Huh? Oil prices are FALLING?

[SoCalDem]

according to the CNN money-honey, saying the the refineries on fire and the devastation is causing oil prices to PLUMMET..:wtf:

Someone farts in a refinery in Texas, and the prices go up, but this gigantic quake causes "demand" to drop?

I think the whole thing is just crazy....

Does this mean that gas stations will be busily dropping their prices now :rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

1. curious, isn't it?

[ixion]

2. Yeah, supposedly because it forced a refinery to close

but I also found it hard to get my head around, and it sounds specious to me.

[mirror wall]

3. I think it's because Japan's useage is going to drop sharpy. Someone pointed that out in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4765307

It makes a lot of sense and is the only logical explanation I can think of. That or oil fell on news of happenings in the mid east and hasn't had a chance to really react to the quake yet.... That said, how do oil markets work? Where are they based? When are they open and closed or are they always "open"?

[Bragi]

19. Yes, that's the rationale for today's oil pricing scam /nt

[madmax]

4. and on MSNBC

Mika reports family debt declines 6%. ??

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. Several huge purchasers in Japan shut down

They refine crude for the whole country. With that lower demand, prices fall.


And no, that does not mean that retail prices will fall. Not for a while yet.

[notadmblnd]

6. its been rumored the last couple of days that Obama is thinking of opening the stratigic reserves

I do think he is scheduled to make an announcement today on the price of oil. Maybe that has something to do with prices coming down?

[pinboy3niner]

11. Obama press conf. on this is scheduled for 11:15 AM EST. nt

[FLPanhandle]

7. Because we consumers don't use crude oil directly

Think of refineries as the consumers of crude oil. With the Japanese refineries out of commission, there are less customers for the crude oil. Thus, more oil on the market for the remaining refineries.

[madmax]

8. SoCalDem was CA gas prices hovering around

4.98 ga. yesterday?

[FreakinDJ]

9. $3.98 here is Ca

[madmax]

12. NC too.

[SoCalDem]

10. I don;t know.. I make my husband fill up the cars & he now quits at $50..

Of course just yesterday we bought him a 6 cyl Nissan NISMO truck :silly:

[madmax]

13. Sweet ;-)

[SoCalDem]

14. He's waited a very long time for a nice truck.. now he can sell his 1988 Dodge

or maybe pay someone to take it away :rofl:

[madmax]

15. We do the same thing -

we always buy 2 y.o. low mileage, pvt owner. Take good care of it and drive it till it dies.

Congratulations and good luck to the hubby. Sometimes we just have to cut loose and be good to ourselves. :bounce:

[kenny blankenship]

16. Anticipating that the global economic slowdown will experience an economic slowdown

headlines on teh google wailing alarms about sharp declines of Asian stock markets in response to quake and Chinese inflation data.

[Shagbark Hickory]

17. That's horseshit. The saudis are expected to have an uprising now. nt

[charlie]

18. And the yen is up against the dollar

There'll be explanations retro-fitted, but they're just justifications for herd stampedes and voodoo.