Oil Heads for Longest Weekly Losing Streak in 13 Years

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Bloomberg News

Oil fell a second day in New York, heading for the longest weekly losing streak in more than 13 years, on speculation the economies of the U.S. and China, the world’s biggest crude consumers, will slow and curb fuel demand.

Futures dropped as much as 2.6 percent. Federal Reserve officials need to assess the risk from Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. budget cuts before deciding on stimulus measures, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said to the Joint Economic Committee yesterday. China reports economic data tomorrow after cutting interest rates for the first time since 2008. Global crude supply is sufficient, Youcef Yousfi, Algeria’s energy minister, said before OPEC meets next week in Vienna.

“I don’t think anybody is really going to be carrying much of a position into the weekend with the China data dump,” said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodities strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) in Singapore who forecasts New York crude may drop to as low as $82 a barrel. “Certainly the market is concerned about what the data may bring.”

Oil for July delivery decreased as much as $2.23 to $82.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $82.86 at 5:49 p.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday slipped 0.2 percent to $84.82, the lowest close since June 5. Prices are down 0.4 percent since June 1 and poised for a sixth weekly decline, the longest losing streak since December 1998. Oil has fallen 16 percent this year.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-07/oil-drops-a-second-day-after-bernanke-holds-off-on-u-s-stimulus.html

[denverbill]

1. Yet somehow, gas prices have barely budged.

Thank God for the 'free market'.

[BadgerKid]

2. It's location dependent, too.

Crude is down 30% from peak since last Feb/Mar. My local gas is down 15% (down $0.60/gal), whereas in L.A., gas is down only 7% (about $0.28/gal).

source: GasBuddy.com

[SteveG]

5. $3.33 today in DE from $3.90 a month and a half ago. (nt)

nt

[Hulk]

18. Interesting.....how some states are nearly a buck under others.

What a shell game...pardon the pun. Our Senator, Patty Murray, is talking about an investigation. Too little too late. This is pretty much a monopoly...and we can like it or walk. Choice is simple. Investigations are a total waste of time...and seldom even happen until it's over.

[NickB79]

10. It's fallen 50 cents here in the Twin Cities, MN in the past 2 months

Down to $3.41, from a peak of around $3.90 in the spring.

[notadmblnd]

16. Gas went up here in Michigan on Tuesday it jumped from 3.53 to 3.79 and is currently down to 3.69

since then. Why it spiked in price on Tuesday, is beyond me. IMO, gas should be under 3.00

[cstanleytech]

3. Oil prices might be down but who wants to bet that oil companies profits wont suffer?

[dipsydoodle]

6. That is less material

in this instance than the overall reduction in activity the world's economies which is the cause of the price reductions.

If , as is possible Europe does go pear shaped , oil will become even cheaper. It will need to do so with less jobs about including those in the USA.

[Scurrilous]

7. Good news!

[NBachers]

8. It's $4.15 if you pay cash at the "cheap" station near me in San Francisco

And we've got a refinery right across the bay in Richmond.

The stations are back to posting lower prices on their boards but charging extra if you don't pay them cash.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. I wonder why the price at the pump stopped falling last week?

Could it be GREED?

[NickB79]

11. And the reason why? The global economy is crapping out (again)

Europe's melting down, the US job recovery is sputtering, and China's bubble is about to reach it's end.

Pop the champagne corks!

[rayofreason]

13. Bingo! The real reason. n/t

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

12. Why no mention of decreasing oil usage in the U S of A?

... the reports since the, "cash for clunkers" program getting rid of old gas hogs, etc... have it that US oil consumption is continuing to drop.

Also, on my trip from Sioux Falls, SD to Denver, Co gas prices got higher as we got closer to the oil refineries in Wyoming, that plus they are selling warranty voiding 85 octane gasoline in Rapid City and Cheyenne, which I was luckily able to avoid purchasing. My Buick Lucerne made it from Hill City, SD to Denver on less than one tank of 90 octane gasoline!

[NickB79]

14. So much for the US and Canadian oil boom

All the reports I've read estimate that oil must stay above $70/barrel to make fields like North Dakota's Bakken reserve or Alberta's tar sands viable. If oil prices crash like they did in 2009, when it fell from $140 down to $40 in one year, it could result in a lot of wells being shut down.

[dipsydoodle]

15. Indeed

[Hulk]

17. $4.02 is the damned best there is in Portland/Vancouver USA

This is such a smelly joke. We should be jumping up and down for joy...for the price has dropped to ALMOST $4.00 a f*cking gallon. How happy I will be when I can fill my little Toyota for under $39.

Is this madness...or am I just totally going crazy?