Oil futures top $123, poised for a four-session win (who is winning? definitely not the people)

[UpInArms]

Source: CBS Marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures climbed past $123 a barrel Wednesday to their loftiest level ever, poised to score a fourth winning session following a U.S. government report that showed crude supplies climbed for a third week in a row, but refinery capacity declined.

Crude for June delivery traded as high as $123.35 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. It was last up $1.16, or 1%, at $123. The contract has already gained more than 8% in the previous three sessions.

The contract had dropped to a low of $119.90 a barrel in electronic trading immediately after the data were released, but rebounded to climb to a high of $123.56. Wednesday's high outpace Tuesday's previous record level of $122.73 in electronic trading.

Crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended May 2, according to a weekly report Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the reporting arm of the Energy Department.

Supplies of oil have now climbed a total of 11.9 million barrels over the past three weeks, according to the government data.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/oil-tops-123-poised-four-session/story.aspx?guid=%7BEA762176%2D5AA6%2D43E6%2D95E0%2D1B7C449ADDF4%7D

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:faint:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. doesnt help when certain people threaten to obliterate an oil/country

does it.

Seems like every time a politician says something stupid about attacking
another country, the cost of gas goes up as the value of our dollar goes down.

[Purveyor]

2. Our local mid-michigan gasoline price just jumped to $3.89 this afternoon. A new record high... eom

[nbcouch]

3. Who's winning?

Are ya kiddin' me? The people who went long on oil futures last week are the winners.

The daily fluctuations in the price of oil and other commodities are no longer responses to market forces. They are based primarily on the whims of the gambling junkies known as commodities traders. There is no better case to be made for the nationalization of critical infrastructure industries, like energy. Essential goods and services should not have their cost to the consumer determined so capriciously.

[libodem]

4. The rotten pat answer

I keep hearing is the 'environmentalists won't let us drill in ANWAR'. Ya gotta hate these manipulations from everyone including Mr Bush responding to the DC truckers' strike. If Big Oil can't get into Iran they at least want ANWAR before, No Nut's, term is over. Otherwise we can expect to keep being squeezed and blamed for not increasing domestic production. Why don't they uncap the Texas oil wells that shut down in the 80's? And where does the fault lie over new refineries never being built. I caught someone blameing 'environmentalist law suits' for slowing refinery capacity. Some propagandist somewhere wants John Q Public to hate 'the quintesintial environmentalists' for the price of a barrel of oil. Just who are these frightful 'envirnometalists' some left-wing pinko commie liberals from California? Some Hillery lover?:sarcasm: (just in case you couldn't tell)

[Hannah Bell]

5. They're not even using the capacity they have.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wpuleus3W.htm

They just lie, & since the media's complicit & most people don't investigate, they get what they want.

[libodem]

6. interesting table

if I understand it, we are at about 85% which is basically average over the years. The media is a bigger Bush lap-dog than Blair.