In the energy market Monday, oil sank below the $60 benchmark, with crude for December delivery closing at $59.33/barrel, down $3.08. December reformulated gasoline lost 6.2 cents, to $1.3059/gallon. Early in the day, crude had fallen to $58.32, its lowest level since February, 2007, and yesterday there weren’t enough buyers to push it back over $60.
You certainly know that energy prices have gone up this year. In particular, the price of oil has risen. And energy price increases have played havoc with Western economies.
In the energy market Thursday, crude for July delivery plummeted, closing at $131.93/barrel, down $4.75. July reformulated gasoline plunged 11.4 cents, to $3.3526/gallon.
On the supply front, Nigeria’s president said the country’s state-owned oil company will take over operations in the Ogoni district of southern Nigeria from a Royal Dutch Shell joint venture. President Umaru Yar’Adua made the announcement after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that the move will “calm down” unrest among local residents.
In the energy market Friday, crude for July delivery moved higher, closing at $127.35/barrel, up 73 cents. June reformulated gasoline added a penny in its last day as the front-month contract, to $3.41/gallon.
What you’re looking at below is a chart of the gold-to-oil ratio. The gold-to-oil ratio is exactly what it sounds like. You simply take the spot price for an ounce of gold — around $900 per ounce as of this writing — and divide it by the price of a barrel of oil.
Peak oil — once considered the domain of conspiracy theory buffs — has become hard economic fact, as fears of an oil production shortage within five years sent long-term oil futures to almost $140 a barrel today.
This from the Financial Times:
The spot price of Nymex West Texas Intermediate hit a record $130.30 a barrel on Wednesday. On Tuesday investors had rushed to buy oil futures contracts as far forward as December 2016,
The increase in Saudi Arabia’s oil production in response to a request by President Bush amounts to only a “token” rise in output, according to an oil expert quoted in Bloomberg.
“It’s just a token increase but it shows that the Saudis realize just how important it is for the president to not come back empty handed,” said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut. “This is about a lot more than oil, the special relationship between the countries is at stake.”
When a commodity or stock breaks out to new highs, as oil has done again this week, it’s extremely unwise to go short, as many are suggesting. I have no doubt, of course, that now I’ve said that in print, it will mark the top of the market.
In the energy market Thursday, crude for June delivery fell for the third straight day, dropping to $112.52/barrel, down 94 cents. June reformulated gasoline declined 2.81 cents, to $2.8782/gallon.