In the energy market on Tuesday, oil rose, with crude for March delivery closing at $40.78, up 70 cents. March reformulated gasoline added 1.78 cents, to $1.167/gallon.

In the energy market on Tuesday, oil eked out a small gain, with crude for February delivery closing at $37.78/barrel, up 19 cents. February reformulated gasoline added 6.5 cents, to $1.1489/gallon.

In energy news Monday, oil prices continued their decline. Crude for February delivery dropped $2.45 to $39.91 a barrel, while January reformulated gasoline lost 8.6% to finish at $0.89 a gallon.

In the energy market Tuesday, oil prices declined, with crude for January delivery closing at $43.60/barrel, down 91 cents. January reformulated gasoline was up a third of a cent, to $1.04/gallon.

In the energy market Tuesday, oil slid lower, with crude for November delivery closing at $70.89/barrel, down $3.36 on its last day as front-month contract. November reformulated gasoline fell 2.8 cents, to $1.6919/gallon.

Despite earlier pledges to hold oil output steady, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced early this morning that it would cut production by 520,000 barrels per day in an effort to “strictly comply” with the production quotas set last September.

Andy Carpenter says US foreign policy is isolating the country from the rest of the oil-producing world. President McCain/Palin will only make this worse. They want the US to return to the 1950s and the Red Scare. Obama, on the other hand, wants to make friends with the world…

It’s been a volatile year for crude oil prices. After touching above $147 a barrel in July, the black goo is trading back below $110 a barrel.

Don Miller says industry insiders are now betting on triple-digit crude oil prices for the next decade. And long-term oil futures show demand will continue to outstrip supply, as Asia industrializes and proven reserves diminish.

Don says Transocean Inc. (NYSE:RIG), StatoilHydro ASA (NYSE:STO), and Petrobras (NYSE:PZE) are likely to benefit from new drilling projects. And the company that supplies equipment lines for 90% of oilrigs, National Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV), is also well placed for profits.

UBS AG (UBS) yesterday (Tuesday), announced it had obtained a license to operate in Saudi Arabia, joining a growing number of financial firms looking to recoup some of the over $400 billion in global write-downs to date by tapping into the oil-fueled wealth creation occurring in the Middle East.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER) has raised its annual infrastructure-spending estimate for emerging markets by 80%, as developing countries try to keep pace with fast-growing economies and large cash reserves, BusinessWeek reported.