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• Oil ready to move back toward $150

  Posted Sep 23 2008, 04:08 AM by Douglas McIntyre
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  Filed under: Energy, oil, economy
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  The titanic global recession and anxiety about the government's failure to quickly fix the credit crisis pushed the price of oil up higher than it has been for months. High gas prices and slow growth in emerging countries decreased the demand for oil. Politicians said it was okay to drill off the coasts of Santa Barbara and Manhattan. The Brazilians found more crude reserves in deep water offshore than Venezuela or Russia have underground.

  Oil prices had been volatile for so long that investors grew tired of it and chose to turn to something else. Mortgage-backed paper seemed like a good place to sweat out the future though no one understood the danger they posed. That made credit a perfect target for investor worry and government action   Read More...

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• Israel, Denmark hooking cars to electric grid

  Posted Sep 02 2008, 04:19 PM by Jon Markman
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  Filed under: Energy, oil, economy, Jon Markman
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  The number of practical new plans to dump crude oil from the modern transportation system is advancing at breathtaking speed. Last week, I wrote about the new Fisker Karma electric car, and now I’ve been reading about a new electric-car system lifting off drawing boards to completely replace gasoline-powered cars in Israel and Denmark.
  
  According to the cover story of the the latest Wired, a former SAP software exec named Shai Agassi has developed an end-to-end system, called Better Place, aimed at helping smaller countries eliminate their dependence on imported crude oil. Israel was a natural first choice for the idea, since it has no oil of its own and all purchases fund its Arab enemies. Denmark has a glut of wind energy, and wants to use it to power cars.   Read More...

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• House passes bill to reverse oil price increases

  Posted Jun 27 2008, 01:49 AM by Andrew Horowitz
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  Filed under: Energy, oil, economy
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  After the close of the markets Thursday, as the fear of a continued parabolic rise in the price of oil was still fresh on the minds of investors, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that that could help to reverse the direction of oil prices.

  The bill would provide for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) to enact emergency measures to “maintain or restore orderly trading.” Concurrent to the bill’s approval, the CTFC released a notice that spells out the broad powers granted by Congress that have been used when the commodity markets have been manipulated in the past. Yes, manipulation.   Read More...

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• A scary thought: Gasoline at $7.50 a gallon

  Posted May 06 2008, 06:14 PM by Charley Blaine
  Rating:
  Filed under: Energy, airlines, oil, Continental, Delta, economy
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  I'm really not here to scare you, but, get ready, I AM going to scare you.

  The news got lots of attention: Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti predicted Tuesday that the price of crude oil could hit $150 to $200 a barrel in six to 24 months. (Here's one discussion of the report. Another is here.)

  Crude oil in New York promptly jumped to as high as $122.73 a barrel in New York before closing at $121.84. And, as I write this, crude was trading slightly lower in electronic trading. But it also had the perverse effect of pushing the stock market higher. Indeed, the biggest winners in Tuesday's stock market were oil and gas production companies, natural gas companies. (But not refiners; crude oil is rising faster than refiners can push their prices up.) 

  So, if crude jumps to $150 or $200, how does that translate into prices at the gas pump. Here's the scary part.   Read More...

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