Oil prices are up
Looks like we're in for an expensive winter. Joy.
Why oil prices are up: Mideast instability; hurricane damage to U.S. production; unrest in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer.
The pain: Higher prices to heat homes, whether by oil or gas; costlier gasoline and airline tickets; declining stock prices, except for energy companies.
What's being done: OPEC is pumping more; Saudia Arabia will boost production capacity; the U.S. will use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset hurricane disruptions.
Reality check: Adjusting for inflation, $50 oil is more than $30 below prices in 1981.
Source: The Associated Press.
Why oil prices are up: Mideast instability; hurricane damage to U.S. production; unrest in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer.
The pain: Higher prices to heat homes, whether by oil or gas; costlier gasoline and airline tickets; declining stock prices, except for energy companies.
What's being done: OPEC is pumping more; Saudia Arabia will boost production capacity; the U.S. will use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset hurricane disruptions.
Reality check: Adjusting for inflation, $50 oil is more than $30 below prices in 1981.
Source: The Associated Press.
2 Comments:
At 11:32 PM, October 06, 2004,
Uzz said…
Its funny...I watch the financial shows during the afternoon and they are pretty much all in agreement that oil prices should not be that high and that futures traders have been in a state of panic. The problem over the summer was not so much supply as it was that American refineries were overwhelmed...we have not built a new refinery in the U.S. since 1976, mainly due to left-wing environmentalists causing havoc. Futures traders are losing their minds over the threats being made in Nigeria, but the real problem remains refineries.
When did I become so knowledgeable about the oil industry? Since I got a job where I sit at home most of the day and watch new programs:-) Here is a great overview of the refinery crisis:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2102031/fr/rss/
Uzz
At 6:46 AM, October 07, 2004,
Anonymous said…
And, those 1981 prices show you just how much the Federal Reserve Note lost in "value" because of the horrible tax of inflation.
Whose Paranoid
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