Oil Prices Jump on Iran Energy Threat ($73.73/bbl)

Daily Press ^ | June 5, 2006

[RWR8189]

SINGAPORE -- Oil prices jumped Monday in reaction to a threat by Iran's supreme leader that his nation could jeopardize the world's oil supply if the West punished Tehran over its nuclear program.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $1.02 to $73.35 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midafternoon in Singapore. The contract rose Friday to $72.33 following the kidnapping of eight foreigners working on a drilling rig off the coast of Nigeria. The workers were released Sunday.

July Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures rose $1.03 to $72.06 per barrel.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, addressed Western nations in a speech Sunday, saying: "If you make any mistake (punish or attack Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized."

Khamenei said the United States and its allies would be unable to secure oil shipments passing out of the Persian Gulf through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean.

"The price surge is a knee-jerk reaction to the remarks made by Iran's supreme leader," said Victor Shum, energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. He noted, however, that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had indicated a breakthrough in negotiations was possible, but rejected a precondition to talks.

[RWR8189]

Light Sweet Crude Oil

6/5/2006 Session Contract Detail for July 6

	Last				73.73
	Open High				72.70
	Open Low				72.70
	High				73.73
	Low				72.47
	Settle				72.33
	Change				+3.39
	Open Interest				263315
	Volume				0.00
	Last Updated				06/05/2006 05:44:58

 

Unleaded Gasoline

6/5/2006 Session Contract Detail for July 6

	Last				2.2280
	Open High				2.1950
	Open Low				2.1950
	High				2.2350
	Low				2.1950
	Settle				2.1975
	Change				+.1008
	Open Interest				56362
	Volume				0.00
	Last Updated				06/05/2006 05:45:55

[DustyMoment]

Man!! This is getting OLD!!!!

Don't you know Ahmadinejab is laughing his butt off at the western oil traders!! All this guy has to do is belch and oil prices skyrocket!!

[strange1]

Don't you know Ahmadinejab is laughing his butt off at the western oil traders!! All this guy has to do is belch and oil prices skyrocket!!

You got that right, this is how the game will be played form here on. Unfortunately it'll be reflected back on the world economy. I just wish our farmers could/would do the same with our exporting of grain and milk. I'd love to see just how those Iranians can drink that oil.

[The South Texan]

"Don't you know Ahmadinejab is laughing his butt off at the western oil traders!! All this guy has to do is belch and oil prices skyrocket!!"

Maybe Bush should threaten to cut off Iran's refined gas supplies in turn. They import much of their gasoline ironically because of lack of refining capacity. Maybe threatening to take out what refining they have and pipelines that import the finshed product into the country as well as bloackade Iran's ports might do the trick to shut up this clown.

Again, if the government wants to go after someone about the price of Gas in this country they would look at the speculators. The problems is some might have ties to unsuspecting politicians (Rats). That is why you don't hear them (Schummer, Durbin, Clinton, et.al) demanding probes into the trading market.

[kittymyrib]

This is such a scam. The world has an oil glut. There is NO shortage of supply. Every driver in the USA should cut their driving by 15-20% this summer, and we would see the world drowning in gasoline.
It will be a happy day when we are all driving with 100% ethanol, thus starving all the tin-pot dictators that supply us with oil now, along with the thieves in the oil futures rip-off.

[Vaquero]

To volatile.

ACTUAL supply and demand should be the only basis...not some projected hypothetical

[Nightrider]

amazing that the cost of oil is based on speculators whose sole objective is keeping the price high....when this guy farts, ef hutton listens....

[BadAndy]

The price of food to OPEC nations should be directly related to the price of oil. Let's see how the camel humpers like wheat at $70 a bushell.

[conservativewasp]

First new suggestion I've heard in a while. Increased ethanol production will drive up grain costs, but not enough. Perhaps a tariff is called for here.

[quantfive]

"It will be a happy day when we are all driving with 100% ethanol, thus starving all the tin-pot dictators that supply us with oil now, along with the thieves in the oil futures rip-off."

Thats the only good news coming out of this ever-sustained oil bubble. It is starting to create new huge markets for ethanol/biodiesel & nuclear power. I will say we will be 75%energy dependent in less then 10 years and fully off of ME oil by 2020. In between we are going to have to get used to $3.00 a gallon, it's here to stay. I am going to trade my gas-guzzling F150 for one of the new hybrid trucks coming out in 2007.

[Blzbba]

"Don't you know Ahmadinejab is laughing his butt off at the western oil traders!! All this guy has to do is belch and oil prices skyrocket!!"


What's funny is that Iran NEEDS to export oil far more than China/America need to import Iranian oil. Iran's refinery capacity is minimal and it would be economically affected far more negatively by a well-enforced Iranian Oil Boycott than would the West and China.

[norraad]

Ethanol is a nice pasty-esk diversion, but will prove more problematic than its worth (formic acid, water, etc., and other nasty things the mother-in-law of this "new bride" ethanol are not talking about).

As captive consumers we're limited by the corpos lame a$$ ME supporting decisions, they enjoy a wealthy troublesome ME.

Btw ~ Silverado hybrids have been out for years.

[jveritas]

At the end something should be done about the oils traders and speculators. We cannot simply leave the price this very important and very vital commodity being controlled by knee jerk reactionaries.

[DustyMoment]

At the end something should be done about the oils traders and speculators.

I concur. Congress (Senate) has made a great show of bashing the oil companies over (non-existent) price gouging charges to pander to the ignoramuses in our society.

I'd love to see them go after the speculators on this garbage.

[mysterio]

Oil Prices Jump on Iran Energy Threat ($73.73/bbl)

Yeah, right. Oil prices jumped because the sun came up today and a bunch of people want to make even more money off of a product with inflexible demand.

The fact that we have not made replacing this product with a domestic alternative our top priority tells me that our government cares nothing about national security.

[mysterio]

Every driver in the USA should cut their driving by 15-20% this summer

And if we did that, the OPEC nations would cut production, and our oil companies would decide a couple refineries needed some "routine maintenance." If they discovered the Pacific Ocean was actually composed of light sweet crude rather than water, we would still be paying $2 per gallon.

[The Old Hoosier]

ACTUAL supply and demand should be the only basis...not some projected hypothetical

If everyone could predict the future, then it would work that way. As matters stand, speculators do their thing in expectation of what could happen next.

[quantfive]

"As captive consumers we're limited by the corpos lame a$$ ME supporting decisions, they enjoy a wealthy troublesome ME."

We used to be that is for sure, but some serious private investment is going to make it work. Rest easy, this is the information age, not the 70's :^)

[norraad]

You must be a youngster.

[STARWISE]