WORLD OIL COMMODITY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS BLOG IS TO MANIFEST INDIGNATION TO THE LIES AND OPTIONS TAKEN BY GALP ENERGIA PORTUGALS PETROL COMPANY.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

OPEC-10 March Oil Output Rises

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised its crude-oil output in March following two months of cuts, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
The 10 OPEC members subject to production quotas, not including Iraq and recent member Angola, produced 26.575 million barrels a day, up 90,000 barrels a day from February levels, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration.
In addition, the EIA revised upward its estimate of OPEC-10 February output. According to the new estimate, oil production fell 175,000 barrels a day.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Refinery Outages

``The continuing spate of refinery outages and maintenance issues is pushing product prices higher and putting downward pressure on crude,'' said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. ``Until you see an up-tick in refinery operations, crude oil will have a hard time rising.
Motiva Enterprises LLC, the refining joint venture between Europe's Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia's state oil company, reported a malfunction that occurred yesterday at its plant in Port Arthur, Texas. The Port Arthur refinery has a daily processing capacity of 285,000 barrels, according to the Energy Department.
The profit margin, or ``crack'' spread, for turning three barrels of crude oil into two barrels of gasoline and one of heating oil jumped 5.5 percent to $22.546, the highest since Sept. 29, 2005, based on closing futures prices in New York.
``It looks like we will be seeing a strong crack spread for a while,'' Ritterbusch said. ``It won't shrink a great deal until we see some strong evidence of increased refinery runs.''
Refiners Trim Output
Refineries in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ontario and Delaware have had to trim output over the past two months. The closure of Valero Energy Corp.'s McKee refinery near Sunray, Texas, has contributed to the increase in supplies in Cushing. Increasing stockpiles in this oil hub have depressed the price of oil in New York compared with Brent oil.
``Prices here are depressed because the tanks in Cushing are full as a result of refinery problems,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``There's nowhere to put the oil. If someone could figure a way to ship the oil stuck in Cushing to the U.K. they would make a fortune.''
Brent crude oil for May settlement declined $1.66, or 2.4 percent, to $66.58 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures exchange. Both the New York and London markets were shut on April 6 for the Good Friday holiday.
Uranium Enrichment
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that his country has begun enriching uranium on an industrial scale, stepping up defiance against the United Nations.
``Iran has succeeded in the nuclear-fuel-cycle development to attain production at an industrial level,'' Ahmadinejad said today at a ceremony at the Natanz uranium-enrichment site. He repeated that nuclear-fuel production was Iran's ``undeniable right'' and referred to ``a few powerful governments imposing their will on the rest,'' according to a broadcast of the speech.
The United Nations Security Council gave Iran 60 days from March 24 to suspend enrichment. The country already has ignored three UN deadlines to shut down production of the nuclear fuel. The UN demands were in response to allegations by the U.S. and some of its allies that Iran is using the development of nuclear power to disguise a weapons program. Iran denies that.
``We'll be keeping an eye on the news that Iran's nuclear production has reached an industrial level,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at Fimat USA in New York. ``This could perk up the market.''
The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil transit chokepoint. Almost a quarter of the world's oil flows through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran has the second-biggest proved oil reserves and is the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Crude Oil Drops More Than $2.50 a Barrel on Surging U.S. Supply

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil plunged more than $2.50 a barrel in New York, the biggest decline in three months, on speculation that an Energy Department report will show U.S. inventories jumped last week as refiners unexpectedly shut units.
Crude-oil supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma, where oil traded in New York is delivered, surged 12 percent in the week ended March 30, Energy Department figures show. Fires and power outages have forced refiners to shut units, reducing crude-oil demand. Oil prices also fell because release of British naval personnel on April 5 eased concern of a supply disruption in the Persian Gulf.
``Crude oil is pulling everything lower,'' said James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. ``It looks like we will see record inventories in Cushing this week because of all of the refinery outages.''
Crude oil for May delivery fell $2.77, or 4.3 percent, to $61.51 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract is heading for the biggest one-day decline since Jan. 4. Futures touched $68.09 a barrel on March 27, the highest since Sept. 6. Prices are down 8.7 percent from a year ago.
Gasoline for May delivery in New York declined 3.86 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $2.0902 a gallon. Prices surged as high as $2.155 a gallon in early trading, the highest intraday price since Aug. 10.
An Energy Department report on April 11 is expected to show that U.S. crude-oil supplies rose last week as inventories of gasoline and distillate fuel fell, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline inventories plunged 9.7 percent to 205.2 million barrels in the eight weeks ended March 30, according to the department. April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil plunged more than $2.50 a barrel in New York, the biggest decline in three months, on speculation that an Energy Department report will show U.S. inventories jumped last week as refiners unexpectedly shut units.
Crude-oil supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma, where oil traded in New York is delivered, surged 12 percent in the week ended March 30, Energy Department figures show. Fires and power outages have forced refiners to shut units, reducing crude-oil demand. Oil prices also fell because release of British naval personnel on April 5 eased concern of a supply disruption in the Persian Gulf.
``Crude oil is pulling everything lower,'' said James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. ``It looks like we will see record inventories in Cushing this week because of all of the refinery outages.''
Crude oil for May delivery fell $2.77, or 4.3 percent, to $61.51 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract is heading for the biggest one-day decline since Jan. 4. Futures touched $68.09 a barrel on March 27, the highest since Sept. 6. Prices are down 8.7 percent from a year ago.
Gasoline for May delivery in New York declined 3.86 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $2.0902 a gallon. Prices surged as high as $2.155 a gallon in early trading, the highest intraday price since Aug. 10.
An Energy Department report on April 11 is expected to show that U.S. crude-oil supplies rose last week as inventories of gasoline and distillate fuel fell, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline inventories plunged 9.7 percent to 205.2 million barrels in the eight weeks ended March 30, according to the department.
BUT IN PORTUGAL THE OIL PRICE WHENT UP AGAIN, LED BY GALP ENERGIA BP AND OTHERS, THEY ONLY NOW HOW TO INCREASE THE PRICE OF THE PETROL THEY NEVER LOWER THEIR PRICES, SO AVOID FILLING YOUR CAR AT GALP PETROL STATIONS , YOU WILL BE PAYING MORE FOR LESS...

Friday, April 06, 2007

Price sores

When oil production starts to fall, the economic impacts could well be devastating.

When prices rise, will the political will to fight climate change wilt?Soaring crude prices could tip the world into a depression deeper than that of the 1930s, and collapsing stock markets cripple our ability to finance the expensive clean energy infrastructure we need.
As the unemployment lines grow, the political will to tackle climate change may be sapped by the need to keep the lights burning as cheaply as possible.
Many environmentalists seem to dismiss or ignore peak oil because they simply cannot see it as significant when compared to climate change.
But this is to miss the point.
Oil depletion is deadly serious in its own right, but it also has the capacity both to worsen emissions and destroy the wealth needed to fight global warming.
For this reason - among others - it too has the power to destroy our civilisation.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

WORLD OIL RESERVES


The world's overflowing oil reserves?

Oil is making headlines again.
Never far from newsworthy, such is its over-riding economic and political importance, the spotlight has returned as harsh as ever.
The price of benchmark US light sweet crude recently reached its highest level for 13 years, and the cartel of petroleum exporting nations, Opec, maintained its decision to cut production - potentially fuelling yet more rises.
Add increasing violence in Iraq delaying its return to full oil production, and it is understandable that oil analysts have been getting the jitters.
Not to forget President George W Bush, who in an election year really does not want to see car-loving Americas moaning about high gasoline prices, which have also risen as a consequence.
And oil giant Shell already admitting twice this year that it has over-estimated its own oil reserves.
But looking behind the politics and other reasons for the upward pressure on prices (such as historically low oil and petrol stockpiles in the US), just how much oil is left under the surface of Planet Earth?

Oil down as British sailors freed

World oil prices have fallen after Iran said it would immediately release 15 seized British navy personnel.
New York light crude fell 43 cents to $64.21 a barrel after the announcement by Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Brent crude slipped three cents to $67.78. However, the falls were offset by a sharp drop in US petrol supplies.
Prices had surged to seven-month peaks above $69 a barrel in London on Monday on fears the stand-off could disrupt crude exports.
"This is a fairly predictable short-term knee-jerk reaction,"