Oil prices buoyant amid talk of $ 100

London: World oil prices rose strongly today in the wake of a banking study that forecast crude could eventually trade at more than 100 dollars per barrel, fuelled by robust world demand for energy.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose 35 cents to 55.75 dollars per barrel in electronic deals after closing up 1.41 dollars yesterday.

<SNIP>

"We believe oil prices have entered the early stages of a super-spike period," said analyst Arjun Murti, who raised his price range to 50-105 dollars a barrel from 50-80 dollars.

The higher price range was foreseen to last several years because of "strength in oil demand and economic growth, especially in the United States and China", Murti said.

http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13707506

=====================
that's bullshit mr. murti, oil prices are rising coz oil reserves are drying up. why won't anyone speak the truth??? they all make it sound as if the only problem with oil is demand, not available supplies...

"rose strongly", "robust", "buoyant", "strength in oil demand".

Whereas it makes me think of words like "recession", or "economic train-wreck".

That's what you said in 2000 when gas prices were (gasp!) a $1.50 a gallon.

Oil prices are extremely high, though no one in this administration mentions the word "conserve." There is very little complaint about it. I read the Rolling Stone article where Bush supposedly knows all about peak oil. Well, why is there no mention of it? Because it is extremely profitable to sell and explore for oil at such high prices. They're going to ride this thing to the end.

its called PRICE GOUGING and guess what----there is nothing to stop em

and now the unemployment rate here in MI is the nation

what comes around goes around. We want cheap stuff from China, fine. China's economy grows at spectacular rates that allow ordinary Chinese to buy cars, great. Oil demand goes through the roof, stripping supply, prices shoot up. Not just shoot up but spike because of various obstacles that limit ramping up supply in accordance with demand. This is just phase one political peak oil, countries holding up production, companies artificially squeezing supply through refining limitations.

Now Seymour Hersh stated that if and when oil hits $65-68/barrel we'll see direct worldwide economic pain. This pain will reduce oil demand, temporarily. Eventually, the world's economy will need a certain minimum amount of oil just to limp from day to day, and that minimum won't be able to be pumped from the ground.

Gasperc has it right. The cost of all the cheap goods from China is the price of oil. Count the SUVs in W-M's parking lot. Gotta make up for the expense of filling up.

As Union members, we have avoided purchasing goods made in China. Initially this was because of the slave labor, political dissidents in prisons. Now, add to that the fuel needed to produce goods in and transport goods from China. Manufacture here, save the transportation.

During our invasion of Afghanistan, I put a Victory Garden in the front yard, with posters and all. Did I think that growing tomatoes would help the war effort? No, but I did wish that people would acknowledge the additional resources needed to provide food and goods from a distance (including interstate commerce) and how wars are fought for those resources.

Iraq, DUH!

It talks about getting our food and resources closer to home

Why are we importing grapes from Chile, etc? Labor has been bent and broken and now this globalized system appears gravely unsustainable.
I suppose Japan will build nuclear powered tankers to ship vehicles over. We'll see.

Back in the 70s the prices were political. This time around China is sucking demand faster than new oil reserves can be found. There is nothing to stop them short of nuking China.

As a student of the human condition and the machinations thereof, wonder whether rumors are being pumped up to create precisely this effect.

Not saying that they are, just saying that it's one of the things I have considered.

w/ the thermostat set at 55-they dont make (select) presidents like that anymore

Repugs like to say, we need to work on the problem from both ends, supply and demand, when they want to open up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, but they don't want to do anything meaningful to develop alternative fuels and they have never shown me that they want to work on the other end AT ALL. I have never seen legislation to raise cafe standards or try to tax SUVs off the road. All I see is tax breaks for over 6000 lbs vehicles. Is this their idea of working on the demand side?!

geez, I wish I had this guy's job it doesn't look that hard.

I understand what you're saying. They aren't talking about supply specifically, but if demand goes up and supply doesn't go up with it, prices will rise. I don't know of any increases in supply including tar sands.

Food prices were pretty damned "robust" and "buoyant," and it looks like we're in a "super-spike period" price-wise that will mean more macaroni and cheese for the foreseeable future.:(

EDITED TO ADD: Hey, do any DUers have any good fried dough recipes? Ma Joad never gave us hers. It's what we'll all be eating, soon!

My ma's ma made her kids fried dough quite often, to hear ma tell it. She's from Abilene, actually.

Oddly enough, I've often observed that every culture seems to have a special fried dough recipe of one sort or another. But I never put it together with poverty before... Of course there's fried dough recipes from every culture, since there's poverty in every culture! Thanks for triggering that realization!