Duh. Double Duh. I'm not sure where Schumer came up with this genius plan. They never intended to sell jack squat. Somebody wanted to jawbone the market down a little today. Schumer and company must have been short crude this morning. Yeah, lets fight inflation by pissing away the only reserves we have. Duh. Friday September 24, 9:49 am Eastern Time Note: this article has a followup with more information. NYMEX crude called to open 10-15 cts off on SPR NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Crude oil and product futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) were called to open lower Friday over concerns that the United States might dip into its strategic oil reserves to prevent a rise heating and gasoline prices this winter, traders said.

Crude oil for November delivery was expected to open 10-15 cents lower. Heating oil and gasoline futures were seen opening 0.25-0.50 cent lower.

Anxiety over the possible sale from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was already felt in overnight trading, as front month crude fell 14 cent to $24.73 a barrel, traders said.

Also overnight, front month heating oil fell 0.25 cent to 62.00 cents a gallon and gasoline ended 0.43 cent lower at 71.20 cents.

In London, November Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) also dipped and was trading at $23.67 a barrel, down 15 cents, at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), slipping on news about the SPR.

``It's this talk about a possible sale from the SPR that's pulling the market down,'' said Victor Yu, a vice president at Refco Energy Group in New York.

After the market closed on Thursday, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said he was considering a request from the Democratic Senator from New York, Charles Schumer, to sell oil from the SPR.

Schumer had proposed on Tuesday that the U.S. sell several hundred thousand barrels of oil per day from the 563 million barrels held in the SPR, an emergency supply reserve created in the oil crisis of the 1970s.

OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna on Wednesday had committed to maintain production curbs until March next year. The curbs have worked to more than double oil prices from early this year.

Richardson said his staff and the White House were both studying Schumer's proposal but no decision has been made.

--

NYMEX crude settles lower after spurt on SPR (Reuters) NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) slipped Friday as players pocketed profits after a midday bounce sparked by news the United States was not considering selling oil from national reserves. NYMEX crude oil for November delivery settled at $24. - Sep 24 3:59 PM EDT

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), September 24, 1999

Answers

What's another 20 - 30 million bbl when you have 350 or so million bbl?? Looks FINE to me. It's just a mere bagatelle!

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 25, 1999.

This tidbit was important only in that it gave away another element of the plot. Inflation is running away like a team of horses that just stepped on a rattlesnake. These guys know that the trade deficit and inflation are absolutely gonna go nutz this next quarter when all those fine folks who actually trust these assholes find out they've been hornswaggled. JQ Pub is gonna buy, buy, buy like there's no tommorrow. That will UNDOUBTEDLY create some inflationary pressure like you've not seen before. They're trying to slow it down now with little luck. Please note the strength of this market. Last time a threat was made was during the Gulf War and it had it's desired effect in a day or two. This market didn't even blink. Yeehaa.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), September 25, 1999.