Houston Chron

April 4, 2001, 10:33PM

Dwindling gasoline inventories cause big jump in futures prices

Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle News Services

NEW YORK -- Gasoline futures hit the highest level since October on Wednesday after news of dwindling reserves renewed jitters that a supply crunch will produce price spikes again this summer.

May gasoline futures rose 4 percent, or 3.98 cents, to 97.15 cents a gallon at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. Tuesday, the contract rose nearly 3.5 cents.

U.S. inventories of gasoline remain below the levels that set the stage for last summer's soaring prices, and refiners have yet to boost production to meet demand, according to data released this week.

"Total inventories for gasoline are more typical of levels seen at the end of the season rather than the beginning," said John Kilduff, senior vice president at Fimat USA, a brokerage firm. "The gas gauge is close to empty when it should be close to full. We're 5 percent lower than last year, and last year we were in a crisis mode."

A quarterly report by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Department of Energy, added further fuel: Gasoline stocks are at their lowest-ever at the start of the second quarter, or 193 million barrels under a year ago.

May crude futures rose 93 cents to close at $27.12 a barrel.

May heating oil rose 3.10 cents to 72.66 cents a gallon; May natural gas rose 6.7 cents to $5.182 per thousand cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude from the North Sea rose 55 cents to close at $25.32.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

Answers

It gets better . Dubya snubbed a recent EU mission to D.C. (Swedish and EU enviro ministers) aimed at persuading him not to trash Kyoto. Perhaps there's no connection, but the EU has just announced it's not joining with US to jawbone OPEC over oil prices.

From energyresources, usual caveats apply, educational and discussion purposes only:

This is shaping up to be another oil embargo...

[ We are isolated now that Bush has pissed-off the EU over the global warming issue. This is shaping up to be another showdown, with the Arabs cutting of our supply -- again. ]

EU Not to Join U.S. in OPEC Price Dispute

BRUSSELS, Apr 3, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The European Union (EU) said Tuesday that it would not join the United States in an argument over the oil price fixing allegation inside the dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

One EU official said that the 15-nation bloc did not think the WTO was the proper forum for the dispute over the allegation.

"It is not a matter for the WTO that is not the proper forum for this issue," said Gunnar Wiegand, spokesman for the External Relations Commission of the EU.

When asked whether the union would join the U.S. in the dispute against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the spokesman said that it was not in the view.

A U.S. federal court has already granted a one-year injunction banning OPEC from fixing prices as Prewitt Enterprises won a civil anti-trust case in an Alabama court, accusing the oil producing group of conspiring to fix oil price through oil supply agreements.

http://www.individual.com/servlet/BuildIssue?mode=topics&cont ent_src=/frames /story.shtml%3fstory=v0403236.4xi%26level3=3081%26date=20 010404%26inIssue=TRUE

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001

Used to be that Britain would support just about every move the US made because their goals were the same. Then left-wing Blair was elected and gradually sold out Britain's sovereignty to the EU. There are still many, many good people left in Britain but I'm afraid Blair and his minions have brainwashed many more. Remember how France has treated the US all these years--that's how the EU in general will respond from now on.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2001