. supplies to their highest point in at least 80 years, the Energy Department reported last week.

One might think that the mood at the International Petroleum Week annual convention would be sour, considering the plunge in crude oil prices over the past six months. But quite the contrary . . . for oil traders, at least. They’re ecstatic, celebrating their best market since the 2008 oil price crash. That’s because there’s contango in the oil market – the price of oil for future delivery months is higher than the current spot market price. Storing Oil = Easy Money With the contango, traders can make huge profits simply by storing millions of barrels of oil for sale...

About half the surplus crude accumulating in tanks across the United States is flowing into Cushing. If the build-up continues at the same rate, some industry officials and sources said, the tanks could reach maximum capacity by early April.... Traders have been scrambling to secure space at Cushing so they can store oil purchased at current low prices and sell it in a year at a profit exceeding $11 a barrel because the oil market has been in a structure known as contango. In January, crude oil arriving by pipeline and rail into Cushing, the delivery point of the U.S....

Valero Energy Corp.’s Memphis, Tenn., refinery will begin receiving more low-cost domestic crude oil in two years as part of a plan by another company to build a pipeline to the plant. Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP said Thursday it plans to build a pipeline that would deliver as much as 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil to Valero’s Memphis plant when it’s completed in late 2016. The 440-mile, 20-inch pipeline will link Plains’ Cushing, Okla., terminal to Valero’s plant and cost an estimated $900 million. Locally based refiner Valero holds an option until January 2016 to buy...

Crude oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the primary crude oil storage location in the United States and the delivery location for the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract, declined 12 million barrels (29%) over the past seven weeks. On March 14, 2014, Cushing inventories were 30 million barrels, 19 million barrels lower than a year ago and the lowest level since early 2012. The recent drawdown of stocks at Cushing resulted from (1) the startup of TransCanada's Cushing Marketlink pipeline, which is now moving crude from Cushing to the U.S. Gulf Coast; (2)...

The U.S. oil boom has created a glut of crude in Cushing, Okla., a major oil storage hub. This sign dubs the city the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World." For years, Cushing, Okla., has been on the receiving end of a 500-mile pipeline funneling oil from the Gulf of Mexico to the American heartland.Starting this weekend, that pipeline will start moving crude in the other direction. That flow reversal could soon have implications at gas pumps around the country."For 40 years, crude oil flowed north," says Philip Verleger, a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "Today, oil...

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Politics: The president stages a photo-op in Oklahoma to take credit for the portion of the Keystone XL pipeline that doesn't need his approval and for oil production on private and state lands beyond his jurisdiction. If one of his aides some morning remarked on a particularly lovely sunrise, it wouldn't surprise us if President Obama responded with a "thank you," so gifted is he in taking credit for successes that he has nothing to do with and that occur despite, not because, of his policies. So it will be Thursday, when Obama is scheduled to appear in Cushing, Okla.,...

Enbridge Inc and TransCanada Corp have raced forward with new pipeline plans in the fierce battle to unclog a year-long U.S. oil bottleneck, setting up a potentially swift collapse to an unprecedented distortion in crude markets. After purchasing ConocoPhillips’ stake in the 350,000 barrel-per-day Seaway pipeline for $1.15 billion, Enbridge and new partner Enterprise Products Partners said they plan to reverse the line’s flow to send crude locked up at the Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub to the Texas coast. That means they will not pursue a separate project unveiled in September. Separately, rival TransCanada said it could begin construction of...

This small city, which calls itself the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World," has been the center of the oil market for nearly three decades, housing millions of barrels of the light, sweet crude that make up the world's most actively traded oil contract. But that contract, known as West Texas Intermediate, isn't what it used to be. A pipeline-building boom that has flooded Cushing's terminals has kept WTI well below other oil-price benchmarks. The resulting price gap is clobbering airlines that use the Cushing-tied contract to lock in fuel prices, while causing some major oil producers to switch to different...

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

When President George W. Bush and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee describe John Roberts Jr. as the nominee to be the 17th chief justice of the United States, Ross Davies just chuckles. That isn't a comment on Roberts or his qualifications. What amuses Davies, a law professor at George Mason University, is the number everyone uses. Davies is quite sure that Roberts, if confirmed, will be the 18th chief justice, not the 17th. In a 76-page law review article, set to be published next spring, Davies makes a forceful argument that William Cushing, a mostly forgotten associate justice appointed...

Who was the first prominent American Catholic to announce that he could not impose his views on other citizens? (Hint: He wasn't a professional politican.) By Diogenes Dec 2003 (CWR) - What do you call a Catholic who says that he is "personally opposed" to some form of immoral behavior, but refuses to take action against it? Under some circumstances, you call him Your Eminence. For years I have been bewildered by the public statements of Catholic politicians who claim to be "personally opposed" to legal abortion, or physician-assisted suicide, or same-sex marriage, but nevertheless vote in favor of these...

Working to Free A Killer Susan McLaughlin Doesn’t Deserve to be Released There are two NH women working to free a convicted killer. Susan "Sam" Cook McLaughlin was found guilty of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. It seems that these women feel that McLaughlin has paid her debt to society and now deserves to be free. One of the women, Cilla Clements, a school teacher and writer from Raymond NH who met McLaughlin while working on a story about imprisoned women, feels that "She's paid her debt, and she's...