Donger on Suicide Watch: Oil Nears $100 a Barrel
 

:)

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080902/D92UIA0G0.html

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia - $10 below its close Friday before the Labor Day weekend - as investors shifted their focus to slowing global demand after worries about Hurricane Gustav subsided.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery was trading at $106.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midafternoon in Singapore, and at one point dropped as low as $105.46.

On Monday, when U.S. trading was closed for Labor Day, the contract had plunged $4.34 to $111.12 a barrel in late electronic trading. On Friday, the contract settled at $115.46 a barrel.

Traders were relieved that Gustav weakened as it approached the offshore oil rigs and Louisiana refineries, and appeared to have caused less damage than expected in New Orleans and surrounding areas.

But they quickly turned their attention to slowing global economic growth, speculating that will dampen demand for crude oil, even in developing countries such as China and India.

"The market continues to be weighed down by worries of a global economic downturn and slowing oil demand in developing markets," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Action by OPEC and supply side concerns should put a backstop to any sharp price drop."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet Sept. 9 and has indicated it may take action to defend the $100 a barrel level.

There was some disruption to oil supplies as oil companies shut down production and evacuated facilities ahead of the storm. Altogether, about 2.4 million barrels of refining capacity had been halted, roughly 15 percent of the U.S. total, according to figures from Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP) The Gulf Coast is home to nearly half of the nation's refining capacity.

It could be a day or more before oil and natural gas companies can assess the damage to their drilling and refining installations. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said as much as 20 percent of oil and gas production that was stopped because of Gustav could be restored by this weekend, stressing that it was a rough estimate.

Traders are also keeping an eye on other storms brewing in the region.

Hurricane Hanna was predicted to come ashore in Georgia and South Carolina late in the week, and Tropical Storm Ike formed late Monday in the Atlantic Ocean and may become a hurricane in the next 36 hours as it approached the Bahamas.

"September is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. After Gustav, there are two more now on the radar screen. The storms are likely to provide some upside risks to the oil futures market," Shum said.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 15.44 cents to $3.0375 a gallon, while gasoline prices lost 16.92 cents to $2.685 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 47.3 cents to $7.472 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, October Brent crude was down $2.01 to $107.40 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Everybody fill up quick!!111!!11!!!1!1ONE1!

Good. It's hopefully going back to where it should be (~$70 - $80). It's down 8% alone.

Thanks everyone for cancelling your summer vacations and selling off your SUV's!!!

Gas should be below $3/gal by election time then...

lets all hope that Donger has the guts to follow through ........


don't be a puss, finish what you start!!!

My only concern with the drop over the past month or so is that we will put all these wonderful energy plans on the back burner because we think everything is back to normal. We still need to push for off-coast drilling and searching for alternative fuels.

Yes, $70/barrel is approximately $3.00/gallon.

Back to $110 right after the election. Bank on it.

Indeed. People need to remember the pain of $4.00 gasoline.

I spent $180 on gasoline last week.

It's not like $3.00 a gallon doesn't still suck. It just doesn't suck quite as much.

how do they know that light "sweet" crude is sweet? who tastes it? wonder if it is good on ice cream?

Well, yeah. Where do you think it should be?

$1.50