Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like theme manager, comments configuration and post comments with your name.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oil prices stayed near new multiyear lows today because of growing doubts that the $789 billion stimulus package will reinvigorate the economy and demand for energy.
Retail gasoline prices, meanwhile, reached a new high for 2009 and appeared headed back to $2 a gallon as refiners cut back on production.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery was up 6 cents to $36 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but had dipped as low as $34.26 earlier in the day.
There were also more signs of economic weakness.
The number of people requesting first-time unemployment benefits dropped slightly last week, but remained near a 26-year high as companies lay off thousands of workers amid a deepening recession. The Commerce Department said the number of initial jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 623,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 631,000 the previous week. The latest tally still was above analysts’ expectations of 610,00 claims.
The 631,000 figure was the highest number since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a steep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.
In a sign that laid-off workers are having difficulty finding new work, the number of people claiming benefits for more than one week rose to 4.81 million from 4.78 million, the highest total since records began in 1967. The continuing claims data lags the new claims numbers by one week.
Retail sales surprised analysts by rising 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month trend. Analysts said the rise was unlikely to last though and that much of the increase was due to rising gasoline prices.
The Democratic-controlled Congress and White House agreed Wednesday on a compromise $790 billion economic stimulus bill designed to create millions of jobs. President Barack Obama could sign the measure within days.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said it is unclear how much oil will benefit from the stimulus package and the Treasury Department’s plan announced earlier this week to spend more than $1 trillion to help remove banks’ soured assets from their books and unclog the credit markets.
“Just like the stock market, there’s a feeling of the malaise because of a lack of definition,” he said.
He said he is looking for oil prices to retest multiyear lows of $32.70 reached in January.
While oil prices have been sliding, gasoline prices have been on the move. Prices at the pump rose 1.2 cents overnight to $1.95 nationwide, the highest level since Thanksgiving, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
Prices are 34 cents higher than they were when they bottomed on Dec. 31, but still $1.02 below year-ago levels.
The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude inventories for the week ended Friday jumped 4.7 million barrels to 350.8 million barrels, surpassing the expectations of analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., who expected a boost of 3.4 million barrels. Including last week’s buildup, crude inventories have increased by more than 30 million barrels in the past five weeks.
Oil trader and analyst Stephen Schork said inventories are now 16.5 percent above year-ago levels and within 10.5 percent of the all-time high of 391.9 million barrel set in late summer of 1990 just before Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Gasoline inventories last week, however, slipped by 2.6 million barrels, or 1.2 percent, and demand for the four weeks ended Friday rose to 8.8 million barrel a day, suggesting that more people may be spending money on fuel.
U.S. refineries ran at 81.6 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 1.9 percent from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to slip to 83 percent. Refiners took in 214,000 fewer barrels of crude last week and gasoline production fell, the EIA reported.
The companies that own refineries are seeing the same dour headlines about job losses, and have slashed production as they try do match supply with demand. They also have curtailed production for maintenance typically performed this time of year.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, said his forecast is for gasoline to hit $2 to $2.50 a gallon. He said gasoline now is nearly $20 a barrel above crude prices east of the Rocky Mountains and nearly $40 in California.
Joined: May 22, 2006 Posts: 1958 Location: Houston, Texas
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject:
crazybird wrote:
Quote:
Prices are 34 cents higher than they were when they bottomed on Dec. 31, but still $1.02 below year-ago levels.
Which of course my state would love to scarf up and bring back to the all time high so they can get more money.....
Gas has gone up about .50 a gallon here in Houston since the 1st of the year. The local new had a story on about how our big oil companies have so much gas stored they are going to have to shut down production. That combined with decreasing demand they just don't know what to do with the gasoline they have. So instead of losing money on this deal, they just fix the prices and drive the price of gas back up.
I thought now long ago we were told the price of gas was a supply and demand thing. The more we use, the more they charge. Now it is the more we don't use, the more they charge?
Anyone check out airfares to Europe? Many airlines still have a $270 fuel "surcharge" on a roundtrip. _________________ "If you love our nation, STOP illegal immigration!"
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Contribute/Join
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
