Oil Hits Lowest Prices Since July 26

[Nambe]

NEW YORK (Reuters)

U.S. oil prices hit their lowest in more than a month on Monday on continued profit-taking as producer group OPEC sought to increase its tight spare capacity and the U.S. summer driving season approached its end.

U.S. light crude settled down 90 cents to $42.28 a barrel after falling to $41.30 a barrel midday, the lowest level since July 26. Oil has dropped more than $7 from the record highs near $50 a barrel earlier in the month as hedge funds, responsible for part of the recent price surge, take profits.

Brent crude trade on London's International Petroleum Exchange was shut for a public holiday. ..

[qanda]

1. Right on cue!

eom

[chiburb]

2. Beat me to it... n/t

[krkaufman]

4. Yep. Flies in the face of past rationalizations...

... given the total shutdown of Iraq's southern oil fields over the weekend.

[whistle]

3. Which says what?

...KKKarl Rove, Cheney, Powell and Big Big Oil can manipulate prices when they want. Immediately after the November election just watch oil prices go right through the roof.

[LauraK]

5. I doubt if these prices reflect the shutdown in Iraq.

And remember Chavez and Putin will have a voice in oil prices as the elections get closer. A little action in Saudi Arabia wouldn't surprise me either.

[istruthfull]

6. refineries

If 1/2 of the closed refineries in U.S. opened up that could reduce the price of oil considerably. @$45(the figure I used last night) a barrel and @1 million barrels a day (very conservative figure)every 28 days Iraq is producing 1.2 billion dollars in revue. Iraq could rebuild it'self very quickly with that much money. If the U.S. oil companies are paying any royalties. How come we have all that oil and our prices go up?

[cal04]

7. Right on Schedule

Right on Schedule: Saudis Rig Drop in Oil Prices for Opening Day of GOP Convention
The flow of Iraq oil has slowed to a drip as 8/30 due to attacks on Iraq's northern and southern pipelines. So it makes no rational sense that oil prices would suddenly drop the same day...unless the drop was rigged. And, it was: Reuters reports: "The head of the OPEC producers' cartel said on Monday (8/30) that the group, which controls more than half of world exports, aimed to increase spare output capacity by about one million bpd in the next few months in an effort to bring down sky-high prices." In April, it was revealed that Saudi Prince Bandar of OPEC had PROMISED Bush he'd see that oil prices dropped right before the election. (see http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/19/news/international/election_saudi/)No. 1 oil exporter will reportedly increase production before election in effort to help Bush)

And what better day to start the rigged slide than the opening of the GOP convention? The joke on the voters, of course, will be the return to higher prices in the dead of winter once the election is over.

http://www.democrats.com/