August 18, 2004
Oil Watch: $47/bbl.
Need I say more? Oil at $47 a barrel.
Oil prices topped $47 a barrel early Wednesday, setting yet another record, as violence in Iraq threatened to engulf the country's main export pipeline.Analyst estimates that weekly data due later Wednesday will show a dip in inventories in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, also helped push prices to a new all-time high.
At about 8 a.m. ET, U.S. light crude eased to $47 a barrel, up 25 cents, after pushing the record price to $47.04 before 7 a.m.
Now why isn't gasoline racing to $2.50/gal. ?
I'm not sure, but I think gasoline prices are down (-ish) because gasoline demand has been down -- at least, lower than in previous months. But, I think that's changing. I heard that gasoline demand is showing an uptick this week, and gasoline stocks reported a slight decline. So, I expect to see prices edging upwards here shortly.
Posted by: Heimie at August 18, 2004 04:19 PMUpdate from MSNBC: Oil prices struck a fresh record above $48 a barrel on Thursday, spurred higher by renewed violence in Iraq and fresh evidence that strong demand growth in China and India has not been slowed yet by higher energy costs.