The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: May 1, 2008

220 comments on DrumBeat: May 1, 2008

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Show without comments | PDF version

RalphW on May 1, 2008 - 9:57am

The UK refinery dispute is settled. North Sea back up to full flow. The dollar is gaining and that weakens oil as commodity of last resort.

This week's US inventory report exceeded expectations.

Some posters on TOD have been predicting a price fallback the last few days. There is some marginal evidence of reduced US demand.

Increased volatility is to be expected. In a few months $120 will be a distant memory.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

xeroid on May 1, 2008 - 10:20am

The UK refinery dispute is settled

Sadly not true!

The union completed it's planned two day stoppage, but there is no resolution to the dispute!

Prices rise and fall a few percent over short periods in any free market. For oil, each peak in the price is higher than the previous one, this is nothing new, it's been going on for ten years or so now - IMO, at the very least, it signifies 'peak lite'.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

RalphW on May 1, 2008 - 10:44am

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/01/tradeunions.oil

All the signs are that the Grangemouth oil refinery workers, whose two-day pensions strike closed the Forties North Sea oil and gas pipeline earlier this week, have scored a significant victory. A joint statement issued by Ineos, the refinery's owner, and the oil workers' union, Unite, was soothingly bland and face-saving after talks in London on Tuesday. But insiders say the outcome is unequivocal. Faced with such a decisive demonstration of industrial strength, Jim Ratcliffe, the secretive billionaire chairman of Ineos, has bowed to the inevitable. In exchange for a commitment to future negotiation, he has agreed to withdraw his decision to close the final-salary pension scheme for new employees and to reduce existing benefits from the beginning of August.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

xeroid on May 1, 2008 - 5:29pm

Yes - as you can see the boss has backed down, for now, as long as the Union is willing to negotiate, ie:compromise - it isn't clear that they are.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

220 comments on DrumBeat: May 1, 2008

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Show without comments | PDF version

Search The Oil Drum with Google

Support The Oil Drum

Click the button to learn about supporting The Oil Drum with a secure donation.

Peak Oil Primers

Beware email scams!

Beware email scams claiming to be from this site. We do not have any job openings. If anyone contacts you about a job at The Oil Drum, do not reply to them, and definitely do not give them any personal information or send them money. Read more here.

“Where ideas are concerned, America can be counted on to do one of two things: take a good idea and run it completely into the ground, or take a bad idea and run it completely into the ground.”

—George Carlin