Europe Relieved as Russia and Ukraine Sign Gas Monitoring Agreement

Europe breathes a little easier as Russia and Ukraine sign agreement to keep gas flowing to region.

Crude Oil Inventory Pressures Commodity Below $69

Most industry watchers had their suspicions confirmed concerning an expanding crude oil inventory in the U.S., as the government report revealed a declining demand as consumers cut back on spending, causing the investory to rise.

As of about 11 a.m. EST, November delivery for light, sweet crude dropped by $4.73 to $68.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The last time oil prices were this low was on August 22, 2007, when the session finished at $69.26 a barrel. Prices have plunged since the high of $147 a barrel in July.

What triggered an even bigger fall than looked for was the amount of the inventory growth. Most analysts expected inventories to rise, but were looking for about 3.1 million barrels, instead inventory grew by a more-than-expected 5.6 million barrels for the week ending October 10.

Gasoline inventory tracked oil inventory, rising by 7 million barrels. According to the Energy Information Administration, gasonline demand has fallen by 5.2 percent over the last four weeks, averaging 8.8 million barrels a day, said the agency.

Oil Falls Over $9 to End at 13-month Low on Friday

Oil prices plummeted to a 13-month low Friday, following ongoing dramatic stock market losses, as investors fear that the anemic global economy is having negative impact of fuel demand.

Crude for November delivery in the U.S. plunged $9.21 to $77.38 a barrel, the lowest its been since September 11 2007 when it hit a mid-day low of $77.

The Dow Jones industrials lost 128 points Friday, as it limped to the end of the wild session where it traded in a range of 1019 points during the day.

As economic concern drives people to tighten up their wallets, demand for oil continues to drop, as in the U.S. last week supplies increased by 8.1 million barrels, indicating people are cutting back on usage.

OPEC nations are starting to go into panic mode as well, calling an emergency session on November 18, a month before the regularly scheduled meeting.

It is expected they are going to decide to cut back on production in order to shore up prices, but that will be futile as problems are much bigger than they can affect.

The U.S. government and others will soon find out that they need to quit interfering in all markets and let them take care of what they know how to do. The market after all consists of people and businesses in their enormous number of interactions during this period of time; they'll know how to best respond to the government-induced financial crisis.

According to AAA, the average gas price per gallon in the U.S. is now at $3.35 a gallon.

U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Increase While Demand Slackens

Crude oil and gasoline inventories increased last week in the U.S., as crude supplies grew by 8.1 million barrels to 302.6 million, according to the Energy Information Administration.

As expected, the lowering demand because of economic fears, along with the growing inventory has put downward pressure on prices as oil dropped below $87 a barrel early in the day for November delivery. Gasoline futures also fell by over 10 cents to their lowest levels in a year.

Most analysts were surprised by the amount the oil inventory rose, as they had looked for a 6 percent gain, while the real gain was 8.6 percent, now bringing inventories up to 80.9 percent of capacity as of last week.

Gasoline supplies increased 7.2 million barrels to end the week at 186.8 million. Some analysts were especially surprised here, as they were looking more for an increase of around 1.1 million barrels.

Third Quarter Oil Price Drop Largest in 17 Years

Oil experienced one of its largest price swings in history during the third quarter as prices fluctuated within a range of $56 a barrel. From its record high of $147.27 a barrel on July 11, it went a low as $90.51 a barrel on September 16.

Overall in the quarter oil futures fell by 28 percent, the largest fall since 1991.

Along with the obvious economic factors which have slowed down oil demand, there is also the strengthening of the U.S. dollar during that period as well.

November delivery for crude oil fell to close to $40 during the quarter to settle at $100.64 at about 3:00 p.m on the NYMEX. That's the first time it has fallen in seven quarters. It went up by $4.27 in today's trading.

When you take into account OPEC announcing they're cutting production, and the two hurricanes recently hitting the south and disrupting oil flow, it's really an amazing event that the black liguid has stayed this low. Add the ongoing Nigerian attacks on their pipelines and rigs, along with the conflict between Russia and Georgia and it's even more astounding.

It seems like oil futures are completely driven by demand at this time, as according to Deutsche Bank the price of Oil for 2009 New York will probably drop by 23 percent to around $92.50 a barrel. At this time U.S. demand for petroleum has dropped about 4 percent from the same period last year.

Although gas prices increased by almost 9 cents today, overall its followed the decline in oil for the quarter, dropping by 11 percent to end at a nationwide average of $3.633 a gallon, according to AAA.

Oil Closing in on $120, Gas Prices Over $3.50

The price of gas across America has now reached over $3.51 a gallon, as prices for oil continue to break records almost daily. Diesel also broke new records, as it surged to $4.204 a gallon overnight. This was according to a survey by the Oil Price Information Service and the AAA.

Foreign supply constraints continue to be a factor in oil prices in the U.S., as the problems in Nigeria continue, and Mexico is producing less oil than usual, dropping be 7.8 percent in the first quarter, producing about 2.91 million barrels a day.

Crude for delivery in the U.S. increased by 23 cents on Wednesday to finish at $118.30 a barrel.

London Brent crude increased by 51 cents to settle at $116.46 a barrel; down from the record of $116.75 set on Tuesday.

Gasoline futures hit another record high today after the reports last week of U.S.inventories dropping by 3.2 million barrels.

Petrobras Claims Yet Another Huge Oil Find - the Largest in 30 Years

The Brazilian company Petrobas has claimed another huge oil field find under the ocean, this time it could be up to 33 billion of barrels of oil in the field, about 5times the size of Tupi. They also discovered a huge gas field recently, which also contained oil; and they named Juniper.

This discovery, if it holds to near the size estimated, will be the largest oil discovery in the world in 30 years.

"It could be the world's biggest discovery in the past 30 years, and the world's third-biggest currently active field," Haroldo Lima, head of the government's oil and fuel market regulator, told reporters.

The new find is in the Santos basin area called Carioca, west of the Tupi field. Other companies with a stake in the field are BG, with a 30 percent, and Repsol, with a 25 percent stake.

A number of geologists have theorized that the Tupi field probably would entertain a neighboring, larger field, containing both natural gas and oil. Obviously they were right.

Oil Futures Break another Record: Close over $110 a Barrel

Crude oil futures broke another record today, as they surged to a new intraday high of $112.21, and broke another record when it closed at $110.87 a barrel.

While the increase was connected to news from the Energy Information Administration that oil inventories in the U.S. had fallen by 3.2 million barrels last week, speculators continue to play a big role in the price of oil futures. According to the Energy Information Administration, gasoline inventory also slid, falling by 3.4 million barrels last week.

"Fundamentally, there's no reason we should be at these levels. Speculation has definitely taken over this market," GRZ Energy trader Anthony Grisanti told FOX Business this morning. "I think $120 is right around the corner. There is nothing that can turn this market around at this point."

Oil inventory in the U.S. stands at 316 million barrels as of April 4.

Crude Oil Up over $2 a Barrel in New York

Prices for crude oil increased by $2.86 to close at $109.09 a barrel on the NYMEX. That's the highest closing price since March 18.

May delivery for gasoline closely mirrored the crude oil price rise, rising by 2.68 cents a gallon, to close at $2.7835 in New York. The national average is now at an all-time high according to AAA, where they reported on their Web site that it now stands at $3.339 a gallon.

Futures for RBOB also broke an intraday record, as it went up to $2.7978. RBOB is the gasoline used to mix with ethanol.

The two major factors in the increase in prices were investors moving to commodities again, and the ongoing concerns about fuel inventory declines. It was estimated in a Bloomberg News survey that gasoline supplies dropped by 2.5 million barrels last week.

"We're seeing the funds jump in and buy commodities," said Phil Flynn, a senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "Commodities had by far the best returns during the last quarter. It would be risky to bet that either the stock market or dollar has hit a bottom yet."

Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts said, "There's little that's rational with the gains in the commodity markets now. I don't think we'll see oil prices fall until the economic slowdown is much more severe or inventories just become too high."

Commodity investment

In the first quarter alone, commodity investment has exploded to $400 billion, an increase of over 20 percent. Some think it'll pullback some, which could provide more investing opportunities.

Politicians - Especially Democrats - Fail to Understand Oil and Oil Business

The media circus, where Congress brought Oil executives of big companies before them in a show of ignorance about business and the oil industry was pathetic.

All it has done is revealed their ignorance, and underscore why politicians are so bad at allocating financial resources.

Even though the oil industry has been unfairly singled out, as all American manufacturers get tax breaks, the idea that they need to spend more money on so-called "renewable" energy is ridiculous. That's politician speak for "if you don't know what to do, throw more money at it." The record of politicians wasting taxpayers dollars is legendary.

Jeff Eshelman, vice president of public affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of America said, if Congress really wanted to decrease prices, they'd change the outrageous policies of restricting oil companies from drilling on U.S. land owned by the government. And he's right!

"If oil companies are given the ability to go into federal lands and produce crude oil, that would increase supply," Eshelman told UPI. "The more supply we have on the market, the more stable prices will be."

That's the first step in taking care of oil prices today, and the near future.

When you consider government interference in their feeble and dangerous attempt to promote the destructive ethanol additive, they need to take care of things like protecting U.S. citizens, and leave the oil market to business.

Democrats are especially ignorant in not knowing how to handle these things. Congress overall is attempting to find scapegoat to deflect the publics dissatisfaction with their performance, which is at all-time lows.

Oil and Gas Prices Rise on Gas Inventory Drop

Crude oil surged by over $3 a barrel as reports from the U.S. Energy Department showed that the gas inventory fell for the third week.

Gasoline Inventory

Gasoline inventory fell to 224.7 million barrels, a 4.53 million barrel drop last week. That's the largest decrease in the gasoline supply since August.

"The robust supply cushion for gasoline appears to be vanishing before our eyes," said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York.

May delivery for gasoline rose to $2.7745 a gallon, a 13.53 cent increase. Futures reached as high as $2.7836 a gallon for RBOB, the gasoline mixed with ethanol. That's a intraday record. RBOB started trading in October 2005.

"The gasoline drop was a real eye-opener," said Rick Mueller, director of oil practice at Energy Security Analysis Inc. "Supplies are falling when we aren't even close to the driving season. We should be building stocks ahead of the driving season, not seeing them drop."

Refineries

The report revealed that refineries were running at less capacity than the same week last year, as they operated at 82.2 percent, in contrast to 87 percent during the same period last year.

Inventory for crude oil increased by 7.32 million barrels, to end at 319.2 million barrels last week. Crude supplies increased by 1.8 million percent of the five-year average said the Energy Department.

"It's hard to argue that there is any problem with crude oil supplies," Mueller said. "At least in the U.S., refiners have plenty of crude oil on hand."

Crude oil futures for May delivery increased to $104.78 a barrel, a $3.80 rise.

Brent Crude

For Brent crude, May delivery increased to $103.75 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange, a $3.58 percent rise.