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Oil prices tumbled more than $6 a barrel Monday, briefly slipping below the $100 level as traders bet that global demand for petroleum products will keep falling despite a planned $700 billion U.S. financial bailout. A stronger dollar also weighed on crude prices as investors who bought oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation sold their contracts. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell as low as $99.80 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before edging up slightly to $100.28, down $6.61. The contract fell Friday $1.13 to settle at $106.89. Crude has...

A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading By David Cho Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 21, 2008; A01 Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive...

Chicago CME exchange, NYMEX in merger talks Mon Jan 28, 3:02 PM ET CME Group, Inc. and NYMEX Holdings, Inc. said Monday they were conducting initial merger talks which could result in the Chicago-based exchange taking over the New York commodities bourse. The two companies described their merger talks as "preliminary" in a joint statement, saying they had agreed to a 30-day exclusive negotiating session. Under the terms being discussed, NYMEX shareholders would potentially receive 36 dollars in cash and 0.1323 of a share of CME Group's common stock in exchange for each NYMEX share. CME said it expects to...

The mighty Texas crude-oil benchmark -- the per-barrel price watched obsessively by the markets and quoted by the media -- has diverged so drastically from prices of other grades of crude in recent weeks that some market participants are calling it a "broken benchmark." Several factors have combined to push the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil -- used as the basis for the world's most widely traded energy contract -- dollars below other desirable, so-called light sweet crudes. On Friday, for example, the bellwether oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $63.38 a barrel, nearly...

Prior day close: $1.5241 Today's close: $1.5636 Chg: $0.0395

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices fell in Asian trading Tuesday after losing nearly US$2 a barrel in the previous session amid easing concerns about the possibility of more production cuts by OPEC members. The contract dropped 3 per cent overnight in New York as traders discounted threats of output cuts and focused on high U.S. oil product inventories. Despite reduced refinery runs, traders were expecting to see a build in U.S. gasoline and distillate stocks in weekly petroleum supply data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy. Light, sweet crude for November delivery dropped 11 cents to US$60.92 a...

NYMEX New York Mercantile Exchange

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil surged to a record high near $76 on Thursday on renewed worries over supply from major exporter Nigeria and as conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon heightened international tensions. Prices also rose as the Iran nuclear row appeared to be heading to the U.N. Security Council, North Korea walked out of talks with South Korea and crude inventories in top oil consumer the United States fell more than expected. "Geopolitical risk is out of control," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp. "There's a pipeline attack in Nigeria, Israel is taking a strong...

SINGAPORE - Crude oil prices retreated Monday as traders took profits following recent gains and amid easing worries about Iran's nuclear dispute after the country's top nuclear negotiator expressed optimism that the standoff can be resolved peacefully. Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 37 cents to $73.72 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop came after oil prices had climbed for most of the last two weeks, reaching an intraday record of $75.78 a barrel on Friday before settling back at $74.09. The Brent crude contract for August fell 27 cents to...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil fell almost 1 percent to below $70 a barrel on Tuesday, pausing to watch the season's first Atlantic storm as it weakened along a route that will take it well clear of U.S. energy installations. Iran's reluctance to give up its atomic program, unrelenting violence in Iraq and strong demand signals from China all lent the market support, keeping prices up 15 percent this year and within sight of their record high of $75.35. U.S. light sweet crude for July fell 69 cents to $69.67 a barrel by 0746 GMT, extending Monday's $1.27 slump. London Brent...

SINGAPORE -- Oil prices jumped Monday in reaction to a threat by Iran's supreme leader that his nation could jeopardize the world's oil supply if the West punished Tehran over its nuclear program. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $1.02 to $73.35 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midafternoon in Singapore. The contract rose Friday to $72.33 following the kidnapping of eight foreigners working on a drilling rig off the coast of Nigeria. The workers were released Sunday. July Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures rose $1.03 to $72.06 per barrel. Iran's...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell $1 on Monday to a six-week low as concern that inflation may slow economic growth encouraged selling across commodities markets. U.S. crude was trading 98 cents lower at $67.55 a barrel at 0819 GMT after falling more than $1 to its lowest level since April 10. Brent crude was down 84 cents at $67.85. The drop added to a slide of nearly 5 percent last week after signs that the record cost of many raw materials was pushing up the cost of living and hitting consumers' pockets. Rising inflation may force central banks to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil and metals prices may extend their sudden slide as economic worries trigger a speculative rout, but the record rally in energy and commodities isn't dead yet, experts said. Crude and metals prices have smashed records this year as hedge funds seeking to cash in on their searing returns poured billions of dollars into the sectors, and Monday's setback signals a correction, not a meltdown. Crude futures, which fell 3.7 percent to $69.41 a barrel on Monday, could drop as low as $60 a barrel, according to hedge fund managers and analysts, but a rebound is...

Singapore - Oil rallied above $72 a barrel on Monday, extending a rebound towards record highs as Iran maintained a defiant stance in the face of possible UN sanctions and militants detonated a car bomb in Nigeria. US light, sweet crude zoomed 54 cents higher to $72.42 a barrel by 06:40 GMT, adding to a 91c gain on Friday that helped limit last week's losses to 4.4%. Trading was thin due to holidays in much of Asia and Europe. IPE Brent crude was up 43c at $72.45. "Most people appear to be very nervous and are looking for something to...

SINGAPORE - Oil prices eased Thursday after U.S. government data showed motor fuel demand weakening, apparently in response to higher pump prices. The data also showed that domestic inventories of gasoline shrank for the eighth consecutive week, and that may have moderated the selling, analysts said. Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 23 cents to $71.70 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled Wednesday at $71.93, down 95 cents. Brent crude for June delivery on London's ICE Futures changed hands at $72 a barrel, down 9 cents. Gasoline futures dropped 2.10...

WASHINGTON - A big jump in gasoline prices pushed inflation at the wholesale level up in March at the fastest pace in three months, as oil prices above $70 a barrel sent consumers a high-octane warning of expensive fuel costs ahead. The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices rose by 0.5 percent in March following a 1.4 percent decline in February, which had been the largest drop in nearly three years. The March increase was slightly worse than the 0.4 percent rise that Wall Street had been expecting and was driven by a 9.1 percent surge in gasoline prices, the...

Dubai Mercantile Exchange Oman has agreed to supply crude oil to back the planned launch of the Middle East’s first oil futures contract. The government of Oman is working with the new Dubai Mercantile Exchange to launch the crude futures contract this year as oil prices in other markets stand near record levels. The decision by Oman, one of the few Middle East producers not in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a significant step forward for the DME, as it gives potential users of its crude oil contract the option to take physical delivery or settle financially....

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Monday on persistent supply fears tied to Iran's tense diplomatic standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions and militant attacks in oil-rich Nigeria. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 53 cents to $68.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Asian electronic trading. The contract on Friday rose $1.50 to settle at $67.76 a barrel. Heating oil rose 1.16 cents to $1.8185 a gallon while gasoline gained 2 cents to $1.7564 a gallon. March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 49 cents to $66.73 a barrel. Prices also rose...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil climbed further on Tuesday as a militant threat to Nigerian oil exports and Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions kept the market worried about supply disruptions. London Brent crude for March was up 27 cents to $63.45 a barrel by 0329 GMT, after rising 58 cents on Monday. U.S. light crude for February jumped 86 cents to $64.78 in catch-up gains after being closed for a national holiday on Monday. U.S. crude earlier touched $64.95 a barrel, its highest since October 4. Crude flows from Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, are being...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil futures fell Tuesday as unseasonably mild weather along the U.S. East Coast spurred hopes that this year's Northern Hemisphere winter could be warmer than expected, weakening demand for heating fuel. Light, sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 34 cents to US$57.02 a barrel in Asian electronic trading. The contract fell US$1.36 to settle at US$57.35 a barrel Monday. In London, January Brent fell 53 cents to US$54.35 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. In recent weeks, the market has been fixated on weather patterns in the northeastern U.S.,...