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$70 a barrel?
Pioneer Press ^ | Sunday, June. 26th, 2005 | Tim Huber

Posted on 6/26/2005, 9:38:47 PM by M. Espinola

Remember when predictions of $50-a-barrel oil seemed far-fetched? Last week, prices briefly touched $60 a barrel and the far-fetched predictions are now about prices hitting $70 a barrel, and even higher.

The talk about energy costs is no longer "When will prices come down?" but "How high will they go?"

As the price of oil climbs, so do prices for many commodities, led by gasoline, which moves up and down in lockstep with oil. Electricity and natural gas prices likely would follow oil, as would goods made from petroleum such as plastics. Food, too, would go up because of higher production and transportation costs.

All of this drives up the cost of doing business in an economy where passing along costs isn't a sure bet. Just ask airlines, which are still expected to lose billions of dollars despite the busiest summer travel season since 2000.

And higher prices are already beginning to change the behavior of consumers. Look at Ford and General Motors, two companies facing dealer lots filled with large, gas-hungry trucks and sport utility vehicles as car buyers look at more fuel-efficient alternatives.

THE UPSIDE

To be sure, the effects of rising prices aren't all bad.

"There's always sort of the tendency to make dire predictions," said Terry Roe, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota.

But in reality, economic shocks such as surges in energy costs have positive effects and negative effects. High oil and gasoline prices in the late 1970s and early 1980s stung consumers, but they also led to more efficient air conditioners and furnaces. While it's difficult to predict, this time around we might see innovations as high-tech as hydrogen fuel cells or as low-tech as smaller homes.

Rising oil prices "create opportunities for others in the economy," Roe said.

Crude oil prices are running about 50 percent higher than a year ago, partly because of rising demand from the U.S. and fast-growing economies in China and India. Meanwhile, the supply of oil has been tight. Traders have been concerned about unrest in the Middle East, the world's major supplier, and other oil-producing countries such as Nigeria.

Traders, including high-profile types such as Boone Pickens, continue to expect price increases. Even when short-term political worries fade, demand shows no sign of tapering off. Contracts for oil to be delivered in November are above $60 a barrel.

All of this is good news for places like western North Dakota and eastern Montana, where increased production and exploration in oil fields have created a bit of an economic boom, said Toby Madden, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Closer to home, Flint Hills Resources is planning to invest up to $500 million to expand its oil refinery in Rosemount and launch a project to produce cleaner diesel.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR SHIFTS

Move beyond the companies on the supply side, however, and you see a marketplace in flux.

At Walser Toyota, orders for the hybrid-powered Toyota Prius, which can get 51 miles per gallon in the city and 60 on the highway, have increased sixfold. "We got two or three Priuses per month last year," said Pat Stanley, product-training manager at the Bloomington dealership. "Now we get 11 or 12."

As mpg — miles per gallon — has returned to the car-buying equation, the nation's top two automakers, General Motors and Ford, have been caught flat-footed with gas-guzzling vehicles.

The burgeoning housing market is still going strong, buoyed by cheap financing. But costs are creeping up, and buyers are asking new questions.

Homebuilder Curt Swanson says prospective buyers of a house he's selling in Plymouth have fretted about having to commute. "Potentially, it's making some people think about not moving out so far," said Swanson, owner of Medina-based Swanson Homes.

Realtor Gregg Roeglin was surprised when a builder alerted him to additional costs recently on a new high-end home, including a spike in the price of carpeting that will add $2,000 alone. Roeglin is representing the buyer, whose current home he'll also work to sell. "I think it's interesting that the builder warned us upfront," Roeglin said.

Paul Vosen, who runs a remodeling company in Madison, Wis., is passing on higher fuel costs to customers, who don't seem fazed. "My monthly fuel bill has doubled," said Vosen, president of Degenhardt Home Improvement.

FOOD PRICES JUMP

Food bills also are likely to rise quickly if oil continues moving upward. Food bills jumped in March when crude oil prices topped $50 a barrel.

Farmers likely will feel the pain come harvest time, said Mike Derickson, manager of refinery operations for CHS Inc. in Inver Grove Heights.

CHS is the farm supply and petroleum cooperative that supplies the Cenex chain of gasoline stations. Though larger farms have lowered energy costs to 2.5 to 3 percent of production expenses in recent years, the near doubling of diesel fuel prices would push those costs back up to 5 percent or more of production expenses, said University of Minnesota applied economist Kent Olson. That doesn't include nitrogen fertilizer and farm chemical expenses that are made from petroleum and natural gas.

Further up the food chain, fuel surcharges paid to truckers are passed along directly to consumers by national wholesalers such as Supervalu Inc. and Nash Finch Co. Truckers have fuel cost surcharges that operate similarly to the airlines: When fuel prices go up, high transportation rates kick in.

But not everyone gets to pass along fuel costs. Dairy cooperatives such as Land O'Lakes in Arden Hills and Associated Milk Producers Inc. in New Ulm operate their own trucks to collect milk from farms, and they use large amounts of energy at storage and dairy processing plants to boot.

NWA'S FUTURE IN BALANCE

Northwest Airlines might feel the most pain of all. Its fuel bill jumped 40 percent in the first quarter, to $630 million, and looks like it will keep soaring. Northwest paid an average of $1.38 a gallon in the first quarter, but spot prices for jet fuel this month have topped $1.70 a gallon. Every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil increases Northwest's expenses by $50 million. Thus if oil were to hit $70 a barrel, Northwest's costs would rise $500 million.

The airline has a task force that is trying to find ways to conserve fuel, but chief executive Doug Steenland told employees earlier this year that answers have been elusive. "They're only going to be able to make a small dent in this massive cost increase."

For Northwest, the stakes are high. Along with pension funding and debt obligations, high labor costs relative to its rivals and billions of dollars in operating losses since 2001, fuel could help drive Northwest to file for bankruptcy protection.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Puckmaster Inc., a Blaine-based recycling equipment maker. Interest in equipment that allows machine shops to recover waste oil has grown as gasoline prices have risen, said regional marketing director Tim Sernett. "When oil was a lot less expensive, they didn't worry about reclaiming it." Today, they're thinking of reclaiming their oil for the first time.

Still, Sernett is worried about slowing auto sales. Many of Puckmaster's customers make auto parts, and slack demand may mean less business, Sernett said.

RETAILERS SQUEEZED

It might seem odd, but Wilsons Leather, the Brooklyn Park-based retailer of leather apparel, could be hurt by oil prices. Animal hide accounts for 75 percent of the cost of a leather jacket, but the other 25 percent comes from construction, which includes the use of oil-based chemicals in tanning.

If crude oil rises, "it will drive the cost of leather up," said chief executive Michael Searles. "But we are not planning to pass that on to the customer. We think we can maintain our price points. We are looking to push the costs back to the manufacturers and be more efficient in transporting products."

Thus Wilsons is negotiating better shipping rates and asking vendors to hold down production cost increases. Even if Wilsons holds the line on its costs, rising oil prices probably will hurt discretionary consumer spending.

"Every retailer is impacted when it costs consumers more and more to fill up at the pump," Searles said.

Many analysts think that the biggest impact is on the discretionary spending of lower-income consumers, the core market for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and dollar-store merchants.

"We continue to believe any upward pricing pressure on gas, food and other commodities will have a greater negative impact on Wal-Mart's core customer than Target's," Jeffrey Klinefelter, a Piper Jaffray analyst in Minneapolis, said recently.

Klinefelter's firm estimates the average household income of Target's core customers is $55,000 to $60,000 a year compared with $40,000 to $45,000 a year for Wal-Mart's biggest block of shoppers. Wal-Mart blamed some of its lackluster growth last year on rising gasoline prices, especially last summer when prices rose 25 to 30 percent compared with the same period in 2003. The higher gas prices cut into consumer spending at its stores, the company said.

St. Paul-based Gander Mountain, retailer of outdoor sporting goods, thinks that rising gasoline prices could curtail but not eliminate trips or other outdoor sporting activities by its core customers, hunters and fishermen, said Shannon Burns, director of investor relations.

Still, one of Gander's latest promotions is tied into the oil price speculation: In the Twin Cities, the retailer is offering shoppers a free $25 Holiday Station gas card when they spend $200 or more at Gander stores using any MasterCard, she said. The promotion runs through July 4th, she said.

graphics added


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; inflation; oil; opec
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When oil dived to $11 not that long ago there were those which stated above '$30 was 'crazy'! When oil was trending around $30 back in late 2003 any mention of $50 was 'silly'. Crude oil is right around $60 a barrel now - anyone think higher is still crazy?


1 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:38:48 PM by M. Espinola
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To: M. Espinola

$60.00
$70.00
$100.00

ANWR will do little to stop this trend.


2 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:42:42 PM by IronMan04
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To: IronMan04

oil might go beyond $60 even, $70 but it wont hit $100 unless SAudi Arabia falls.


High oil prices have built into them their own demise.

Anyone remember "85 by 85"


3 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:45:00 PM by atlanta67
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To: M. Espinola

At the recent Bilderberger meeting, Heinz Kissinger said that they would take the price of a barrel of light, sweet crude oil to $120.

Brace yourselves.


4 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:46:12 PM by lodwick (Integrity has no need of rules. Albert Camus)
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To: IronMan04
"ANWR will do little to stop this trend."

Unfortunately that is correct. We are after all in a global energy market.

5 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:47:04 PM by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: M. Espinola
Oil is way overvalued at $55.00/brl. The fed is going to raise interest rates this week 25 basis points, this should put some downward pressure on the price.

My guess by the end of July oil should be around $48.50 to $49.99/brl.
6 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:48:34 PM by Perdogg (Perdogg V Tyson, 12/31/05 at the Bellagio, Las Vegas)
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To: M. Espinola

Hopefully it will come down, or at least won't spike any higher, before the 2006 elections.


7 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:50:04 PM by kms61
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To: IronMan04

It would be nice if we could get some oil out of Iraq, what are they doing with the stuff.


8 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:50:19 PM by Bossy Gillis
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To: lodwick

""At the recent Bilderberger meeting, Heinz Kissinger said that they would take the price of a barrel of light, sweet crude oil to $120.""


oh conspiracy BS


9 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:51:58 PM by atlanta67
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To: lodwick
"At the recent Bilderberger meeting, Heinz Kissinger said that they would take the price of a barrel of light, sweet crude oil to $120. Brace yourselves."

There are other forces busy at work with various economic agenda's. There is also a potential of $200 and even Bilderberger types with have little or no influence if the Middle-East, all of a sudden blows up centered right in the oil rich 'Persian' Gulf.

We need to mindful one group of fanatics have already attempted to total disrupt the western economy via attacking the 'World Trade Center' plus other failed financial 'targets' on a clear, sunny day in September of 2001, which they turned into a dark day of mass murder.

10 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:55:36 PM by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: M. Espinola

unless the administration opens the SPR to pop the speculative bubble, wall street will continue to talk it up. the financial markets are using oil as the new "tech stocks".


11 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:57:06 PM by oceanview
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To: atlanta67

"This war is a powder keg,'' said Chavez, after meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "It could take the price of a barrel to US$100. I hope it doesn't.''

September 16, 2004

http://www.kenai-peninsula.org/archives/000225.html


12 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:58:48 PM by dogbarks77
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To: Bossy Gillis

iraq is selling plenty of oil - at $60 a barrel. they should be selling some of it to the US at $40 as a form of war reparations.


13 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:58:50 PM by oceanview
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To: kms61
"Hopefully it will come down, or at least won't spike any higher, before the 2006 elections".

I believe there will be some serious profit taking throughout the energy sector, however the era of long term cheap energy seems to have drawn its last breath.

14 posted on 6/26/2005, 9:59:24 PM by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: dogbarks77

so what?

which war?

a statement from 9 months ago?


15 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:00:32 PM by atlanta67
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To: M. Espinola
The bubble will burst, me-too investors and mutual funds will take the biggest hits as they get left holding the bag. Speculating the commodities market has its downside - you get to take delivery if you don't sell it first.

When is the next contract expiration date?
16 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:01:50 PM by kingu
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To: Bossy Gillis

Al-Sistani is keeping an eye on his oil.


17 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:01:57 PM by dogbarks77
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To: atlanta67
"High oil prices have built into them their own demise"

We acquired two 50 mpg vehicles last month that have cut our consumption in more than half "for the duration". When oil goes back down, we can go back to the SUVs.

18 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:02:05 PM by Paladin2 (Don't Tread on Me; Live Free or Die)
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To: atlanta67
so what? which war? a statement from 9 months ago? We will have to wait and see how accurate this 9 month old prediction turns out to be.
19 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:04:02 PM by dogbarks77
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To: Paladin2

people dont realise that the american consumer makes changes to their habits, although not overnight.

In 1973 the US consumer 20m barrels of oil per year. By 1982 it was 14m (there was a recession however that year).

SUV sales are down 25%

Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated Americans are consuming 1% less gasoline than last year at this time.


20 posted on 6/26/2005, 10:04:05 PM by atlanta67
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