[joewp]

Bloomberg

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Oil Rises Above $100 to Record Close After the Dollar Declines

By Mark Shenk

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $100 a barrel to a record close in New York as the weakening dollar prompted some traders to invest in commodities as a hedge against inflation.

Reports today showed that U.S. home prices tumbled, consumer confidence weakened and producer prices rose last month. Hedge- fund managers and other large speculators increased net-long positions, or bets on higher oil prices, in the week ended Feb. 19, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission report showed.

``The market is being driven by speculation, fear and psychology,'' said Stephen Schork, principal of the trading firm The Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pennsylvania. ``There were some investors who shorted oil when we reached $100 last week, for whatever reason, and they panicked today.'' Shorts are bets that prices will decline.

Crude oil for April delivery rose $1.63, or 1.6 percent, to $100.86 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures surged 12 percent in the month before touching $101.32 a barrel on Feb. 20, the highest since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 64 percent from a year ago.

[canis_lupus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', '[')url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9.dLNamsPUA&refer=home]Bloomberg[/url]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')

``The market is being driven by speculation, fear and psychology,'' said Stephen Schork, principal of the trading firm The Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

[Chuckmak]

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')igeria Benchmark Crude Qua Iboe Offer At Record High- Trade

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
February 26, 2008 12:18 p.m.

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Nigeria's key benchmark grade crude oil Qua Iboe is being offered at record highs, traders of West African crude said Tuesday.

One cargo for April loading carrying 950,000 barrels of Qua crude is being offered at a $3.60 premium to the Dated Brent Forties Oseberg Ekofisk quotation, traders said, but a deal hasn't yet completed.

Market participants said values for Nigerian physical crude have surged higher in recent days supported by fears of tightening supply after militia group renewed threats to attack oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

[FreddyH]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', ' ')The focus on the dollar price of west Texas sweet is absurd, it's a financial speculative tool with little use. the price of oil has hardly increased , it is the US dollar wich is crashing not the oil price increasing due to the present administration borrowing madly to pay for its adventures in far off countries

[DantesPeak]

$101.22

[something_awfull]

$101.25.

Are we past the mythical seasonly adjusted CPI blah blah figure from the 1970's yet?

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('something_awfull', '$')101.25.

Are we past the mythical seasonly adjusted CPI blah blah figure from the 1970's yet?

[smiley]

I wonder. Most speculative rises tend to go parabolical after a while as investors start piling in. At the end they go almost vertical like the silver price in the Hunt period.

So far the decline of the dollar and the increase of oil price have been quite gradual. Will we see an accelleration now the dollar has breached the 1.50 Dol-Eur limit and oil has boosted past $100.

[Zardoz]

Onward and upward:



Upstream Online

[kilik]

Wow, the dollar is so weak right now that oil is actually cheaper in Europe now compared to a few weeks back...

[lowem]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Crude oil has hit $102.00

[lowem]

... on NYMEX WTI.

[simontay78]

102...the new high!

[emersonbiggins]

$102 should be enough to beat the 1980 inflation-adjusted record high.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '$')102 should be enough to beat the 1980 inflation-adjusted record high.

[Zardoz]

Back over $101 again. The era of solid, spike-free, no-event triple-digit oil prices is here. This is the new "normal".

[Last_Laff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'B')ack over $101 again. The era of solid, spike-free, no-event triple-digit oil prices is here. This is the new "normal".

[Leanan]

New Record High for Oil Prices

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')rude futures hit an all-time high above $102 a barrel Thursday in the U.S. as oil traders reacted to reports of supply disruptions and the continuing decline of the dollar.

The April West Texas Intermediate crude contract jumped $2.79 to $102.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Reformulated gasoline gained 2 cents to $2.50 a gallon, and heating oil rose 7 cents to $2.84 a gallon. Natural gas added 41 cents to $9.47 per million British thermal units.

[emersonbiggins]

...and there it is...