Oil Price thread

I thought it might be useful if we have a thread outlining the latest oil price together with possible reasons for rises/falls.

Today the prices were:

Nymex Crude $58.20
IPE Crude $57.08
Dated Brent $56.58
WTI Cushing $58.50

As a point of reference the chart below shows the oil price over the last 57 years.

[natterjack]

So what was the peak in 2000 and trough afterwards about? Was it millennium bug fears?

It looks like the trough is actually the more anomalous feature though.

Originally Posted by natterjack

So what was the peak in 2000 and trough afterwards about? Was it millennium bug fears?

It looks like the trough is actually the more anomalous feature though.

I believe the dot-com inspired boom/bust was around that time so it may have simply followed the upward trend of the markets at the time.

[S]

oil price thread, good idea

Crude futures briefly jumped more than $2 a barrel Tuesday after the Energy Department raised its oil-price forecast by $6 a barrel and as traders remain worried that summer storms in the Gulf of Mexico could curtail petroleum output.

The Energy Department, which oversees U.S. supply and demand statistics, said Tuesday that it expects oil prices to average $59 a barrel through September, up from its estimate of $53 a barrel a month ago.

While the impact of Hurricane Dennis was not as bad as originally feared - even with BP reporting that one of its offshore platforms was listing - traders are keeping an eye on freshly brewing Tropical Storm Emily.

Adding to bullish sentiment were expectations that Wednesday's inventory snapshot from the U.S. government would show a decline in crude oil inventories.

More

Originally Posted by adi

I thought it might be useful if we have a thread outlining the latest oil price together with possible reasons for rises/falls.

Today the prices were:

Nymex Crude $58.20
IPE Crude $57.08
Dated Brent $56.58
WTI Cushing $58.50

Nymex Crude 58.00
IPE Crude 57.52
Dated Brent 55.96
WTI Cushing 58.20

[S]

hmmmm

Crude oil breaks through the $62-a-barrel level amid market jitters over the death of Saudi Arabia's ruler and concerns over production.

Read more...

[tracy]

Oil at record prices again today. Boring.

Does anybody really care anymore about the price of oil? Certainly Wall Street doesn't, as it rightly puts its faith in Say's Law: supply creates demand. Cut the price of oil, and more will be used; increase the price, less demand. A law as old as the hills.

Recommended reading for Peak Oil fanatics: "The Doomsday Myth: 10000 years of economic crisis" (Hoover Inst Press, Stanford).

Yawn.