Crude Oil Closes Above $100/bbl
Crude Oil Hits $100/bbl
History
was made on February 19, 2008 as NYMEX Crude Oil closed above $100
per barrel for the first time in history. While crude oil futures
had traded above $100/bbl twice before earlier in this year, today
marked the first day the futures contract actually closed the day
above the $100/bbl mark. The front-month (March '08) contract for
west Texas light crude oil was up $4.51 to close at $100.01
per barrel.
OPEC To Cut Production?
Today's run-up came after comments by the Iranian oil minister suggesting it was normal for OPEC to cut production in March, as US demand shrinks as the winter heating season comes to an end. Springtime and fall are known as "shoulder seasons" in the industry - oil demand shrinks as heating / cooling demand is down and the summer driving season is either yet to come or just over. Traders also took the explosion and fire at the Big Spring refinery in Texas as a buying signal, contributing to today's price spike.
Oil Price To Drop
Meanwhile, in after-hours trading, the price of oil fell by as much as 90 cents to $99.11/bbl as traders locked in profits and speculated that the US inventory numbers, due to be released Thursday this week, will show stockpiles are up. Many analysts are suggesting the price of oil will retreat to the mid $80 level in the coming months as demand moderates in the slower shoulder months.
Resource Stocks Trade Higher
On the Canadian markets today, most resource stocks traded higher. Suncor closed at $99.59/share, while Encana shares got a boost as natural gas futures shot up to just under $9 per Gigajoule, the highest level seen since June 2007. South of the border, Exxon-Mobil closed up $1.64/share at $87.01, while Chevron Corp was up $1.23/share to close at $84.83.
Jim Sparrow sells Calgary Real
Estate with Royal LePage Solutions & specializes in
South Calgary estate and
luxury homes. Visit our website at Calgary
Luxury Real Estate or contact me directly at
403.703.2404
Calgary Agent
Jim Sparrow is a consistent top-producing Calgary REALTOR® with Royal LePage specializing in South Calgary estate and luxury homes.Visit our webs... Read More
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There are currently 3 Responses to this blog entry.
PEng
Jeffrey
David Dzidzikashvili
OPEC is trying to make deepest oil cuts ever to rescue the prices... This is alarming, since whole world is in deep recession and the current financial crisis will last until early or late 2010 I think. Any cuts in oil supplies will cause price hikes on petroleum and this will further deepen current recession around the globe. Higher oil prices will result in higher prices for basic goods and services and this will put the middle class, small business owners in a very bad situation. I hope the world leaders will be able to persuade OPEC to try to keep the supplies at current levels at least until the end of year 2009, since higher prices will have a very nasty impact on economies trying to recover from recession.