Oil Steady, OPEC Expected to Cut Supply

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices held steady on Friday just hours ahead of a key meeting of the OPEC producers' cartel, which was expected to agree to curb crude output running above the group's official production limits.


Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Venezuela and Algeria have called for the cartel, which controls more than half of global crude exports, to cut about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oversupply after prices hit a four-month low this week.


U.S. light crude traded 3 cents down at $42.50 a barrel, more than $2 above the $40.45 low briefly struck on Wednesday.


"It'll be a tough job for OPEC to rein in overproduction, but it indicates how sentiment has changed from what was a very bullish market a couple of months ago to one with a bearish tone," said Daniel Hynes at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=580&e=1&u=/nm/20041210/bs_nm/markets_oil_dc

[dweller]

1. well, it's averaging about

$1.94.9/gal here in my part of NC...of course, you could drive about 40 miles and it's around ~$1.76/gal. And in California??

yeah, it's steady. Steady gouging, that is.

dp

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. $1.96

[Nickster]

3. Actually starting to dip around here.

I saw a few places at 1.77. I'm in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

[maddezmom]

4. and it's going to cost an extra $3 billion in Iraq

Officials said rising fuel costs would add $3 billion or more to next year's price tag. World oil prices have skyrocketed since the start of the year, in part because of the turmoil in Iraq.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=2&u=/nm/20041210/wl_nm/iraq_funding_dc

[vinny9698]

5. Any Excuse to keep prices high

The oil cartels use any excuse to keep prices high. Looks like we are going to be stuck with $40+ barrel oil from now on.

[radwriter0555]

11. ding ding ding we have a winnuh!

Create the false shortage.... create great new high profits!

[54anickel]

6. Strange, did the Saudis change their mind? They were against cuts

earlier. Now this article states all are in agreement.

Here's the article from earlier in the day. There were a couple others yesterday.

Saudis seek oil stocks boost ahead of Opec cuts

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bd3fe114-4952-11d9-81c7-00000e2511c8.html

Saudi Arabia, the most powerful member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said ahead of Friday’s meeting of Opec that global oil stocks needed to increase before Opec would have to cut production, a stance that puts it at odds with most of its fellow oil cartel members.

Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, said there was no need to rein in production as peak winter demand in the northern hemisphere had not started. “The winter is coming, our band is still $22-$28 , so why should we do anything?” Mr Naimi said.

Mr Naimi's comments, which pushed oil prices to four-month lows, were followed by a weaker than expected US crude inventory report. Although the report showed US imports were at their second highest level, this was overshadowed by a weaker than expected inventory rise for petroleum and distillates, which includes diesel and heating oil.

snip>

However, the Saudi oil minister may soften his bargaining position in the coming days. He changed the position he held in the run up to the last Opec meeting to reach an agreement with fellow members.

Well, I guess he certainly did - again

[Massacure]

7. That'll hit gas prices right around Inaguration Day.

It takes a while for the crude to be shipped and refined into gasonline.

[durablend]

9. Not really...

That's only the case when the price is going down...whenever there's the hint that gas/oil might be going up, gas stations will raise theirs almost immediately.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. kick

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Update: link title now "Oil Up; OPEC Agrees to Cut Excess Supply"

Oil prices rose for a third straight session on Friday as OPEC agreed to curb supplies to stem a 23 percent price slide from October's $55 record highs.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to rein in about one million barrels daily it has been pumping above its formal 27 million bpd production target.

U.S. light crude gained 47 cents to $43 a barrel, up from the $40.45 four-month low struck on Wednesday. London's Brent crude rose 50 cents to $40.17 a barrel.

Is their "$22-$28 price range" anything more than a bit of international satire now?

[plasticsundance]

12. Remember ... Peak Oil

"In practical and considerably oversimplified terms, this means that if 2000 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2020 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2020 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

In July, or shortly before July, when the price spike started, all the business pundits on CNN, Bloomberg, etc, said that within a few months the price would be back down to 34 dollars, and that would be acceptable. Well ... turns out ... that they were talking out their asses ... as usual.

Now, the price hovers between 43 and 50 dollars a barrel, and just watch the little game going on with the price of oil and the euro. It's like a subtle moving seesaw. I read somewhere ... perhaps here ... were the two are connected. Not sure I can explain it accurately myself.

OPEC cannot sustain the production level, and the big oil companies cannot refine it fast enough. Most of the over production in OPEC is absolute crap anyways.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Oil price in euros is certainly more stable than in dollars

but there has been a considreable increase: