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| Home Front Economy |
| Global recession lowers oil prices |
| 2008-11-20 |
| Oil prices have dropped with Brent crude falling to nearly $50 a barrel, the lowest since striking record highs of $147 in July. On Wednesday, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January was down seven cents at 51.77 dollars a barrel in late afternoon trade on London's InterContinental Exchange (ICE). Earlier it touched 50.61 dollars. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for December delivery slipped 53 cents to 53.86 dollars a barrel. It earlier fell to 53.30 dollars, the lowest point since January 2007. Crude oil prices have plunged almost two-thirds since striking record highs of above 147 dollars in July as a global economic slowdown dents world energy demand. On Monday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), whose members produce 40 percent of the world's oil, said it was ready to intervene on a regular basis to help prop up the prices. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 pd $1.99.99 this AM (in California!!) - very nice. Still..... drill baby drill....or at least keep that option open |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-20 21:03 |
| #5 I can't imagine that actual supply and demand have changed that much. One thing we do know is that major banks have stopped lending money to other corporations - even the paper fronts they set up to speculate in oil. If you can't borrow the money you can't bid up the price even with leverage. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-11-20 20:17 |
| #4 I paid $1.75 at Sam's Club just outside Richmond, VA, last weekend - it's undoubtedly gone down since then. (I saw a WAWA sign for $1.79 this morning, and they're always above Sam's and below just about everyone else.) Guess I'll find out this weekend when I tank up again. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-11-20 14:35 |
| #3 Just saw $2.15 a gallon here in Nor Cal. Sure is a far way from the $4.95 we were seeing about 5 months ago. I can't imagine that actual supply and demand have changed that much. Yes, the dollar has strengthened, but it certainly points to the distortive effects the commodities trading market can have on the price of the good in question. This price drop is a silver lining of the economic downturn and is helping keep some extra $$ in people's pockets. Hopefully heating oil prices will be lower too, another good thing for people at the margin. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2008-11-20 13:06 |
| #2 API:US Oct Oil Demand Down 4%, Production -5.1%, Imports +5.8% U.S. petroleum demand and production is on the wane while imports of crude oil and gasoline are on the rise, according to monthly statistics released Wednesday by the American Petroleum Institute. U.S. petroleum deliveries dropped 4% in October, bringing the decline between January through October to 5%, a rate not seen since the 1980s, according to the the API, a trade group that represents big oil companies. "Not only have higher prices for much of 2008 been altering consumers' behavior, but more recent economic uncertainties have increasingly been putting a damper on demand, as well," API statistics manager Ron Planting said in a news release. Despite the increase in contributions from Alaska, U.S. crude oil production in October declined by 5.1% from a year earlier, the API said. Although imports declined in September because of hurricane related port closures, imports in October rose 5.8% from a year earlier. The U.S. brought in 13.7 million barrels a day, the highest level since July 2007. Gasoline imports are up 25% from a year ago, the second-highest level ever for the month, after October 2005's import surge following Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. The upstream and downstream sectors have recovered well from this year's Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the API said. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-20 09:30 |
| #1 Good luck with that. I hope it goes back down to $20 a bbl. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-11-20 08:15 |