<DrumBeat: December 27, 2007The Oil DrumDrumBeat: December 28, 2007>

67 comments on This Week in Petroleum (TWIP) 12-27-2007

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Leanan on December 27, 2007 - 1:50pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Oil nears new record

Oil prices rose over $1 a barrel Thursday, putting crude about $2 from its all-time high, after the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories.

...Although nuclear-armed Pakistan has little oil, traders fear any instability could spread to neighboring states. Pakistan borders Iran, the world's fourth-largest exporter of crude, and also lies near the oil-rich Central Asian states.

One analyst said the situation in Pakistan is bound to get worse before it gets better.

"The rioting is just beginning, and there's talk of retaliatory terrorist attacks," said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at MF Global in New York.

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Pieter on December 27, 2007 - 1:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Looking at NYMEX over the past few hours I wonder who has started selling big about 1,5hrs ago. Any idea how we can get that information overhere?

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Darwinian on December 27, 2007 - 2:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Pieter, are you trying to blame someone for the drop in oil prices earlier? Oil is just volatile. No one trader is responsible. Fear and greed rule, there are no conspiracies here. If you watch it every day on an hour by hour, minute by minute basis, you will see far greater changes than than you saw this morning.

Ron Patterson

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Pieter on December 27, 2007 - 6:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm not trying to blame anyone. I'm trying to figure out how these fast corrections happen. 1-2hrs -ish after an incident you see this 'flattening' of the price curve. I noticed it after Turkey moved into Iraq recently and I'm seeing it again now. I wonder whether this is short term profit taking or another mechanism. I don't think we have 'Bernanke boys' on the market like on Wall Street.

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Nate Hagens on December 27, 2007 - 7:13pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

today was odd
crude was up about $1.5 - half of this move happened at 830 when Bhuto assasination hit tape -the other half at 10:30 when weekly supply numbers came out. nat gas was down all day - over 20 cents - then at 1:50 or so, it spiked and closed up on day - no apparent news that im aware of, unless it was leak of tomorrows report....cold as hell here, but my socks are wet - im sure there is some physical property to explain this...

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the_rage on December 27, 2007 - 11:31pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The NG January contract expired today, so that probably caused some volatility.

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notintodenial on December 27, 2007 - 2:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Wow, I'm sorry to read of the assassination of Ms Bhutto; IMO that will have about the same effect in Pakistan as the bombing of the Mosque of the Golden Dome did in Iraq. A civil war in a nuclear-armed state is certainly an 'above ground factor'.

PLAN, PLANt, PLANet
Errol in Miami

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the_rage on December 27, 2007 - 3:28pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I don't know - there is and will be some rioting, but I don't see a civil war. Her supporters were not the extremists, and they have been under martial law. I see it more along the lines of the Hariri assassination.

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