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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (16407)	9/6/2000 4:16:47 PM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

we don't need that stuff anyway -g-

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (16407)	9/6/2000 5:03:50 PM
From: UnBelievable	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Commodities Review: Crude Sets New Post-Gulf War High By Marie C. Sanchez Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit their highest price in a decade Wednesday as traders continued to doubt whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is willing or able to increase output enough to deflate prices. The October crude futures contract traded as high as $34.95 a barrel, shattering the previous post-Gulf War high of $34.37 a barrel set March 8. The market settled at $34.90, up $1.07. Prices were high throughout the session, and market players said a price of $36 a barrel could be close at hand. "It looks like OPEC is helpless in stopping this run," said Tom Bentz, an analyst at trading firm Paribas Futures. "If we have an early winter, an early cold spell, crude prices could go to $40." OPEC faces growing pressure from consuming nations to increase output and ease prices when it holds its semiannual meeting Sunday in Vienna. Most OPEC producers, however, are already producing at peak capacity and oppose a large production increase for fear it could cause prices to plummet. OPEC members have said repeatedly that the group will abide by its price-band mechanism, under which OPEC will increase its output by 500,000 barrels a day if the group's reference oil price stays above $28.00 a barrel for 20 consecutive days. That price stood at $32.50 a barrel Tuesday, its 17th straight day above the trigger point. If prices don't fall dramatically, the 20-day mark could be hit Friday. But analysts and some OPEC sources have said 500,000 barrels a day won't be enough to cool red-hot prices. Instead, they have said the market needs between 700,000 and 1.5 million barrels a day. The group has raised its output ceiling by about 2.5 million barrels a day this year, but U.S. oil inventories are at the lowest levels since 1976, and prices remain stubbornly high. "With inventories at historic 24-year lows, it's only logical prices should hit 10-year highs," said John Kilduff, senior vice president of Fimat, USA, Inc. "It's due to a lack of any real commitment from OPEC to come across with more oil and lower this price." Some longer-term projections have pegged $40-$50 a barrel oil as technically possible. Nymex crude futures traded over $41 a barrel in October 1990 as the Gulf War loomed. "What the market really wants is for Saudi Arabia to boost output unilaterally," said Bill O'Grady, an analyst with AG Edwards. "But they're making it very clear they won't jeopardize OPEC unity." Saudi Arabia announced July 3 it would "soon" boost output by 500,000 barrels a day to damp prices - and shaved nearly $4 off crude futures. In the face of OPEC opposition, the kingdom had kept quiet about its unilateral action until this week. Tuesday and Wednesday Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi confirmed that the kingdom is producing 600,000 barrels a day more than it did in June. U.S. analysts asked 'Where's the crude?' since stockpiles remain slim and prices haven't declined. Some European analysts surmised that the extra barrels expected from OPEC this weekend would only ratify current Saudi quota-busting, and result in little new oil. Naimi's comment that OPEC must decide whether "additional oil is needed or not" if the group's reference price triggers an increase of 500,000 barrels a day was viewed as bullish, analysts said. Bullish natural gas storage data triggered a late flurry of new buying by the full spectrum of traders, which took lagging product prices along for the ride, analysts said. Heating oil and gasoline each closed near $1 a gallon. Traders then turned to weekly inventory reports due late Wednesday and early Thursday. Most said they expected the data to continue fueling the rally.