Thursday, May 22, 2008

A Little Perspective


Amish Crossing
Originally uploaded by paynehollow
For your consideration...

July 1994

(NY Times) Crude oil prices rose yesterday with nervousness over Nigeria's three-week-long oil workers' strike expected to push a test of the key $20-a-barrel level next week, traders said.

January 2001

(Business Week) Finally, some good news on the energy front. Top representatives of oil-producing nations attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, say they want to keep world oil prices well under $30 per barrel -- less than most economists had been expecting. Lower oil prices would give a boost to U.S. and European economic growth and corporate profits.

September 2004

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices reached a record $50 a barrel Monday as Nigeria emerged as the latest focus for worries about supply in an already tight worldwide energy market...

Investment bank Morgan Stanley said it now believes surging crude oil prices could reach as high as $61 a barrel.

April 2007

HONG KONG: Crude oil futures hit $70 a barrel in Asian trading Monday for the first time in nearly eight months, lifted by concerns over declining U.S. gasoline stocks, supply disruptions in Nigeria and tension over Iran's nuclear program...

August 2007

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite oil's record high last week, forget about crude going to $100 a barrel.

Prices have already dropped about 7 percent since last week, and are likely to fall even more in the coming years.

Crude may not reach $100 a barrel, but don't look for $20 either.

That's the consensus of analysts, who say rising production, the advent of biofuels, and conservation measures will likely lead to lower oil prices by 2015.

But how much lower is subject to wide interpretations, and estimates rage from $20 to $60 a barrel.

October 2007

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices hit a record high Thursday of more than $90 a barrel after reports indicated that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to increase production...

OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world's 84 million-barrel-a-day oil habit, agreed to boost production by 500,000 barrels in September, but the move did little to calm oil prices...

January 8, 2008

HOUSTON — Oil prices briefly reached $100 a barrel on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand and tightening supplies...

...The spike in crude prices of $3.64 for the day reflected deeper worldwide trends, including the surge in energy demand from China, India and the oil-producing countries themselves.

March 2008

(CBC News) Oil prices hit an all-time record Wednesday even though a report said U.S. oil supplies rose more than expected last week.

The price of light sweet crude for April delivery rose $1.17 US to finish at $109.92 US after hitting an intraday high of $110.20 US a barrel. The previous intraday high price for oil was $109.72 US, set on Tuesday.

May 5, 2008

(BBC News) The price of a barrel of oil has risen above $120 for the first time, driven by concerns about the situations in Nigeria and northern Iraq.

May 21, 2008

(Telegraph) Investors are betting that oil prices will continue rocketing for years to come, it emerged as the crude price hit a new record high...

Crude rose above $130 a barrel for the first time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, amid concerns that producers' cartel Opec will not boost output in the coming months to rein in prices, and that China will increase its oil imports in the wake of its earthquake.

May 22, 2008 (20 minutes ago...)

(AP) NEW YORK - Oil prices rose above $135 a barrel for the first time Thursday, with supply worries, global demand and an ever weakening U.S. dollar driving crude futures up.

The world’s top energy watchdog is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

3 comments:

Michael Westmoreland-White said...

As the reports indicate, some of these upward jolts have to do with disruptions of supply in Nigeria. Some has to do with the Iraq war. A large part has to do with the way China is approaching the U.S. in oil consumption. And, as you know, much has to do with the fact that we have reached or are soon reaching "peak oil," the point at which the majority of the world's oil has been pumped and the world awaits the long or slow process of oil running out.

Another part, shown by the record oil company profits, is sheer price gouging.

revhipchick said...

hipchickmamma is defunct. you can now find me at revhipchick.blogspot.com

wow...it's crazy thinking about the end of oil. do you think anyone is listening yet?

Dan Trabue said...

Hey! Congratulations.

We mourn the passing of Hipchickmamma, but Long Live Revhipchick!