Crude dips as traders remain unconvinced by OPEC ~ December cnt at 15-month low; natgas under $7

Marketwatch ^ | 3:10 PM ET Oct 23, 2006 | Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures weakened Monday, sending the benchmark contract to its lowest closing level in 15 months as traders remained unconvinced that OPEC's intention to cut production by more than originally planned will put a dent in hefty U.S. supplies or halt the slide in oil prices.

Crude for December delivery closed down 52 cents at $58.81 a barrel on its first full day as the front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell earlier to $58.15, its lowest level since late July 2005. The November contract expired on Friday at a 16-month low of $56.82.

Oil-product prices finished mixed for the session. November unleaded gasoline futures closed up 0.43 cent at $1.4715 a gallon while November heating oil lost 1.1 cents to end at $1.669 a gallon.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries "should be worried after Friday's weak session in the oil markets and the selling that is taking place again this morning," said Edward Meir, analyst at Man Financial.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The group had surprised the market late Thursday with an announcement that it would cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day, more than the 1-million-barrel cut that had been under discussion for the past several weeks.

Prices initially rose on the production-cut news but turned lower as traders began to question whether oil producers would cheat by not fully cutting their share of output. There was also skepticism that a cut would make much difference, coming when oil supplies in the market are unusually high.

"Whether you believe it or not, what is now clear is that the market doesn't believe it," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Alaron Trading. "Or maybe with all of the oil hanging around they do believe it, but they think that it is just too little action that has come too late."

[pissant]

Bush is manipulating the markets. Just ask the DUmmies.

[netmilsmom]

>> Crude for December delivery closed down 52 cents at $58.81 a barrel on its first full day as the front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell earlier to $58.15, its lowest level since late July 2005. The November contract expired on Friday at a 16-month low of $56.82.

Oil-product prices finished mixed for the session. November unleaded gasoline futures closed up 0.43 cent at $1.4715 a gallon<<

So why is gas going up when oil is going down.
This is the deal in MI. We were dipping down to 2.09 a gallon and it started inching up. Some stations are charging 2.19. This doesn't make sense.

[unkus]

Papa Bush flew over to Saudi last night on the latest stealth jet and arranged all this.

[CFC__VRWC]

Bush is manipulating the markets. Just ask the DUmmies.

You don't even have to wade into the DU sewer to find that out - just pick up a copy of the NYT.

[pissant]

And Iran too!

[pissant]

I don't mind reading the leftists at DU once in a while, but I refuse to read anything as far left as the Times.

[unkus]

That's right, Bush Sr. stayed at the secretly refurbished US Embassy in Tehran.

[VRWCTexan]

Certain gasoline market segments are going to see gas go up a few cents in the short run - i.e. as many refineries are now going down for shut-downs / longterm - maintenance, thus supplies will be tighter in the short run.

Depending upon the various plant cycles (e.g. 2, 3 or 4 year cycles)more refineries can be down in the "fall" of any given year - this happens to be one of the years were twice as many refinery units are down for 30 to 45 days of overhaul

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Might be refinery capacity...is an issue....it isn't an automatic thing to make crude into gasoline....

pinging thackney for comments...

[VeniVidiVici]

No, you're behind the times. "Poppy" Bush (gotta get that right) is actually the leader of Iran. The nutjobs you see on TV? They're just puppets. "Poppy" actually runs the country and gets all of the oil proceeds.

[LOC1]

You may find current quotations for crude, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, etc. at the following web site: http://www2.barchart.com/mktcom.asp?code=BWSLCT&section=energies

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks.

[SaxxonWoods]

OPEC will have to prove they can make a dent in supply, which may take a while.

Just paid $2.02 for regular unleaded in Lakewood, CO.

[RckyRaCoCo]

This is the deal in MI. We were dipping down to 2.09 a gallon and it started inching up. Some stations are charging 2.19.

Yeah, noticed that in mid MI also, lowest was $2.08, shot up to $2.25 last week, now $2.08 again.

[RightWhale]

why is gas going up when oil is going down

A glance at the charts for the past couple weeks would show that crude is fairly stationary and that gasoline is declining slightly.

[netmilsmom]

Or it could be that MI really is evil. ;-).