Gasoline at $4 Coming to a Pump Near You, Unfazed by Rising Tab

[Donger]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=afOlUzd30YOo

Pretty alarmist, IMO, but possible.

Spoiler!

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Whether it's $50 to fill up your Prius or $130 for the Ford Expedition, $4-a-gallon gasoline is coming to a pump near you.

Fuel prices are rising at a pace not seen since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out a third of the U.S. oil refining industry in 2005. Gasoline consumption is climbing twice as fast as last year and will accelerate when summer travel begins late next month.

``What we're surprised by is the increased demand,'' said James Mulva, chief executive officer at ConocoPhillips, whose refineries from California to New Jersey produce 56 million gallons of gas a day, enough to meet 14 percent of the country's needs. ``Even though the price of gasoline is up, the demand is up,'' he said in an April 12 interview in Houston.

Population gains and U.S. economic growth are causing an increase in fuel purchases, according to Orlando, Florida-based AAA, the nation's largest organization for motorists. The U.S. economy will expand at a 2.4 percent annual pace in the second quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the first three months, according to the median estimate of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Gasoline use is rising almost 5 percent above the five-year average.

Americans are resigned to higher prices, says David Pursell, a principal with Pickering Energy Partners, a consulting firm in Houston.

``Last year, we had pump prices well over $3 for the summer and gasoline demand was up,'' Pursell said in an interview. ``Would $4 gasoline cause demand contraction? I think it will, but I also thought $3 gasoline would.''

Pump Prices

Gasoline inventories, measured by the days of demand they will cover, are at the lowest level in two decades for this time of year because of refinery fires, power failures and maintenance work oil companies failed to complete in 2006. No new U.S. refinery has been built in three decades, increasing the strain on existing plants.

Pump prices in the U.S. may increase to $4 a gallon from a nationwide average of $2.87 today, especially if hurricanes threaten Gulf of Mexico refineries, says Peter Beutel, an analyst at Cameron Hanover Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, who helps industrial consumers manage energy costs.

``Hurricanes are always the huge wild card,'' said Beutel. ``We're all praying for a year like 2006 rather than 2005.''

The June-to-November Atlantic Ocean hurricane season may produce 17 tropical storms, with nine reaching hurricane force and four becoming major hurricanes whose winds exceed 111 miles per hour (179 kilometers per hour), London-based forecasters at Tropical Storm Risk said. Some of the storms will strike the Gulf Coast this year after a benign 2006, AccuWeather.com predicted.

Inflation Risk

Higher pump prices will make winners of refinery owners such as ConocoPhillips, San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc of The Hague. Shares of Valero and Sunoco Inc., whose only business is refining, are rebounding after a decline at the end of last summer.

The increase in fuel costs threatens to quicken inflation and restrain consumer spending in the U.S. An appreciation to $4 a gallon would add more than $10 for a driver who fills the 12- gallon tank of a Toyota Motor Corp. Prius. The owner of an Expedition, a Ford Motor Co. sport-utility vehicle with a 34- gallon capacity, faces an increase of almost $40.

Many Americans have no choice but to drive more, says Christopher Knittel, an economist who studies fuel consumption at the University of California in Davis.

More Commuters

``We live farther from our jobs than we did in the 1970s, and with the rise of dual-income households, we now have two people who drive those distances every day,'' Knittel said.

Consumers also do more driving for things such as taking children to soccer practice, which they are unlikely to quit, he said. The U.S. population has increased 1 percent a year in the past decade to 301 million in 2007, adding to demand for gasoline, economists said.

Rising fuel prices make it less likely that Federal Reserve policy makers, who have cited inflation risks for the past year, will cut interest rates to spur economic growth. Before the hurricane-induced peak in 2005, U.S. gasoline topped out at $1.42 a gallon in March 1981, or $3.21 when adjusted for inflation, according to the Energy Department.

Economies in Europe and Asia are less likely to be hurt by gasoline prices because fuel already is subject to high taxes designed to encourage conservation. A gallon of unleaded costs about 3.25 pounds a gallon ($6.49) in the U.K., and in Japan it's 130.3 yen per liter ($4.16 a gallon).

$4 Barrier

U.S. consumers will get little relief on gasoline prices from Europe this year, unlike 2005, when oil companies shipped more across the Atlantic after the hurricanes. Europe's gasoline inventories in February were 114.2 million barrels, down 11 percent from two years earlier, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. The drop in Europe was almost twice the 5.7 percent decline in U.S. supplies in that time.

``Just as we used to think $3 a gallon was an impenetrable barrier, now it's $4,'' said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business in College Park and former chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission. Gasoline at $3.50 is likely, Morici said, and a conflict with Iran or any event that disrupts crude supplies may push it to $4.

Pump prices rose 33 percent in the past 11 weeks, the fastest rate of gain since a six-week, 34 percent rally to the record $3.069 in September 2005, Energy Department data show.

Bodman's `Worry'

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in an interview last week said the national average pump price could break the record this summer. While his agency's official forecast is for gasoline to peak next month at about where it is today, hurricanes, refinery closures or crude oil supply cuts may send prices higher, he said.

Higher prices are ``a legitimate worry,'' Bodman said. ``We have trouble spots all over the world'' that could boost crude oil prices. ``We're in a very tight situation.''

Spending on fuel in the U.S. consumes half as much household income as in the early 1980s, which means gasoline would need to reach almost $6 a gallon to have the same effect on the economy as in 1981, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Storage tanks at U.S. refineries, terminals and ports hold enough gasoline to cover almost 22 days of domestic demand, 8.2 percent less than the five-year average and the lowest for this time of year since the 1980s, Energy Department figures show.

Shortages

Valero-owned filling stations in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado, ran dry after a Feb. 16 explosion and fire shut the company's McKee refinery in Sunray, Texas. A day earlier, a blaze at an Exxon Mobil Corp. plant in Nanticoke, Ontario, slashed output, resulting in shortages and higher prices across eastern Canada.

The McKee shutdown strained supplies so much that ConocoPhillips postponed maintenance at its Borger, Texas, refinery north of Amarillo to prevent shortages in the region.

``Refineries are becoming more complex,'' Mulva said in the Houston interview. ``What we're finding is it's more difficult keeping reliability up with more sophisticated pieces of equipment that are highly integrated.''

Tesoro Corp. of San Antonio, the second-largest refiner in the western U.S., said first-quarter refinery use dropped because oil companies delayed until this year maintenance that could have been done in 2006. The portion of U.S. refining capacity that was in operation in the first quarter declined to 87.3 percent from 88.9 percent a year earlier, according to Energy Department data.

`Refineries Blow Up'

``Prices will depend entirely on whether we have a couple of refineries blow up,'' said Philip K. Verleger, an economist who runs a consulting firm in Newport Beach, California. ``It's almost impossible we'll get to $4 a gallon if all the refineries run well this summer. But if something happens and there are problems, then anything's possible.''

The average share gain for Valero, Tesoro and six other oil-refining companies is 26 percent this year, outperforming the 4.1 percent gain for Exxon Mobil and a 4.7 percent increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

The shares will continue to rally, said Paul Carlson, who helps manage $3 billion at HGK Asset Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

``Refiners are doing very well these days,'' said Carlson, whose holdings include ConocoPhillips, the second-biggest U.S. refiner. ``There will be lots of demand for any new refining stocks.''

`Back in Favor'

As recently as August, investors were selling oil refiners on concern an economic slowdown would slash fuel demand in the U.S., the world's largest energy market. During seven weeks last August and September, Valero shares fell 29 percent, wiping out $12 billion in market value.

``Refining is very much back in favor,'' said Douglas Ober, who helps oversee $2.3 billion at Baltimore-based Adams Express Co. ``Even with higher prices, we haven't seen any substantial cutback in demand. They're cranking out as much of this stuff as they can, and we're throwing it in our tanks as fast as we can.''

The margin earned from processing crude oil into fuels rose to $24.68 a barrel on April 11, the highest since right after the hurricanes in September 2005. The margin has since retreated to $22.12 a barrel, still about double the five-year average.

``It'll be a fairly tight gasoline market all through the summer,'' said Robert Hinckley, an analyst at Rochdale Securities in New York.

[FD]

With the exception of the crisis period, the value of the dollar has remained roughly stable since 2008.



Similarly, the price of crude oil has remained roughly stable since then.

[Imon Yourside]

Stop dumping this crap into the ocean and cheapen it please....I want to buy a muscle car!

[Donger]

Why $100 Oil Is the New $20 Oil

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-10...161540672.html

When Chevron Corp. (CVX) CEO John Watson told a Houston audience earlier this month that crude oil costing $100 a barrel is becoming the new $20 in the oil and gas industry, he added, "If $100 is the new $20, consumers will pay more." The inference we might draw from that is that oil prices have finished falling and can only rise from this point on.

There will, of course, be ups and downs in crude oil, just as there are with all commodities -- volatility comes with the territory. But the trend is up and to the left, and Watson's point is that based on rising production costs, the oil companies need prices no lower than $100 a barrel in order to pay the ever-rising costs associated with getting crude from ultradeep water and tight shale formations on land. One hundred dollars a barrel is a floor; no one knows where the ceiling is.

Decreasing demand for crude oil in developed countries has been offset by swelling demand from emerging countries, particularly China. But that growth is relatively small, and globally supply and demand are currently able to remain roughly in synch. In order to maintain a reasonable profit, the oil companies need demand to rise to cover the higher costs they are paying for production. But even in China demand growth is slowing down.

By one estimate, in the decade to 2012, production costs rose fourfold in nominal terms while production rose just 11%. The economics of such a situation cannot last forever -- and they didn't.

When demand for crude was strong, say seven or eight years ago, oil companies could absorb the higher costs to boost production and still turn in record profits. Then, as the old saying predicts, the best cure for high prices was high prices.

Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS-A) have all announced significant reductions in capital spending over the next several years as they work to bring spending in line with revenues. Initially the price increases will be moderate, but eventually demand will outstrip supply again and crude prices could easily take off once more.

U.S. oil producers argue that removing the ban on oil exports will help them to recover their rising costs because they can charge more for the crude. That will be true for two or maybe three years, but again crude prices will settle around a level where demand and supply once more become roughly equivalent.

There is also an argument that proposed changes in the crude futures market in the United States make it increasingly risky for oil companies to spend on new production. Non-commercial traders (aka, speculators) will soon be subject to position limits and to capital requirements that have already chased some of them from the futures market. Without traders willing to take the long side of the trade, the oil companies have no ability to hedge production. That means that the companies must absorb virtually 100% of the price risk on forward barrels.

Investors in Chevron and Exxon will be the short-term beneficiaries here, just as investors in mining companies have benefited from the sharp pullbacks in the capital spending of miners. Less spending and reduced costs translate into more share buybacks and dividend increases as the oil and mining companies work to keep stock prices high in order to maintain access to the capital markets.

For consumers there is no chance that we will ever see gasoline pump prices below $2.50 a gallon, and only a very slim chance that prices will ever again fall below $3.00 a gallon for an extended period. That is the message Chevron CEO John Watson had for consumers.

[Donger]

Crude closed at $106.33 on Friday. If things get worse in Iraq, that'll be going higher.

[Chief_For_Life58]

we gotta open up more public lands to drillers. once technology gets to the level of being able to produce the green river formation in northern colorado US will be set.

the supers are all heading for brazil and Australia cus they need huge production levels to pay for their ridiculous costs. that's why the mid majors are taking over production in the US. or am I wrong

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

we gotta open up more public lands to drillers. once technology gets to the level of being able to produce the green river formation in northern colorado US will be set.

the supers are all heading for brazil and Australia cus they need huge production levels to pay for their ridiculous costs. that's why the mid majors are taking over production in the US. or am I wrong

Peak oil, brother.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Peak oil, brother.

far from it brother

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Donger

Crude closed at $106.33 on Friday. If things get worse in Iraq, that'll be going higher.

Nothing pads the pockets of the oil futures people like a good Middle Eastern armed conflict!

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Nothing pads the pockets of the oil futures people like a good Middle Eastern armed conflict!

Don't shoot the messenger.

[Fairplay]

I don't look for oil to go down anytime soon probably get higher.
We have enough oil in America to take care of our needs and more.

Why we buy from the Middle East anymore is beyond me.

[LoneWolf]

How much net profit did the big oil companies make last year? The whole "oil prices have to be at this level for us to make a reasonable profit" is a huge pile of bullshit.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Fairplay

I don't look for oil to go down anytime soon probably get higher.
We have enough oil in America to take care of our needs and more.

Why we buy from the Middle East anymore is beyond me.

Actually, no, we can't meet our needs with just domestic crude. Not yet, anyway.

[stonedstooge]

****ing Bush and his friends/Libtards

[Donger]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

How much net profit did the big oil companies make last year? The whole "oil prices have to be at this level for us to make a reasonable profit" is a huge pile of bullshit.

Net profit or profit margin?

[Deberg_1990]

Paid like $3.69 last night. Good lord.......Bushs fault!