jumped on to $3.09 here locally today....Damn Libya!!!

Oil prices up another $2 so far today. At this rate, it won't take long to crack $100 in the near future.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures breezed past $97 a barrel as New York floor trade opened Wednesday, buoyed by concerns that civil strife roiling Libya and antigovernment protests in other parts of the Mideast and North Africa could result in the disruption of oil supplies.

Brent crude, the benchmark European oil contract, also picked up steam as the New York floor session got into full swing. Brent for April delivery advanced $3.7, or 3.5%, to $109.48 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.


“Increasing unrest in North Africa and the Mideast has been a key driver of the latest spike,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital Investors.

Attention has focused on oil-rich Libya in recent days, with leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi refusing to relinquish power and clashes reportedly leaving at least 300 people dead.

Anti-Gadhafi protesters in Tobruk and Benghazi said they had taken control of the eastern Libyan cities. Some Army personnel there had joined with the anti-Gadhafi movement and were working alongside the protesters, according to reports.

In a statement late Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council “condemned the violence and use of force against civilians, deplored the repression against peaceful demonstrators and expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

The council urged an immediate end to the violence and called on Libya to address the legitimate demands of its population.

Libya holds about 44 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in Africa.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency indicated Tuesday that they would tap their stockpiles if the situation deteriorates further.

“OPEC could easily cope with Libya’s total absence from the market, given the spare production capacities of 5 million to 6 million barrels a day and Libya’s current daily output of 1.6 million barrels,” noted strategists at Commerzbank Corporates & Markets.

“It will only get critical if the unrest spills over to other major oil producers such as Algeria or countries in the Gulf region,” they added.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil...est-2011-02-23

so $4 or $5 dollars by summer?

Sell the SUV !

fun

A lot of it depends on how much unrest spills over into other countries in the region. It's anyones guess at this point.

It really depends on what else happens in the ME at this point. Gasoline maxed at $4.17 per gallon when crude was $147/barrel as a reference.

Can we still blame Bush?

Yep

He wanted democracy in the ME. The locals are just fulfilling the Bush doctrine.

:thumb: :p

I just paid $3.45 last night.

Looks like the natives are getting restless in the Kingdom. That is NOT good.

Saudi?

Yes. The king just handed out $37 billion in freebies. Time will tell if this spreads, but if it does, this will get VERY ugly VERY quickly.

And, crude touched $100/barrel a few minutes ago.

Your behind the curve friend - spot crude has been over a c-note for a week or 2 now because Brent Crude (that's what they trade most over in London and other markets in those areas), has been over a 100 for a couple weeks and is over 110 right now !
Have you heard of Cushing, OK ? Well that's a hub for transporting and storing WTI, and they've run out of storage capacity so it's trading much lower than Brent, but Brent is what they use back East anyway to refine and produce gasoline and other petro products so people back East are really paying for the going/spot price of Brent.
But the big question is when will Obama and his tree-hugger buddies re-open
drilling in the Gulf of Mexico ? With the Middle East going up in flames, I think it's about time ?