Friday, April 21, 2006

Room Enough for Barrels of Oil--But Can You Afford Them?


As you can see above, VP Big-Time Dick awakened from his little nap (see below) and is hoping you can help him fill the tank--looks like it'll cost him a little over $90. Or, if he's willing to refine it himself, let's see--I think, based on my estimate, you could cram about eight barrels into the back, provided you dropped the 2nd row seats. At today's prices, that'd be...around $600 bucks:

Oil smashed through record highs Friday, cruising past $75 a barrel on continued fears of a supply disruptions in Iran and Nigeria and reports of spot gas shortages on the U.S. East Coast.

U.S. oil for June delivery set a new trading high of $75.35 before easing to settle up $1.48 at 75.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, also a new closing record. The May contract expired Thursday at $71.95.

One trader said the tense international situation left many investors reluctant to bet prices were going to come down before they left for the weekend.

"Over the weekend traders aren't able to respond to any political news," said Brian Hicks, co-manager of the Global Resources Fund at U.S. Global Investors. "It's safer to be long than short."

Hicks said the soaring prices could start eating into demand and that certain predictions - like one he said he heard by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez that oil could spike to $100 a barrel if the U.S. attacks Iran - aren't helping.

"It's that kind of news flow that seems to be driving the oil traders," he said. "It's somewhat concerning."

Oil has been hitting record highs in recent sessions, unadjusted for inflation, on supply worries fed by fears of a confrontation with Iran, the world's fourth-biggest producer. But it's also within sight of inflation-adjusted highs of around $80 a barrel set in the late 1970s and early 1980s following the gas crisis and the Iranian revolution.

U.S. average gas prices moved closer to the $3 a gallon mark Friday as spot shortages were reported along the East Coast.


You know, about the only good thing that'll come out of this is that Gret Stet revenues should see a bit of an uptick...but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what's actually needed in the region.

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