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To: Baton who wrote (30600)	8/1/2006 4:57:18 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

$100 crude oil on the way?> The oil minister of Venezuela, the world's 5th largest oil exporter, has said that oil prices could reach $100 a barrel. Rafael Ramirez said prices were still lower today in real terms than during the oil crisis of the 1970s, but that could change. "The prices we are seeing today are in today's dollars,” Ramirez said, on Thursday. "For us to have the same amount of revenues that we had in 1970, '74, you'd have to put the oil price close to $100 a barrel. They could reach that given certain factors." Ramirez said it was "not possible" to return to earlier prices of about $20 a barrel. Earlier on Thursday, Ramirez told Venevision television that "geopolitical problems" have driven up energy prices in a way that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is powerless to stop. Ramirez said Venezuela will discuss oil prices with other OPEC members in Qatar, where some ministers are gathered for a natural gas conference. The oil minister said the limits of worldwide refining capacity and OPEC members' inability to boost output made it difficult to counteract price rises.

To: Baton who wrote (30600)	8/4/2006 1:21:07 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

MotherRock LP, the hedge fund firm run by former Nymex President Robert ``Bo'' Collins, is preparing to shut down because of ``terrible performance'' as natural gas plunged this year. ``We are in the process of developing a detailed plan for winding down the fund,'' Collins said in a letter sent today to investors in his MotherRock Energy Master Fund. MotherRock, begun in December 2004, invests in gas futures, seeking to exploit price differences based on the delivery month for the contracts. ``The volatility in these markets is very large,'' said Craig Pirrong, director of energy markets at the University of Houston's Global Energy Management Institute. ``That means the prospects for large profits are there, but the prospects for large losses are there too.'' MotherRock had ``significant losses'' in July, though a final tally was not yet available, Collins said in the letter, obtained by Bloomberg News. The timing of the shutdown has not been established, according to the letter. In the first half of this year, MotherRock lost more than 23 percent, with most of the damage coming in June. The fund returned 20 percent to investors net of fees last year. MotherRock had more than $400 million in customer funds earlier this year. A phone call to Collins was not immediately returned. bloomberg.com ___________________________ Having gained 17% last week, natural gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange surged 14% on Monday, ahead of the onset of brutal heat in the Northeast and Midwest.