[UncoveringTruths]

I wunder with all the Oil Big Wigs testifying before congress if all of them got together and said "hey lets use some influence and get the price down in the interim until the heats off our Arse".

Ok tinfoil hat off for now.

[seldom_seen]

I think that was somewhat of the common consensus around here, that oil prices would be heading upward again soon. The post-katrina tap on strategic reserves and imports under IEA policy are working there way out of the system. The christmas shopping season is over and it's time to start paying the piper again.

Maybe the talking heads and media types are just hoping that if they don't think about it, it will go away.

[OneLoneClone]

Bloomberg News had the incredibly dumb headline. They had to do a survey to figure that out?

Oil Prices May Rise as Demand for Gasoline Grows, Survey Shows

stupid headline article link

[cat]

This article blames hedging and speculation:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060106/ap_ ... _prices_73

This article blames the middle east:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060106/bs_ ... _oil_dc_23

Your guess is probably as good as theirs (economists that is), maybe even better.

[dogscalder]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cat', 'T')his article blames hedging and speculation:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060106/ap_ ... _prices_73

.

[LadyRuby]

Yeah, $64 been there done that and society didn't collapse. Wait until we hit $75 and you'll hear plenty.

I do think that oil companies, using as much influence as they could, sought to reduce oil (but more especially gasoline prices) to get the politicians off their backs. But just temporarily.

[Marklar]

I learned long ago never to look for the answers from the media. Too often do they post a story claiming "oil up on greater demand" only for it to fall 10 minutes later then they carry a completely different story later in the day.

They will get traders/analysts opinions or interpretations of the market's activity find which one sounds good and run it as fact.

I'm still trying to figure out why oil is over $64. I couldn't help but hear about the supposed demand destruction. Seemed the way the media carried it was that people in New York started riding their bicycles and people in Texas turned to horses. (exageration)

Now oil goes up more than $5 in the last few days apparently demand destruction was brief or overstated (according to EIA it was over hyped). Even after it was known demand didn't go down all that much the price of gasoline fell righ below $2 a gallon. ($1.39 wholesale on nymex) Funny how the last day of trading in 2005 it started a sharp upturn only to go up even sharper on the first day of trading in 2006. Pump prices in this area are still pretty low only carring maybe a 45 to 50 cent markup on wholesale prices vs the 60 to 70 markup during the summer of '05. $2.19 is average price here...

As far as I can tell there's no reason for oil to have gone up as much as it has the last few days since nothing major has changed. Investor money seems to be the only reason however, to me it seems that in an effecient market we should have seen some selling by now (unless someone knows something we dont? Iran war?).

UncoveringTruths, if you're not using that tinfoil hat, can I borrow it?

[killJOY]

So that's why all the crowing today on the radio about our wonderful, expanding economy...

LEAR: Look there! Look there!

[bruin]

Like mentioned above, I believe it's the "been there done that" factor the most. The media is showing what brings in ad revenue, not inform you about PO. So if now one is going to watch someone blather on about oil hitting $64 again, it just won't get talked about.

[Zorlag]

Gold touched 540 today too, after dipping to 492 before new years eve. Commodity bull market is going strong and dollar is on shaky ground...

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', 'Y')eah, time will tell won't it. Did you guys see the Israeli market dropped 6% now that Sharon has taken ill. That really changes the dynamic of the peace process. Thinking of the options over there you have

Peres - most likely in my mind to make a quick peace
Barak - I don't know him well at all
Netanyahu - most likely to move the settlers right back in

This Olmert guy I doubt he will make it past the elections. Certainly with both sides facing political division and confusion the door might be open for a strong hand from Condie. That'd be a feather in old Bush 45's cap.

I think we are going to attack Iran in March or April. That the best time to start a war over there. Perhaps some of this price jump is people betting on that possibility. I ran today basically told the IAE or is it the IEA, well they told whoever was watching to piss off. Basically we are going to restart more of our enrichment program and then they ditched the meeting they were supposed to attend. Never a dull moment in the Middle East it seems.

[clv101]

Oil prices have increased $5.59 ($57.85 to $63.44) in the last week or so, an increase of some 10%. The surprise (since it was widely acknowledged that prices would increase with the suspension of IEA reserve drawdown) is the lack of media coverage. Is it really the case that the media only care about new record prices and ignore dramatic changes below this threshold?

[Cobra_Strike]

Strange tidings these are but stranger still in the level of apathy people have. I wonder if people will react before it hits $100 US a barrel. Even then if enough believe the propaganda of the government they will probably continue to spend outragiously and get deeper in debt.

[DantesPeak]

Iraq's oil exports went essentially to zero from Dec 26 to Jan 1, and again a few days ago. T his would not have been reflected in US imports or inventories yet.

I think this might have something to do with prices going up in the short term. Of course, reports that December world production is not any higher than a year ago also helps.

[dissimulo]

People only care about the oil price if the market is down. If the market is up, there is no reason to report on oil taking it down.

Given that everything except the dollar went up in the last week, most people are not interested in oil.

I wonder how long the market, oil, and gold can all go up at the same time.

[Cobra_Strike]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissimulo', 'P')eople only care about the oil price if the market is down. If the market is up, there is no reason to report on oil taking it down.

Given that everything except the dollar went up in the last week, most people are not interested in oil.

I wonder how long the market, oil, and gold can all go up at the same time.