HomeMy WebLinkAboutGas Prices
9~ pp.cee~~ds$75 a barrel
Surge could cause gaspIine to top $3 a gallon by weekend
,By BRAD FOSS
'Associated Press
WASHINGTON Oil
. prices Jllmped. to a ~ecord
. above $75 a. barrel Wednes-
. day, propelled by a rally in
gas(}line that' analysts said
· could send average.U.s,pUll1P
priCes past $3 a gallon by the
i Weekend,
Recent snags m oil-ship-
ping and r"rming along. tl:1"
Gulf Coast have raised
. traders' concerns about
i motor-fuel supplies at a time
! when demand continu"s to
'rise despite soaring prices,
The start of a new fiscal quar-
ter also has brought m(}re
speculative money into the
market, brokers said.
"Everybody thought we'd
hit a price that WOuld create
permanent demand destruc-
tion_ But demalld for gi!soline
is rising," said lAlaron Trad-
ing Corp. anal~t Phil Flynn,
"Once again the American
public has showl> its ability to
get over paying high prices
for gasoline,"
A, protracted diplomatic
standoff between the West
and Iran, OPEC's No, 2 oil
supplier, has kept a high floor
beneath prices,. and analysts
said geopoliti~al tensions
were heighteiled further
Wednesday by North' Korea's
test -flring of miSsiles,
Light sweet;. crude . for
August delivtry briefly
surged to $75.40 a barrel on
the New YorIl. Mercantile
Exchange before easing back
to settle at $75,19, an increase
of $1,26, Gaso1ipe futures
jumped by more than
5_7 cents to settle at $2,2758 a
gallon, heati,ng oil . closed at
$2,0626 a gallon, up M cents,
With refmers fetChing the
equi'i'alent.of $95 a barrel or
more for gasoline - tl:1ere are
42 gallOl1$in a barrel -"one
doesn't have to be disciplined
in the buying of ~l7lde,"
"xplainedTom Kloza,an oil
analyst at Oil Price InfQrma-
tion Service in Wall, N.,f
The previous intraday
record for front-month oil
futures was $75,35, set ()n
April 21,. Theprevi(}us record
settlem~nt for oil, $75,15, was
set the same day,
Oil prices are now roughly
26 percent higher than a year
ago, but ~till belo}\' all-time
il1flation-lidjusted highs of
around $90,
The average retail price of
gasoline is $2,93 a gallon,
accordillg to OPIS. But Kloza
said pump prices are likely to
surpass $3 a gallon as "arly as
this week"nd_.
u.s, retail gasolin" priceS
peaked at $3,07 a g;illoll' On
averag", last S"pt"mb"r,
reflecting the extrem" tight:
ness ,in the plarket following
Hurricane' Katrina, which
knOCked out pip"linesthat
deliver fuel to th" East Coast
and Midwest.
While oil prices are on the
upswing, natural gas futures
continue to head lower amid
record levels of domestic sup-
plies, Some. analysts say
domestic stQrag" cotdd reach
its limits by tl:1"end of sum-
mer, forcing some producers
to cap wells, On Wednesday,
August natural gas futures
fell 33,9 c"nts to settle at
$5,765 per 1,000 cubic feet -
the lowest level since Sept 28,
Crude oil price
The price of crude oil rose to
a record $75,40 before settling
'at $75.19 Wednesday on the
New York ,Mercantile Exchange.
NYMEpc light, sweet crude
$80 per barrel July 5
$75.19
75
70
65
80
A M
SaYRGE:: Department of I::nergy
2004.
l3ut with. glQbal oil demand
approaching 85 million bar-
rels per day, traders are
extremely nerVous about the
possibility of any supply dis-
ruptions, especially because
there is less than 2 million
barrels a day Of spare produc-
tion capacity, most of it in
Saudi Arabia,