It's a SURPRISE I tell you.

[Joanne98]

Oil tumbles on surprise jump in supply

Crude futures fall nearly $2 a barrel after the government reports that inventories rose more than expected.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices sank on Wednesday after the government reported a surprise increase in crude inventories last week.

The decline in crude oil prices accelerated as investors continued to fret over slumping demand for energy, particularly gasoline, according to Peter Beutel, an oil analyst at Cameron Hanover.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.13 to $118.04 a barrel at 12:43 PM. Shortly before the U.S. Energy Information Administration released its report, oil was up $1.11 at $120.28.

Weekly supply report. Investors look to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly energy report for existing inventory levels as a gauge of energy demand.

"The report gives us an indication on both supply and demand, and a lot of the selloff in the past couple of weeks is on expectation that we will see inventories rebuild and a sluggish demand pattern continue," said Andrew Lebow, an energy analyst at MF Global in New York.

Crude oil inventories climbed by 1.7 million barrels last week. Overall, crude inventories are in the lower half of the average range for this time of year at 296.9 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a loss of 1.2 million barrels of oil, according a survey from Platts, an energy research firm.

Inventories of distillate fuel - used for heating oil and diesel - rose by 2.8 million barrels last week, slightly more than the 2.3 million barrel build in supplies that analysts were predicting. Stockpiles of distillates are near the upper boundary of the average range for this time of year.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/06/markets/oil/?postversion=2008080611

CNN is SURPRISED. It's not surprising at all. Remember the FAKE California energy crisis. The one cause by "supply and demand".

When we started to investigate the electricity markets, it started going down BECAUSE, there was never an electricity crisis to begin with. Just good ole Bush and Cheney STEALING MONEY FROM THE CALIFORNIA PEOPLE! With the help of Arnold BTW.

THE PRICE OF OIL IS GOING DOWN BECAUSE IT NEVER WENT UP IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Got it now?

[aspergris]

1. no, the price of oil is going down

because a bubble is popping.

it's no suprise.

search here. i said if it broke 130, it was going down. weeks ago.

immediately after it broke 130, it went down to 125 then 120 and is now sub 120.

bubbles are bubbles.

trade em both ways.

CNN are morons.

[global1]

2. No - The Oil Prices Are Going Down Because This Is An Election Year And The Repugs Are Spooked......

they see thing slipping away and they are pulling out all the stops to give McCain some sort of edge.

[aspergris]

5. nope

plus ca change, dood.

it's a frigging bubble . they pop.

has happened for hundreds of years - oil, gold, orange juice, corn, silver, nifty fifty, tech stocks, tulip bulbs, etc.

usually, when the general public is most bullish on the bubble is the signs of a near top

[rucky]

3. "How'd all this oil get in here?"

[Lex]

4. " . . . investors continued to fret over slumping demand for energy . . . "

Let's keep conserving and conserving and driving them crazy.

All this talk by Obama and even lunatic T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore's plan about ditching oil altogether---maybe they realize their future's not so bright after all.

[The Traveler]

6. The cost of production certainly did not go up

Nor was the spike in oil prices related directly to actual demand in any way. I read an interesting article on these very pages about one oil analyst who tracked the tankers ... and found loaded ships stacked up on the high seas. In his view there was deliberate market manipulation intended to drive speculation. (Some oil company ass bag actually explained "It has been a bad year for fog" when asked about this.)

Part of the problem with markets is that they can be very freaky. The dollar sags, so people rush into commodities, driving up futures and prices. Which causes ripple effects. Which cause the markets to freak again ... rinse, repeat.

Regulation can act as a shock absorber for some of these effects. Enforcement of regulation can actually prevent abuse! (I repeat that for any lurking Bushistas ... Enforcement of regulation can actually prevent abuse! Oh ... but you guys know that so that means ... oh.)

[crikkett]

7. demand for gas and diesel fuel is down 2-3% sez NPR today

and military operations are at a lull in Iraq so we're not competing with the Army for fuel.