Better Fill up today

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December-09 Crude settled at $79.43,up $2.00 on the day, December-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.67,up $0.075 on the day.

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Dec-09 Crude is trading at $79.175, down $0.25, Dec-09 Natural Gas is trading at $4.57, down $0.010.

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Crude Oil Falls as Tropical Storm Ida Weakens in Gulf of Mexico



By Christian Schmollinger and Ayesha Daya

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell after Tropical Storm Ida weakened in the Gulf of Mexico as it headed for the U.S. coast, reducing the potential of further supply disruptions.

IdaR17;s sustained winds have dropped to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour from 65 mph earlier, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. Producers have begun preparations to resume operations.

R20;Most people feel that the storm isn't going to be that severe," said Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo. "This is the last hurrah for the hurricane season."

Oil for December delivery declined as much as 88 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $78.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $79.94 a barrel at 10:05 a.m. London time. Yesterday, the contract rose $2, or 2.6 percent, to $79.43. Prices have gained 77 percent this year.

Oil also declined after an official from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the group is unlikely to change production levels because stocks are high.

Ida was centered 100 miles south-southwest of Mobile, Alabama, at 9 p.m. local time and was moving north at 13 mph, the center said. Workers were evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico and companies idled 29.6 percent of oil and 27.5 percent of natural gas output, according to government data.

Marathon Oil Corp. said it may start work on bringing output back tomorrow. The company had evacuated and shut in production at a platform located at Ewing Bank 873, which can produce the equivalent of about 12,000 barrels of oil a day, Lee Warren, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail.

Stockpile 'Worry'

OPEC won't need to raise oil production levels when it meets next month in Angola because stockpiles are "a worry" and will rise early next year, the group's head of research Hasan Qabazard said in an interview in Doha, Qatar today.

R20;Oil is still trading below $80 a barrel because the fundamentals are very weak and we have an oversupply in the market," said Sintje Diek, an analyst with HSH Nordbank in Hamburg. "Crude oil and oil product inventories are well below the five-year average."

U.S. crude-oil inventories probably rose 1 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 6, according to the median of 10 estimates by analysts before an Energy Department report.

Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, declined 700,000 barrels from 167.4 million the prior week, according to the survey. Gasoline stockpiles probably dropped 400,000 barrels from 208.3 million in the week before, the survey showed.

Weekly Report

The department is scheduled to release its weekly report on Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. in Washington, a day later than usual because of the Veterans' Day holiday on Nov. 11.

Brent crude for December settlement fell as much as 87 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $76.90 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $77.38 a barrel at 10:05 a.m. London time. Prices rose $1.90, or 2.5 percent, to $77.77 a barrel yesterday.


World oil reserves are more depleted than official estimates state, the Guardian reported, citing a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency.

The IEA has been underplaying a future oil shortage while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves under pressure from the U.S. amid a fear of triggering panic buying, the newspaper reported, citing an unidentified senior official at the IEA.

Critics have often wrongly questioned the accuracy of its figures, the IEA said last night, ahead of the publication of its World Energy Outlook report today, the newspaper said.

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December-09 Crude settled at $79.05,down $0.38 on the day, December-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.467,down $0.203 on the day.

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Dec-09 Crude is trading at $79.55, up $0.50, Dec-09 Natural Gas is trading at $4.535, up.07.

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December-09 Crude settled at $79.28,up $0.23 on the day, December-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.503,up $0.036 on the day.

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Dec-09 Crude is trading at $78.375, down $0.905, Dec-09 Natural Gas is trading at $4.44, down $0.063.

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OPEC Output Is Highest Since January; Quota May Rise, IEA Says



By Ayesha Daya

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- OPEC crude oil production rose in October to the highest level since January and the group may increase it further at a meeting next month in Angola if oil prices keep rising, the International Energy Agency said.

Production from 11 members excluding Iraq rose by 150,000 barrels a day from September, to 26.48 million barrels a day, as Gulf members allowed more oil to flow to Asia. Compliance with output cutbacks agreed late last year by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slipped to 61 percent in October, from 64 percent in September, the Paris-based IEA estimated in its monthly report today.

There appears to be a "quasi-consensus" among some OPEC members "that an increase in output targets may be in the offing at the next meeting if prices move significantly above current levels," the IEA report said. "OPEC members, especially in the Middle East Gulf, are worried that higher oil prices could threaten the global economic recovery and further strain relationships with consuming nations ahead of climate change talks in Copenhagen."

Crude oil has gained 78 percent this year, trading at $79.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange today. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has previously targeted $75 oil as a fair price for consumers and producers.

OPEC, responsible for 40 percent of the world's crude supplies, will meet on Dec. 22 in Luanda, Angola, to discuss production targets after agreeing to leave quotas unchanged at its past three ministerial conferences.

The group’s 12 members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

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Texas oil baron sees gas as game changer

North America The 'Saudi Arabia Of Natural Gas,' Says Pickens; He proposes switching semis' fuel as first step

By Shaun Polczer, Calgary HeraldNovember 11, 2009



CALGARY - North Americans need to embrace natural gas as the clean-burning solution to North America's energy and environmental security, one of the world's leading oilmen told the Calgary Herald's editorial board Tuesday.

T. Boone Pickens, one of the world's foremost oil barons, is hoping to convert more than seven million heavy trucks and vehicles over to the cleaner-burning fuel in an attempt to reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil.

In a meeting with the Herald, Pickens described North America as the "Saudi Arabia" of natural gas, with more than 100 years of potential supplies.

"We have more gas than anyone else in the world," he said. "America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. It's time for us to use this abundant resource to end the cycle of foreign oil dependency and addiction that is making us less safe and more economically insecure."

Pickens was in Calgary to promote his latest venture, the BP Energy Fund, which is to begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In addition to oil and gas, Pickens said the fund would promote new and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

But he's also busy promoting the Nat Gas Bill of 2009 in the U.S. Senate. Pickens said he's hoping to have a law passed by next year which will mandate the use of natural gas in federal vehicles.

By doing so, he's hoping to reduce the amount of oil the U.S. imports from countries such as Saudi Arabia by some two million barrels a day, money which he said could in turn be used to help fund health care and education stateside.

The Texas oilman, who began his long career in Calgary, said natural gas is the only fuel that can immediately displace conventional oil in the North American transportation fleet and reduce the half a million dollars a minute the U.S. currently sends foreign governments to buy oil supplies.

According to the Pickens sponsored Pickensplan.comwebsite, since January 2009, the U.S. has imported more than 3.6 billion barrels of oil, which Pickens describes as the largest transfer of wealth to potentially hostile foreign governments in history.

A study released in June by the Potential Gas Committee, a group of academics and industry specialists supported by the Colorado School of Mines, estimates that the Lower 48 states hold more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, or more than a century of supply.

However, much of it is locked in unconventional rocks like shale that require specialized drilling techniques to bring it out.

According to the International Energy Agency, which released its 2009 World Energy Outlook on Tuesday, unconventional gas--notably shale gas--in North America has transformed the gas market outlook.

"Unconventional gas is unquestionably a game-changer in North America with potentially significant implications for the rest of the world," said IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka.

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December-09 Crude settled at $76.94, down $2.34 on the day, December-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.37,down $0.133 on the day.