Oil traders expect 'terror premium' to strike today

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=526959

Oil markets are facing a volatile week following the attacks in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.

The major trading markets, in London and New York, were closed yesterday, but traders in Asia said prices could soar when business resumes today. The second major terrorist incident in Saudi Arabia in a month on the weekend heightened fears about the reliability of supplies from the kingdom. A "terror premium" would again be factored into the price, the traders said, as some voiced fears of a new al-Qa'ida strategy of attacking oil assets.

The jump in the price of crude - which has risen by nearly a third this year - has led to a sharp increase in retail fuel prices in the West. Aside from terror fears, markets are jittery because world supplies are tight and demand is unexpectedly strong. Economists warn that a sustained high oil price would limit global economic growth.

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[bluestateguy]

1. It's time for some good old-fashioned price controls

I don't care what the economists say.

[Nay]

2. Will this be on top of the usual 'soak the summer tourists' price jump?

Just asking. I think I know the answer already.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Figure it this way: no more waiting. $3.00 gas tomorrow vs. end of Sept.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but...

...we had better be planning on more like 5 bucks a gallon by September.

Don

[Sporadicus]

5. Bring Back a Windfall Profits Tax

The AEI-Brookings Joint Center opinion piece cited below advocates such a move. Fat chance * would support it, but there's an outside chance Congress could be persuaded.

http://www.aei-brookings.org/policy/page.php?id=36

[NNN0LHI]

6. US oil surges 1.7 pct after attack on Saudi oil hub

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP199615.htm

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose 1.7 percent on Tuesday following a suspected al Qaeda attack at the weekend in the Saudi oil hub of Khobar, which left 22 people dead but did not disrupt oil flows from the world's biggest exporter.

U.S. light crude <CLc1> on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 67 cents at $40.55 a barrel in opening electronic ACCESS dealings. The market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Saudi Arabia's leaders have assured the world they are in full control, although Britain has warned that more attacks were probable in the kingdom.

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[UpInArms]

7. related article: U.S. Oil Surges After Attack on Saudi Oil

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=5303091

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose 1.7 percent on Tuesday following a suspected al Qaeda attack at the weekend in the Saudi oil hub of Khobar, which left 22 people dead but did not disrupt oil flows from the world's biggest exporter.

U.S. light crude (CLc1: Quote, Profile, Research) on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 67 cents at $40.55 a barrel in opening electronic ACCESS dealings. The market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Saudi Arabia's leaders have assured the world they are in full control, although Britain has warned that more attacks were probable in the kingdom.

Militants killed 19 foreigners in a shooting and hostage-taking rampage at the weekend in the eastern city of Khobar, which has no production, export or refining facilities, but western oil firms have offices and housing in the city, 400 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of Riyadh.

...more...

[sal]

8. kick

*

[Doosh]

9. soon we'll all be driving like this

"Fill it up with petroleum distillate, and re-vulcanize my tires,post-haste!"

[NNN0LHI]

10. Update: U.S. oil jumps more than 2 pct after Saudi attack

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP249734.htm

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices surged more than two percent to push above $40 a barrel on Tuesday after a weekend attack on Saudi Arabia, which left 22 people dead but did not interrupt oil flows from the world's biggest exporter.

U.S. light crude <CLc1> surged to an intraday peak at $40.80 a barrel in the first trade since suspected al Qaeda militants went on a shooting and hostage-taking rampage in the Saudi oil city of Khobar on Saturday.

Oil markets in London and New York were shut on Monday for public holidays. By 0159 GMT, U.S. light crude stood at $40.50, a rise of 62 cents.

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[Geo55]

11. new al-Qa'ida strategy

You want to bring the Western world to it's knees....
screw SA oil production...
IT's THE OIL STUPID

[cliss]

12. Wow. Fasten your seat belts

we're in for a bumpy ride. I bet all those people who bought SUV's and Hummers are choking on their dinner right now.

I bought a small car which breezes by on hardly any gas. I call her my penny-pincher.

If gas goes up to $5 per gallon, though, I'm going to start taking the bus to work.

Watch many, MANY businesses freeze in their tracks from this.

[Jim Warren]

13. Actually, we'll probably be unfastening them

soon, we won't need them.

[Philostopher]

14. Bad enough for them ...

<<I bet all those people who bought SUV's and Hummers are choking on their dinner right now. >>

Those who are just barely surviving paycheck to paycheck and need to drive twenty or thirty miles one way to work (and there are some parts of the country, like mine, where there is no public transportation and jobs are already scarce), even driving gas-sippers, who will no longer be able to afford to work the jobs they have if gas goes up to five dollars a gallon.

I worry about them. I was one of them for many years -- I know what it's like to live that way, and I wonder how many of them will lose jobs that were just barely cutting it because they no longer can afford to drive to them. I'm in a better financial situation now, but I also only drive five miles to work -- by design.

Once again, the poor and the working poor will have to serve as our canaries in the coalmine, I guess.