Oil jumps $5 on shrinking stockpiles (not mentioned, gasoline up 16 cents a gallon)

CNN ^ | 6/11/2008 | Ben Rooney, CNNMoney

[tobyhill]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices shot up Wednesday as the dollar slipped and the U.S. government reported that crude supplies shrank more-than-expected last week.

In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said crude supplies fell by 4.6 million barrels last week. Analysts were looking for a drop of 1.4 million barrels, according to a poll by energy research firm Platts.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $5.07 to settle at $136.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract surged nearly $11 on Friday to set an all-time high of $139.12 before giving up $7 earlier this week.

A softening of the U.S. dollar also contributed to the rise in crude prices Wednesday. The euro bought $1.5566, up from $1.5449 Tuesday.

[Obadiah]

Good! Maybe it will go up to a million dollars a barrel! Let’s just get this over.

[allmost]

Ridiculous.

[tobyhill]

It’s not going to end till congress assures the market that there will be near future supplies. The market is not against alternatives but that’s so long term that won’t even include it in their calculations.

[bpjam]

DRILL NOW!

DRILL HERE!

BLEED THE TERRORISTS AND DICTATORS!

RESTORE OUR NATIONAL SECURITY!

[jveritas]

Oil speculators are the problem for this current oil crisis. Oil should not be more than $ 80 dollar a barrel based on the supply and demand and based on the value of the dollar. The thieves who call themselves oil speculators must be dealt with. World government should enact new laws to punish them for theft.

[NRG1973]

Although speculators may be amplifying the price of oil, the long term trend is up. World inventories are down and Saudi Arabia no longer has “excess capacity”. The sooner that our nation realizes that and begins to produce more domestic oil, the better it will be for all of us.

[tobyhill]

Congress can end the speculators run by increasing supplies on the market and assuring the market that there won’t be shortages.

[gathersnomoss]

Hmmm, World Government? Right, that’s the ticket. They certainly will do something to help those who supply the money for the fuel, won’t they? There is alway’s hope.

[jveritas]

I am 100% for drilling but to start drilling you need years and to start production you need even more. I am very much familiar with the oil production industry as the company I work for supply certain accessories for this industry. Right now as an immediate relief laws must be enacted to put oil speculators in jail for way over blowing the price of oil. This is not free market anymore not even close. This is pure and clear theft.

[jveritas]

I meant world governments with an “s”. Yes they should do something about the thieves called oil speculators.

[PRO 1]

“World Government”...????

YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT

[tobyhill]

The speculators are betting we will never drill to increase domestic supplies and that’s their excuse to run up the fear thus it runs up the price. I’ve never bought into the weekly reports but the speculators do.

[jveritas]

Listen Zaber. I meant world governments with a “s”. I know that a lot of conspiracy theories loons will have the adrenaline rushing into their tiny brains just because of a typo mistake.

[NRG1973]

Congress has been investigating the oil markets for weeks and hasn’t found any hanky-panky. Bart Stupac (D-Michigan) reported that last week in a press conference. The situation is fundamental...the world needs more oil production to meet future demand. The speculators know that and feel assured that their investments in oil will pay off. They might run into periods where the price may be a bit higher than it should be, but thats only temporary.

[umgud]

Pretty quick, we’re gonna see a new tax on fuels. Road/excise taxes are paid on a per gallon basis. Because of these high costs, people are using less fuel and gov’t’s are collecting fewer dollars for infrastructure and roadwork. Trust me, they will find a way to get this money out of us.

[isrul]

Yesterday I heard Newt Gindrich suggest that releasing 1/3 of the strategic oil supply would drop the prices and also wipe out many of the speculators. Anyone have an opinion as to whether this might be a good thing?

[gathersnomoss]

Your government does not care what is “better...for all of us”. Sorry, wrong number. Please try again later.

[garbanzo]

Come on, everybody needs a scapegoat, why not attack the “speculators”. Never mind the decline in production of most major fields and the rise in demand from two of the world’s most populous regions. It’ll be fun to revisit the gas lines of the 1970s.

[DonaldC]

If Newt is wrong, will the sale be enough to knock down the govt. deficit and help boost the dollar?