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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: laura_bush who wrote (451711)	9/2/2003 3:53:20 PM
From: Bill	Respond to of 769670

Perhaps so. However, sparring with you had the feeling of sparring with my old "friend/adversary" from the past, who shall remain nameless. Forgive me if I had you confused with her. Let's start over, OK?

To: laura_bush who wrote (451711)	9/2/2003 3:54:43 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

nytimes.com September 2, 2003 Oil Dives Nearly 7 Percent, Gas Drops By REUTERS Filed at 3:45 p.m. ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices shed nearly 7 percent on Tuesday, as gasoline futures led an energy market selloff following Monday's Labor Day holiday, the traditional end of the U.S. summer driving season. The plunge put futures prices below $30 for the first time since July 28. New York crude futures (CLc1) tumbled $2.16, or 6.8 percent, to settle at $29.41 a barrel, having earlier dropped to a session low of $29.25 per barrel. In London, Brent crude futures (LCOc1) fell 5.6 percent, closing $1.73 lower at $27.52 per barrel, off a low of $27.43. ``This is a 'relief' type of selloff,'' said Phil Flynn, analyst with Alaron Trading in Chicago. Flynn said the market was letting out a sigh of relief that there were no severe supply disruptions this summer despite low stocks. Gasoline futures prices slumped on Tuesday after Labor Day, the last public holiday of the U.S. summer season. Traders expected demand for U.S. gasoline, which drains 12 percent of world oil supply, to fall from recent record levels. Gasoline futures (HUc1), which had driven oil's gains in recent weeks, fell 8.08 cents, or 8.7 percent, to 84.74 cents a gallon, above a session low of 84.50 cents. U.S. gasoline inventories fell to near three-year lows in the week ended Aug. 22, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The American Automobile Association pegged average U.S. retail gasoline prices at a new high on Saturday at $1.737 per gallon. Oil markets are now expected to switch their focus to U.S. winter heating oil demand, with ongoing production concerns in Iraq, the world's seventh biggest oil exporter until the U.S.-led invasion. ``The focus, of course, switched from gasoline that had been fueling the complex,'' said Mike Fitzpatrick, analyst at Fimat USA. The most recent EIA data showed total distillate supplies, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, some 9.8 million barrels below year-ago levels. Export disruptions in OPEC members Iraq, Venezuela and Nigeria, which have driven oil prices 25 percent higher over the past four months, limited inventory building in the United States. Venezuela and Nigeria, who jointly produce 18 percent of the OPEC cartel's output, are still pumping below optimum levels. Iraq, having on Monday appointed its first postwar oil minister, exported about 645,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in August, just under Baghdad's target of 650,000 bpd for the month, shipping sources said on Monday. The sources said Iraq's state-oil marketer, SOMO, could reach its September export target of 800,000 bpd if loading continues at current rates. More sabotage attack over the weekend hit the pipeline linking Kirkuk oilfields in northern Iraq as well as the export pipeline already under repair after an earlier bombing. Officials in Iraq are worried the attacks are jeopardizing rising production rates.