Oil slides below $60 as U.S. puts brakes on fuel use

From wire reports
LONDON — Oil slid below $60 a barrel Friday, continuing the hard fall that started Thursday when U.S. oil and natural gas stocks swelled and added proof that record prices were leading the world's top consumer to burn less fuel.
Oil's slide reflects diminishing concerns about supply shortages following earlier hurricane damage to oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, traders said.

The U.S. government's latest petroleum inventories report showed domestic crude and gasoline stocks rose.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 45 cents to $59.57 a barrel by afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The November contract settled $1.38 lower Thursday to expire at $61.03 a barrel — the lowest closing price for a front-month contract since Aug. 3.

December Brent crude futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange fell 61 cents to $57.30 a barrel.

Heating oil fell by more than 2 cents to $1.8476 and gasoline by 1.50 cents to $1.5975 a gallon. Natural gas fell nearly 14 cents to $12.840 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Oil prices have declined 15% since reaching $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

Although prices have fallen close to $5 a barrel this week, they are still 24% stronger than at the start of the year and remain at historically high levels that threaten growth.

Germany and Japan are the latest countries to sound the alarm over oil costs.

"A lasting increase in oil prices to clearly above $60 per barrel would markedly dampen growth not only in Germany but worldwide," said Germany's outgoing Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement on Friday.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto said that high oil prices posed a "major risk" to the global economy.

Concrete evidence was emerging that oil at or near $70 a barrel had taken a toll on energy consumption, according to Daniel Yergin, a leading energy expert.

"I suspect demand is on a different track now ... I think globally," the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates told Reuters.

Weather forecasts also added relief to prices with continued predictions that Wilma, the latest hurricane to threaten the Gulf coast, will likely avoid key oil facilities. Some analysts estimated crude futures could slip even further as traders waited for price direction.

"The price could drop to as low as $56.50 a barrel in the short term, if investment funds rush to the market for a massive sell-off," said Ken Hasegawa of Tokyo-based brokerage firm Himawari CX.

But some traders and analysts have questioned the accuracy of demand figures and say prices could quickly bounce higher.

They have also said that although supplies of fuels, such as heating oil, are higher than a year ago, that could change as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere.

"The U.S. could suffer from a shortage of natural gas if ... hit by the predicted lower-than-normal temperatures and (if) heating oil supplies turn out to not be sufficient," Vienna's PVM Oil Associates warned.

U.S. government data showed a decline in total oil product demand deepening to 3.2% over the past four weeks, a bigger drop than last week's 2.8%, although gasoline and distillate deliveries maintained similar year-on-year weakness.

A rise in U.S. crude stocks took supplies nearly 12% above a year earlier.

 

So a barrel is cheaper, but we pay alltime high?

 

Oil prices may be dropping and supplies going up, but it sure isn’t showing up at the pumps.

 

They'll have the same reason they did back in the '70's.
"With usage down, we must raise our prices to maintain a profit level."

 

So what your saying is, bend over America!

 

We're in a no win situation.

 

Yep, and the price of petroleum is so high you can’t even afford Vaseline.

 

I don't know,prices have been slowly dropping here. I got RUG last night for $2.29 and diesel was $2.78

 

Still $3.199 and up around here.

 

Went to Galveston and filled up for $2.74

 

Off Subject:

justcampin, check out: http://www.riegerweb.com/Nortex_DTR.htm;
and https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ad.php?t=79504

You might want to join us next time.