[DantesPeak]

Exchange increases margin requirements. Usually this has the effct of reducing prices temporarily, although it may not in the present case.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')YMEX To Change Margins For Crude Oil, Related Futures Contracts
07/11/07

The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. today announced margin changes for its crude oil and related futures contracts, beginning at the close of business tomorrow.

Margins for the December 2007 and January 2008 crude oil, crude oil calendar swap, and crude oil financial futures contracts will increase to $5,750 from $4,750 for clearing members, to $6,325 from $5,225 for members, and to $7,763 from $6,413 for customers.

Margins for all other months will increase to $5,000 from $4,000 for clearing members, to $5,500 from $4,400 for members, and to $6,750 from $5,400 for customers.

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whereagles', 'n')atural gas looks cheap now... hedge 5000 bucks of it on 10 years and you're bound to make a bucketload

[static66]

Finally, IEA fesses up a little to the obvious... they don't have the extra production chicky!!! they are lying to you.......

"I am sorry to say this, but we are headed toward really bad days," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told TIME this week. "Lots of targets have been set but very little has been done. There is a lot of talk and no action." .

Welcome to the beginning of the end...

[frankthetank]

Natural gas was up 36 Bcf this week. Looks like plenty in storage, so i shouldn't get hit too bad with heating bills this winter...next winter i'm moving to wood.

How hard is it to put $5000 in natural gas futures? Can you do something like that online or do you need to go to a broker or something? Thanks.

I think once those heating bills come in, along with increasing unleaded prices (next week shouldn't help) and the holiday seasons coming, demand destruction should kick in, right?

or are credit card companies upping charging limits!?

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', '
')How hard is it to put $5000 in natural gas futures? Can you do something like that online or do you need to go to a broker or something? Thanks.

[Revi]

Oil is down today, and unless something happens on the world stage, I can't see any records being broken today. Traders may bid it up for the weekend, but I think it's cooled off a bit.

I could be wrong. It's up to around $96 again.

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

Er...hello..lo...lo...lo...

Ew...it's all cobwebby...Not much happening here when oil is all the way down to $92 a barrel.

Spooky...let's get out of here.

[gnm]

You have to remember your Bloomberg-speak.... Its _Plummeted_ to $92.50 on some vapid release by the EIA (and we all know how smart they are) that presumes high prices have created demand destruction which now means there is ample supply and therefore the price is coming down which of course will in turn create more demand and....


-G

[VinceG]

Well oil is currently back at $91 dollar...

Now be honest...how many of you are actually disappointed to see the price go down again, even if it is a temporary event? How many of you were actually anticipating oil at $100?

[dbruning]

Mixed feelings here.

I am not in any rush to see what may be coming. Some of the scary predictions of where we are heading I find very compelling and many of them match my personal views.

and yet...it's nice to see my fears vindicated sometimes. No one like to feel as if their beliefs are wrong. Aren't a good chunk of the wars we've seen on this planet exactly that: people willing to kill to protect their belief system?

messed up huh?

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

As painful as it will be, I would prefer to get it over with. The Long Emergency is too long for me. I'm ready to see what's on the other side. After all, it's coming one way or another.

For me, seeing the price of oil go into reverse is disappointing in that it validates the PO naysayers who claim speculators are driving up the price and it encourages people to use more oil rather than to conserve it.

[DantesPeak]

To summarize what I posted elsewhere, due to low refinery profits (caused by government controls or by market forces), fuel demand is being reduced by shortages and not by price.

It's not impossible that the US will experience supply shortages as early as this year - regardless of whether the price of oil is at $80 or $120.

[Leanan]

I think, whether we break $100 this week or not, the Long Emergency is going to be a lot longer than even Kunstler thought.

There have been shortages of diesel and gasoline in the midwest since spring. Now it's fall, the shortages are still going on, and they're rationing heating oil.

But it's not even making the news, except locally. Did anyone ever imagine that?

[simontay78]

Well, don't need to wait much longer...currently it's rallying..

1. Turkey is ready to send in special forces into northern Iraq
2. Today US Inventory Report should be quite bad..
3. 17-18 OPEC meeting should not get any hike in oil supply...

Most come 19th November to see $100...or earlier.

[mcgowanmc]

Leanan,

Have I been banned from TOD?

Just curious,

James

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mcgowanmc', 'L')eanan,

Have I been banned from TOD?

[thor]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ell oil is currently back at $91 dollar...

[Sys1]

With Christmess, people WILL have to buy china stuffs and expensive food, travel to see family and ask for heating oil (especially as the coming winter looks cold). All that while exponential growth does its job.

I bet traders will test the 100$ barrel before january.

[frankthetank]

Personally i'd like to see the price drop to about $15 and natural gas to about a buck. That way people would burn even more and we can get this whole roller coaster ride over quicker. I think the high prices just delay this thing. I'd love to see the world pump about 100 million/day for a couple of years. It would drop prices down to about nothing and we could all take some time off to "stock" up on the clearance sale that would ensue.

People would leave their cars running overnight so that they were warm in the morning!

[Zardoz]

Well over $95 again, and here's why:

Oil Rises as OPEC Ministers Say They've Lost Control of Prices

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')rude oil rose more than $1 a barrel as ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the group has lost control of prices.

"OPEC can't do anything about the price,'' Venezuela's oil minister Rafael Ramirez said today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where OPEC is holding a heads-of-state summit this weekend. Oil prices could reach $100 a barrel "soon,'' he said. The December futures contract in New York expires today.

"The OPEC meeting is interesting only because of the expressions of exasperation we hear'' about prices, said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York. "The expiration of the December contract is adding a lot of volatility to the market. Open interest is plunging so there's a lack of liquidity.''