Note: Posted for those following oil prices.

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Tuesday February 1, 11:09 am Eastern Time U.S. Says Crude Oil Prices Too High By DOUG MELLGREN

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson said crude oil prices are too high but reaffirmed that he did not intend to sell off American strategic reserves to counter the price increases.

``We are concerned about high oil prices. We think that right now they are high,'' he said Tuesday at a news conference. ``But the United States very strongly believes that market forces should dictate prices. We are not here to pressure OPEC or countries like Norway.'' -snip-

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

It appears to me that OPEC called Richardson's/Clinton's bluff and Bill and Bill blinked.

Crude, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas are all up today by 2-3%:

LINK

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 01, 2000.

And talk about gouging! After filling up for $1.18/gal at a station (which two weeks ago was charging $1.09/gal), I drove past another gas station where the sign said $1.29. Here in Missouri, we haven't seen prices like that since 1985.

-- Etta James (ej@kcmu.edu), February 01, 2000.

That's All? we are paying $1.39 for the cheap stuff here in lower WI. it was $1.21 a couple of weeks ago.

-- oboy (oboy @oboy.cxom), February 01, 2000.

Note, Mr. Richardson is the one who was proposing a swap, wherein the oil companies would be given a barrel of oil that was contracted for, to be put into the SPR -- if they would pay back 2 or 3 barrels.

The companies probably took about 30 seconds to tell him where to stick that highway robbery.

And if you guys in Missouri think prices are bad now, wait until they catch up with this morning's prices as noted by OPIS:

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FEBRUARY TRADING OPENS WITH SURGE IN GULF COAST SPOT GASOLINE 2/1 - (11:30 A.M. EST) - February trading has commenced with some very strong refinery buying at the Gulf Coast and gasoline prices have soared this morning as a result.

Two refiners are among those buying prompt gasoline this morning, and they have paid values equivalent to the March NYMEX unleaded contract. Late in the morning, March NYMEX gasoline was ahead 1.29cts gal to 77cts gal, so absolute values were right at the 77cts gal quote, or more than 4cts gal above where they closed yesterday. Some later deals were done at 0.75cts gal under the March NYMEX, but that still represents a hefty increase from Monday. New York prices have moved up with the NYMEX, with conventional gasoline selling at 2.25cts gal off the Merc or about 74.75cts gal. RFG is pegged at about 76.75cts gal and futures are seeing a real buying surge.

[snip]

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), February 01, 2000.

By the way, what does it tell you when refineries are reduced to buying gasoline on the open market in order to meet their contracts? Could it be that their refineries are not working?

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), February 01, 2000.

Yes, oboy, but you are closer to Chicago and Canada, where things are much more expensive. For instance, Marlboros are usually $21.99 a carton (or $2.45 a pack) here. Gas (and the cost of living in general) will always be cheaper here than within 250 miles of Canada.

Until 6 weeks ago, gas has been under a dollar a gallon (self serve) for the past several years.

-- Etta James (ej@kcmu.edu), February 01, 2000.

Here in the San Francisco bay area...

$1.37/gal at the cheap, cash only place.

I've seen it up to $1.99/gal at the majors.

-- CA 4x4 (4x4@my.house), February 01, 2000.