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Global Pressures Pushing Oil Prices Higher

January 20, 2006

• Latest Gas Price Round-Up • Oil Prices Fall As Storm Misses Rigs • 'Run Your Car On Water' Scheme Could Leave Consumers All Wet • Unregulated Energy Trading Blamed for Much of Gas Price Gusher • Airlines Join Effort To Limit Oil Speculators • Questions Raised about MyGallons.com • 'Hypermiling' Is Dangerous, Says AAA • Struggling Drivers Blame Washington for High Gas Prices • What’s Really Fueling Those Sky-High Oil Prices • Credit Card Fees at the Pump are a 'Hidden Tax' on Consumers • Survey: 3 Out of 4 Angry About High Gas Prices • $2 A Gallon Gas Possible, Analysts Tell Congress • Speculators Buy More Oil Contracts Than Oil Companies • Saudis to Pump More Oil • Limiting Oil Speculators Gains Ground • Congress To Probe Oil Price Spike • Oil Market 'Saturated,' Iran Claims • Feds See No Relief from High Gas Prices • High Gas Prices Could Mean Lower Insurance Rates • High Gas Prices Good For Kia, Honda • Gas Prices Rip Past $4 and Keep Climbing • Administration, OPEC See Different Causes Of Oil Surge • Feds Probing Possible Oil Market Manipulation • Beware of Fuel Sippers Sipping High-Test • Retailers Respond to High Gas Prices with Discounts, Promotions • Rushing Into a Smaller Car Too Soon May Not Save Money • Hybrid Sales and Prices Climb in Lockstep with Gas Prices • Truckers Bemoan Burden of High Diesel Costs • Gas Prices Biting into Worker Productivity • Consumers Warned About Gas-Saving Schemes • Is Tony Soprano Controlling Gas Prices? • Oil & Gas: The New Bubble • Critics: New Federal Gas Mileage Standard Falls Short • Consumers Feeling Pain of Skyrocketing Gas Prices • New Gas Price Record Forecasts Expensive Summer Driving Season --- • More ...

First Katrina, now Iran. Crises of the natural and manmade variety threaten to push world oil prices still higher, squeezing consumers trying to pay for gas and keep their homes heated this winter.

Iran’s threat to reduce its oil shipments in retaliation for international pressure on Tehran to end its nuclear program is already having impact on world markets.

In New York, the main contract for light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose $1.10 to close at $66.83 a barrel Thursday, its highest finish since September 19.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery rose $1.04 to finish at $65.23 a barrel.

Prices could go still higher. In fact, a survey of 55 industry analysts compiled by Broomberg News suggests oil prices could rise over $70 barrel because of the Iranian dust-up.

Meanwhile, violence in Nigeria threatens to disrupt oil shipments from that country. Rebels have attacked oil facilities in that country, reducing oil output by more than 200,000 barrels a day since last week. Oil analysts say cutbacks in Nigeria will have increased significance because the country produces light sweet crude, which is favored by most refineries.

When oil prices approached $70 a barrel in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, gas prices at the pump shot to more than $3.00 a gallon, amid widespread complaints of price gouging. In its latest report on retail gasoline prices, the U.S. Energy Information Administration put the average prices of a gallon of unleaded gas at $2.32 a gallon.

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