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Oil Falls Below $120 on Signs Storm Won't Harm Gulf Facilities
2008-08-04 15:51:44.530 (New York)


By Margot Habiby
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell below $120 a barrel for the first time since May amid speculation that Tropical Storm Edouard won't cause disruption to most offshore oil facilities as it approaches the coast of Texas.
Edouard, which may reach hurricane strength tomorrow, hasn't shut significant oil output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The storm is on a course for Galveston, Texas, the biggest U.S. petroleum port, and may pass close to Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown oil refinery as well as BP Plc's Texas City plant.
``A lot of the fear about something really affecting those rigs appears to have slackened,'' said Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. ``The threat is that there's a large enough amount of rainfall that those refineries could be affected for a while.''
Crude oil for September delivery fell $5.34, or 4.3 percent, to $119.76 a barrel at 11:42 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. New York oil futures have slipped more than $28 a barrel from the record $147.27 on July 11 as U.S. gasoline demand slowed, and a stronger dollar reduced the attraction of commodities as an investment. Oil touched $119.50 a barrel, the lowest since May 6.
Edouard, with maximum wind speeds of 45 miles (75
kilometers) an hour, may strengthen as it moves west, parallel to the Louisiana coast, before reaching the Texas shore tomorrow, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. There is a 20 percent chance it will strengthen to a hurricane before striking land.
The center of the storm was located about 160 miles south- southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana, and about 265 miles east- southeast of Galveston at 10 a.m. local time.

No `Big Deal'

``It doesn't look like it's a big deal yet,'' Peter Beutel, president of Connecticut-based Cameron Hanover Inc., said in a radio interview. ``It doesn't look especially strong right now and refineries aren't producing all-out in any event.''
U.S. refineries ran at 87.2 percent of capacity in the week ended July 25, down 6.5 percentage points from a year earlier, as high prices of crude oil and declining gasoline demand have cut refining margins.
The hypothetical profit margin, or crack spread, for refining crude oil for September delivery into gasoline was $5.03 a barrel at 11:20 a.m. New York time, down 48 percent from the year before.
Gasoline for September delivery lost 10.15 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $2.9828 a gallon on the Nymex. Futures fell 13 percent last month, the biggest drop since September 2006, as a slowing economy cut demand for the motor fuel. It reached a record $3.631 on July 11.
Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, fell 0.6 cent to $3.881 a gallon, AAA, the nation's largest motorist organization, said today on its Web site. Pump prices reached a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17, as higher prices curbed demand.

Demand Destruction

``Demand destruction seems to be gaining some credibility and traction,'' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston. News about Iran testing a new anti-ship weapon this weekend and the storm ``would have had the market up $5 three months ago. The fact that it hasn't does indicate some shift in psychology.''
U.S. fuel demand averaged 20.2 million barrels a day during the past four weeks, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said July 30. Demand among the 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will fall 480,000 barrels to 48.46 million barrels a day this year, the department said in a July 8 report.
The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari, announced the weapons test today on state-run news services. He also reiterated a warning that Iran could respond to any attack by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world's oil is exported.

Storm Closures

Pilots on the Houston Ship Channel, which serves the largest U.S. petroleum port, suspended inbound traffic to Galveston and Texas City today, the U.S. Coast Guard said on its Web site. The area is under a hurricane watch.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port suspended marine operations last night, though it's still making pipeline deliveries, spokeswoman Barb Hestermann said. The LOOP, as it's known, is the biggest U.S. crude-oil import terminal, with the capacity to receive 1 million barrels a day, or about 11 percent of U.S.
imports.
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it evacuated some personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facilities because of the storm threat, though output hasn't been affected.
Noble Corp., the third-largest offshore oil driller, said it's evacuating two jack-up rigs in shallow water off the coast of Louisiana.

Shell

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it will begin evacuations of 40 workers from Gulf facilities. It doesn't expect any impact on production, spokeswoman Robin Lebovitz said.
Brent crude oil for September settlement dropped $1.20, or 1 percent, to $122.98 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Hedge fund managers and other large speculators last week reduced their bets on falling prices, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Net-short positions, the difference between orders to buy and sell the commodity, fell to 660 contracts at July 29, 82 percent less than a week earlier.

--With reporting by Ken Prewitt, Jim Polson and Dan Lonkevich in New York, Jim Kennett and David Wethe in Houston, Barbara Powell in Dallas and Grant Smith in London. Editors: Joe Link, Robin Saponar

To contact the reporter on this story:
Margot Habiby in Dallas at +1-214-954-9452 or mhabiby@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Banker in New York at +1-212-617-2313 or bbanker@bloomberg.net.

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Oil Falls Below $120 on Signs Storm Won't Harm Gulf Facilities
2008-08-04 15:51:44.530 (New York)


By Margot Habiby
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell below $120 a barrel for the first time since May amid speculation that Tropical Storm Edouard won't cause disruption to most offshore oil facilities as it approaches the coast of Texas.
Edouard, which may reach hurricane strength tomorrow, hasn't shut significant oil output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The storm is on a course for Galveston, Texas, the biggest U.S. petroleum port, and may pass close to Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown oil refinery as well as BP Plc's Texas City plant.
``A lot of the fear about something really affecting those rigs appears to have slackened,'' said Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. ``The threat is that there's a large enough amount of rainfall that those refineries could be affected for a while.''
Crude oil for September delivery fell $5.34, or 4.3 percent, to $119.76 a barrel at 11:42 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. New York oil futures have slipped more than $28 a barrel from the record $147.27 on July 11 as U.S. gasoline demand slowed, and a stronger dollar reduced the attraction of commodities as an investment. Oil touched $119.50 a barrel, the lowest since May 6.
Edouard, with maximum wind speeds of 45 miles (75
kilometers) an hour, may strengthen as it moves west, parallel to the Louisiana coast, before reaching the Texas shore tomorrow, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. There is a 20 percent chance it will strengthen to a hurricane before striking land.
The center of the storm was located about 160 miles south- southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana, and about 265 miles east- southeast of Galveston at 10 a.m. local time.

No `Big Deal'

``It doesn't look like it's a big deal yet,'' Peter Beutel, president of Connecticut-based Cameron Hanover Inc., said in a radio interview. ``It doesn't look especially strong right now and refineries aren't producing all-out in any event.''
U.S. refineries ran at 87.2 percent of capacity in the week ended July 25, down 6.5 percentage points from a year earlier, as high prices of crude oil and declining gasoline demand have cut refining margins.
The hypothetical profit margin, or crack spread, for refining crude oil for September delivery into gasoline was $5.03 a barrel at 11:20 a.m. New York time, down 48 percent from the year before.
Gasoline for September delivery lost 10.15 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $2.9828 a gallon on the Nymex. Futures fell 13 percent last month, the biggest drop since September 2006, as a slowing economy cut demand for the motor fuel. It reached a record $3.631 on July 11.
Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, fell 0.6 cent to $3.881 a gallon, AAA, the nation's largest motorist organization, said today on its Web site. Pump prices reached a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17, as higher prices curbed demand.

Demand Destruction

``Demand destruction seems to be gaining some credibility and traction,'' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston. News about Iran testing a new anti-ship weapon this weekend and the storm ``would have had the market up $5 three months ago. The fact that it hasn't does indicate some shift in psychology.''
U.S. fuel demand averaged 20.2 million barrels a day during the past four weeks, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said July 30. Demand among the 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will fall 480,000 barrels to 48.46 million barrels a day this year, the department said in a July 8 report.
The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari, announced the weapons test today on state-run news services. He also reiterated a warning that Iran could respond to any attack by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world's oil is exported.

Storm Closures

Pilots on the Houston Ship Channel, which serves the largest U.S. petroleum port, suspended inbound traffic to Galveston and Texas City today, the U.S. Coast Guard said on its Web site. The area is under a hurricane watch.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port suspended marine operations last night, though it's still making pipeline deliveries, spokeswoman Barb Hestermann said. The LOOP, as it's known, is the biggest U.S. crude-oil import terminal, with the capacity to receive 1 million barrels a day, or about 11 percent of U.S.
imports.
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it evacuated some personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facilities because of the storm threat, though output hasn't been affected.
Noble Corp., the third-largest offshore oil driller, said it's evacuating two jack-up rigs in shallow water off the coast of Louisiana.

Shell

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it will begin evacuations of 40 workers from Gulf facilities. It doesn't expect any impact on production, spokeswoman Robin Lebovitz said.
Brent crude oil for September settlement dropped $1.20, or 1 percent, to $122.98 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Hedge fund managers and other large speculators last week reduced their bets on falling prices, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Net-short positions, the difference between orders to buy and sell the commodity, fell to 660 contracts at July 29, 82 percent less than a week earlier.

--With reporting by Ken Prewitt, Jim Polson and Dan Lonkevich in New York, Jim Kennett and David Wethe in Houston, Barbara Powell in Dallas and Grant Smith in London. Editors: Joe Link, Robin Saponar

To contact the reporter on this story:
Margot Habiby in Dallas at +1-214-954-9452 or mhabiby@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Banker in New York at +1-212-617-2313 or bbanker@bloomberg.net.

ça sent le gap haussier à l'ouverture
ça risqye de bourrer direct jusqu'a4550
n'oubliez pas GLE publie demain et mercredi axa ET BNP
ça se joue sur ces 2 jours

ok avec toi !
baisse du pétrole,de l'euro,des oléagineux et des métaux : à tct!
une petite fusée se prépare?

aïe le rebond !!! il faut l'arrêter ! gogogadgetomoyennesmobiles !!

Cliquez pour agrandir

En clôturant hier la séance à 4280,63 pour une MM20S s’établissant à 4280,50, le CAC 40 voit son UT jour repasser NEUTRE. La zone support définie dans ma précédente analyse a contenu a pression vendeuse sur l’ensemble de cette première séance de la semaine.

aidez-moi Obi-Wan-Moyennemobili, vous êtes mon seul espoir !

héhé le support 4275 vive elliot!!

trés efficace la gadgetomoyennesmobiles !

Cliquez pour agrandir

beau W en cours depuis le 21 AOUT !

Ne boudons pas notre plaisir, mais tant que le double top résistera la partie n'est pas gagnée et notamment le retour sur les 4700 pts.

Le marché n'attend plus que le signal que la Fed se tient prête à relever ses taux. Ce qui serait interprété comme le début d'une reprise, du moins d'un environnement plus favorable à la croissance. Dans l'immédiat, elle devrait adopter le statu quo. Le tout est dans le message et son exégèse.