Posted on 08/29/2006 7:07:13 AM PDT by shrinkermd
LONDON (AP) -- Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel Tuesday as Tropical Storm Ernesto veered away from the oil and gas region of the Gulf of Mexico, easing concern that output would be disrupted. Light sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 85 cents to $69.76 a barrel in electronic trading by afternoon in Europe. It last traded below $70 on Aug. 18.
The fall extended a $1.90 drop on Monday, when it settled at $70.61.
October Brent crude at London's ICE Futures exchange dropped 86 cents to $69.96 a barrel.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it plans to return workers to rigs and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico after Ernesto, which struck southern Cuba yesterday, moved northeast on its way to Florida and South Carolina. That means the storm will bypass the eastern and central gulf, where most U.S. offshore oil and natural-gas facilities are located.
Concerns about threats to supply were further eased when BP PLC said it had restored output from its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska to about 200,000 barrels a day, half the daily production capacity.
The partial production shutdown at the giant Prudhoe Bay field in the U.S. state of Alaska is expected to make an impact on U.S. oil inventory statistics due Wednesday.
U.S. commercial crude stocks are expected to have fallen by an average 1.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 25, a Dow Jones Newswires survey of eight analysts showed.
Gasoline inventories likely drew 900,000 barrels as the country approaches the end of the summer driving season, while distillate stocks, comprising heating oil and diesel, probably rose 1.2 million barrels, the survey showed.
Traders also remain watchful of other market movers, such as Iran's stand-off with the West over its nuclear program.
Traders are concerned that Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, could block oil exports if the United Nations imposes sanctions over its nuclear program. Tehran faces a Wednesday deadline to halt uranium enrichment or face possible economic and diplomatic sanctions, but has so far refused any immediate suspension of its nuclear program.
"Moving in the international framework is not a matter of concern for us," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said Monday.
Iran is a leading global oil exporter and has made threats in recent months to choke off the Strait of Hormuz -- where some 20 percent of the world's supply passes through every day -- in retaliation for sanctions.
In other Nymex trading, natural gas futures declined 28.2 cents to $6.190 per 1,000 cubic feet, while gasoline futures rose marginally to $1.7910 a gallon, and heating oil futures rose 0.1 cent to $1.9660 a gallon.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Also Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Then in Texas away from the Gulf: Big Spring, Borger, Tyler, Sunray, Three Rivers and El Paso. Plus the ones you knew about in Texas City, Corpus Christi, Sweeny, Deer Park, Baytown, Beaumont, Houston, Port Arthur, Pasadena and Silsbee.
For that research, may I recommend:
EIA, Capacity of Operable Petroleum Refineries by State as of January 1, 2006
Prices for Chevron gas. \
There is a Chevron station near the WVa line in Virginia that I pass every time I go to WVa. It almost always has t he lowest prices I see on my entire 120 mile drive. I think they are also more interested in alternative energy sources than some of the other oil companies.
We must have been posting at the same time.
Come now, have you before in your life described a number as about as large as 148 as "dozens"? Quite a stretch don't you think? You seemed to believe we only had refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The US has far more than that. I said a couple dozen, this is about six times greater.
Be honest, it was you that was surprised by how many refineries remain in operate in the US. You were worried of a single event at one location. That just would not make that great of a dent.
You may want to condsider the continued new orders for tankers and the expansion of shipyards building tankers. I find this market at odds with the concept of surplus tankers storing oil at sea.
Tanker Trends
Marine Link
http://www.marinelink.com/Story/search.aspx?SearchCategory=Tanker+Trends&Dates=20060603
...surplus tankers storing oil at sea.
now I think I see the problem we are having in this discussion. I never meant to imply that there are surplus tankers storing oil.
I started out with the image of how traffic moves. Everyone at a red traffic light, for example, plans to continue driving when the light turns green, but all 20 cars in a line of 20 cannot start moving at the very same second. There is a ripple effect. Drivers in the back of the line are still idling when the first cars are well on their way. The same thing happens when the whole group stop at the next red light. The leaders stop while those at the end of the line are still moving.
Because of many events this summer, some tankers are not docking as quickly as the owners/brokers/refiners/whoever planned that they would when the contracts were made. It is a function of momentum vs inertia.
Because of many events this summer, some tankers are not docking as quickly
This is not happening.
The price of a gallon of regular, unleaded gas has dropped almost $.20 in the last month, here in Central MA. Works for me! It didn't even go up again just before the Labor Day holiday weekend!
>>It's all a Rovian plot in combination with Bush's Big Oil buddies to reduce prices right before the elections. <<
You know, someone on the RV forums said exactly the same thing.
I put a big LOL on it!
HA! I'm prescient!
Heck, you just know that's out there in numerous places. I bet if you had a strong stomach, you could find it at KOS and DU.
Ya got that right!
It's election time, of course gas prices are going to fall. I bet in November they will be the lowest in 2 years.
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