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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (3134)	11/13/2005 5:33:12 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24206

Higher fuel costs coming Experts cite drop in oil, gas costs due to warm weather, rise in imports; they say relief won't last long BY TOM INCANTALUPO STAFF WRITER November 9, 2005 The decline is apt to be just temporary, experts say, with cold weather just around the corner sure to raise prices for heating fuels and then probably drag gasoline upward again with it. "I think at this point, we have to believe it's a lull," said John Kilduff, senior vice president for Energy Risk Management at the brokerage Fimat USA Inc.'s Manhattan office. "We still face the reality of strong demand globally and a great economic backdrop." For now, drivers are getting a break, as reduced demand combines with higher imports of gasoline to take some of the pressure off gasoline supplies, while unseasonably warm weather in the nation's upper mid-section and Northeast is keeping the home furnaces idle. Nationally, according to the AAA, regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.378 a gallon yesterday, 67 cents below the record set Sept. 5, six days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf region, damaging petroleum production facilities and disrupting shipments. On Long Island, regular unleaded averaged $2.576 a gallon, the AAA said - 77 cents a gallon below the record $3.347 set Sept. 11. The new price also is 10.6 cents below the average on Aug. 29, the day Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, although it is still up 42.4 cents from a year ago. Home heating oil averaged $2.727 on Long Island Monday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority reported yesterday. That represents a decline of 4.2 cents from a week earlier and 11.4 cents from the record set Oct. 3 but is still about 50 cents above what it was a year ago. "Enjoy it while it lasts," Kilduff said. The U.S. Department of Energy forecasts heating oil prices about 27 percent higher this winter than last and natural gas about 40 percent higher - numbers that both were revised downward slightly yesterday. KeySpan Energy, this area's largest natural gas supplier, is forecasting a 30 percent to 40 percent increase. Private weather forecasters have predicted above-normal temperatures in the Northeast through December, but some have forecast a colder than average winter after that. In trading yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil rose slightly, by 23 cents to close at $59.70 a barrel but still off significantly from the record $70.85 set Aug. 30. "Crude at this time of year is mostly a weather-driven market," said Bill O'Grady, director of futures research at the brokerage AG Edwards & Sons in St. Louis. "And the weather has been very balmy so far. But we're probably coming to the end of that." newsday.com