Gas prices rising again

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Twin cities: This morning gas was $1.619. Tonight its $1.799. I heard of no refinery shutdowns or drastic Arab cutbacks. The vacation season hasn't started yet. What's up? How's pricing in your locale?

-- John Littmann (LITTMANNJOHNTL@AOL.COM), April 30, 2001

Answers

Gasoline futures soar to all-time high on U.S. supply worries Lawmakers are searching for solutions to the recent surge in gasoline prices. NBC’s Dan Lothian reports.

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS April 30 — Oil prices marched higher on Monday, dragged up by benchmark U.S. gasoline futures, which struck a new all-time record amid persistent worries of a summer supply crunch in the United States. GASOLINE FUTURES hit $1.163 a gallon Monday morning, making the third consecutive trading day to have set a new all-time record. Before last week, the high was $1.11 a gallon set in August 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War.

U.S. crude oil prices also surged Monday, hitting $28.99 a barrel Monday morning. By early afternoon, U.S. benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate stood at $28.67 a barrel, up 40 cents.

Gasoline production will be halved for about two weeks at a Tosco Corp. refinery near St. Louis, Missouri which had a large fire on Saturday.

This deepens potential problems this summer for the U.S. Midwest, which experienced the highest gasoline prices in the nation last summer because of refinery and gasoline pipeline glitches. Crude oil prices are 12 percent higher than they were a year ago, while gasoline futures are 40 percent up on the year. Monday’s advance came after finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries met over the weekend and issued a statement reiterating the importance of lower energy prices and stable oil markets.

French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday that current oil prices could damage an already vulnerable global economy.

Fabius said $28 a barrel oil was too expensive and that crude between $20 and $25 would be preferable. “We have to have a more balanced situation. Today, in my mind, it’s still too high,” Fabius said. France and many other European countries were hit by angry protests over soaring energy bills when Brent hit 10-year highs above $35 a barrel last September.

Consumers face a replay of last year’s price run-up because of a looming gasoline shortage in the United States, the world’s biggest energy market. Advertisement

Gasoline has underpinned the energy complex in recent weeks amid concerns that lowly U.S. stocks will be insufficent to meet peak summer driving demand when the vacation season kicks in at the end of May. Lean inventories saw some relief last week when industry data recorded a rise in stocks and a near-50 percent reduction in the year- on-year inventory deficit to 4.8 million barrels.

A flood of imports from Europe and a pick-up in production rates at U.S. refineries boosted stockpiles. Traders will be eagerly awaiting fresh weekly stocks data for last week, which will be released by the American Petroleum Institute after the close of business on Tuesday.

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_bizjournal.asp?/news/564959.as p

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 30, 2001.


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