Oil prices

Generali

lypsey wrote: »

Hereward , this will keep you up to date

(Reuters) - Oil topped $64 on Friday, extending a 3 percent gain a day earlier, as traders fret over a spate of refinery outages in the United States that drained gasoline stocks ahead of the summer driving season.

The market was also supported by a caution by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that oil stocks in industrialised nations may drop further in coming months, after recording the biggest first-quarter decline in a decade.

U.S. crude rose 26 cents a barrel at $64.11 by 4:54 a.m., after jumping $1.84 on Thursday. London Brent for May rose 54 cents at $69.26 on its expiry day.

Crude prices are up 28 percent from this year's low of $49.90 in January.

U.S. gasoline inventories have slumped more than 12 percent since early February, with several big plants undergoing planned shutdowns for maintenance, pushing up U.S. gasoline to a fresh eight-month high of $2.2040 a gallon as of 4:29 a.m.

Isn't the price in Sterling more appropriate than the price in USD? The Pound has risen from $1.7529 on 14/4/06 to $1.9769 on 12/4/07. This rise in the value of the Pound will be keeping a lid on inflation and thus interest rates I believe. That is why I don't see a rise in interest rates until the pound falls, however handy it would be to me personally.

Debt_Free_Chick

But surely any increase in recent weeks has to be viewed against a longer term trend. For example, the price now is roughly what it was 12 months ago - although both those prices are roughly 3 times what they were 10 years ago.

So, whilst the monthly inflation increase might be higher due to higher oil prices in the past month, the increase in oil prices over the past 12 months is broadly neutral i.e. no increase

Generali

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

But surely any increase in recent weeks has to be viewed against a longer term trend. For example, the price now is roughly what it was 12 months ago - although both those prices are roughly 3 times what they were 10 years ago.

So, whilst the monthly inflation increase might be higher due to higher oil prices in the past month, the increase in oil prices over the past 12 months is broadly neutral i.e. no increase

I think your right, if a little muddled. The inflation figures measure prices during the survey period with prices 12 months earlier.

If petrol was £4.00 a gallon in April 2006, rises to £6.00 by March 2007 and then drops back to £4.04 in April 2007, April 2007's inflation figure for petrol would be +1% (£0.04/£4.00) not -33%.

Gorgeous_George

I'm going to Halfords for a can of three-in-one. I'll keep in my safe with all my other valuables.



GG

prudryden

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

I'm going to Halfords for a can of three-in-one. I'll keep in my safe with all my other valuables.



GG

Better get there early. Rumour has it that Mad Max is also stockpiling.

benood

lypsey wrote: »

Hereward , this will keep you up to date

(Reuters) - Oil topped $64 on Friday, extending a 3 percent gain a day earlier, as traders fret over a spate of refinery outages in the United States that drained gasoline stocks ahead of the summer driving season.

The market was also supported by a caution by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that oil stocks in industrialised nations may drop further in coming months, after recording the biggest first-quarter decline in a decade.

U.S. crude rose 26 cents a barrel at $64.11 by 4:54 a.m., after jumping $1.84 on Thursday. London Brent for May rose 54 cents at $69.26 on its expiry day.

Crude prices are up 28 percent from this year's low of $49.90 in January.

U.S. gasoline inventories have slumped more than 12 percent since early February, with several big plants undergoing planned shutdowns for maintenance, pushing up U.S. gasoline to a fresh eight-month high of $2.2040 a gallon as of 4:29 a.m.

The overall effect of the above isn't very clear - either the recent increase could be due to short term refinery closures or increased demand.

Short term problems are just that but if overall oil demand has increased that implies the economy is robust (but may need to be cooled down by interest rate rises). Don't know what the net effect of that would be.

Generali

benood wrote: »

The overall effect of the above isn't very clear - either the recent increase could be due to short term refinery closures or increased demand.

Short term problems are just that but if overall oil demand has increased that implies the economy is robust (but may need to be cooled down by interest rate rises). Don't know what the net effect of that would be.

My belief is that recent $ oil price rises have reflected tensions between the US and Iran. Remember though, oil is priced in $, most people on this site spend £s so the £/$ rate also has an effect. That's risen considerably in the last year so in £ terms oil has fallen in price.