DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Middle East War Could Cause Oil Price Shock, World Bank Warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Alan Rappeport | More About Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A major escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas — one that spilled over into a broader Middle East conflict — could send oil prices surging as much as 75 percent, the World Bank warned on Monday. Energy prices have remained largely contained since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7. They said that if higher oil prices are sustained, however, that would lead to higher prices for food, industrial metals and gold. The United States and Europe have been trying to keep global oil prices from spiking in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Western nations introduced a price cap on Russia’s energy exports, a move aimed at limiting Moscow’s oil revenues while ensuring oil supply continued to flow.

Persons: ” Indermit Gill, Biden, Janet L, Yellen, ” Organizations: Hamas, World Bank, Bank, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, New York Times, nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Bloomberg Locations: Israel, Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, United States, Europe, Gulf of Mexico

Biden administration officials, worried that a growing conflict in the Middle East could send global oil prices soaring, are looking for ways to hold down American gasoline prices if such a jump occurs. President Biden tapped the reserve aggressively last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices skyrocketing, leaving the amount of oil in those reserves at historically low levels. The conflict in the Middle East has not yet sent oil prices surging. Administration officials are wary of the possibility that prices could again jump above $5 a gallon, a level they briefly touched in the spring of 2022. “In some ways, they’ve missed the boat.”

Persons: Biden, That’s, Mr, ”, Amrita Sen, Sen, “, they’ve Organizations: Biden, nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, AAA Locations: Saudi Arabia, Gulf of Mexico, Ukraine, Israel, Iran

Fluctuations since the attack pushed oil prices as high as $96. Until something like that happens, “the oil market is going to be like everyone else, monitoring the events in the Middle East,” Lipow said. One reason 1970s-style gas lines are unlikely: U.S. oil production is at an all-time high. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now. Lawmakers from both parties have urged Biden to block Iranian oil sales, seeking to dry up one of the regime’s key sources of funding.

Persons: ” Fatih Birol, ”, Andrew Lipow, ” Lipow, Mike Sommers, Sommers, “ America’s, “, Joe Biden's, Israel, Biden, Sofia Guidi Di Sante, Wyoming Sen, John Barrasso, “ Joe, Barrasso, ____ McHugh, Choe Organizations: WASHINGTON, International Energy Agency, ”, Associated Press, Brent, Lipow Oil Associates, U.S . Energy Information Administration, Energy Department, American Petroleum Institute, Hudson Institute, Commerzbank, Oil, Rystad Energy, Republican, Senate Energy, Natural Resources Committee, Democratic, Keystone XL, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, The Energy Department, The Treasury Department, Treasury Locations: East, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Paris, Gaza, Iran, Houston, Hormuz, U.S, Europe, Washington, OPEC, Lebanon, Venezuela, The U.S, Wyoming, America, Frankfurt, Germany, New York

☆ Rising Gas Prices Provide Fodder for Republican Criticism of Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Jim Tankersley | More About Jim Tankersley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The big headache of President Biden’s Summer of 2022 — high gasoline prices — may once again bedevil him this week. Gas prices jumped by about 25 cents a gallon nationally from mid-July to mid-August, topping out around $3.87 per gallon before receding slightly into September. The national average price of gas was $3.85 per gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA. It will almost certainly provoke criticism from Republicans who hammered Mr. Biden over high gas prices throughout last summer. Prices fell steadily last summer, a development that Mr. Biden celebrated.

Persons: Biden’s, Biden Organizations: AAA, nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve Locations: Ukraine

For the Biden administration, “the only thing they can pretty much do to counteract Saudi cuts is to bring more oil into the market from other countries,” León said. “Iran and Venezuela are the best candidates,” he added, even if it’s politically unpalatable to fully reopen talks with them. Domestic producers of oil from shale won’t fill the void in the short term. The SPAC buying Donald Trump’s social network gets more time for its deal. Shareholders in Digital World Acquisition Corporation voted to give the firm 12 more months to close its merger with Truth Social.

Persons: Biden, ” León, León, ’, Margrethe Vestager, Didier Reynders, Vestager, Donald Trump’s Organizations: European Investment Bank, European Commission, Truth Locations: Iran, Venezuela, States, Washington

☆ Biden can’t do much to bring down gas prices. But a recession can
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —There is one surefire cure for high gas prices. “There is now a perceived huge downward risk tied to recession,” said Tom Kloza, chief energy analyst for OPIS, which tracks gas prices for AAA. And it’s not just US economic worries that’s putting downward pressure on gas prices. It doesn’t take a severe economic downturn to take a bite out of gas prices. The nine-month recession of 2001 ended with prices down 37% at the end of that year from their peak.

☆ Biden’s Oil Price Machinations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

White House officials accuse OPEC and its allies of manipulating oil prices, but then what do you call what President Biden is trying to do? Three weeks before Election Day, Mr. Biden is ordering 15 million more barrels released from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to reduce gasoline prices. Crude price climbed after OPEC+ this month announced a two million barrels a day cut in production. This is really closer to one million barrels a day since many countries aren’t meeting their quotas now. But as day follows night, U.S. gas prices have increased, and the political timing couldn’t be worse for Democrats.

A contractor works on a crude oil pipeline at the U.S. Department of Energy's Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, in 2016. There are now about 400 million barrels of crude oil left in the SPR. Since its establishment, only three presidents other than Biden have directed the sale of oil from the petroleum reserve, while exchanges have been more common. Barack Obama directed the release of 30 million barrels in 2011 to offset supply disruptions caused by Libya’s civil war; in 2005, George W. Bush released 11 million barrels to help refiners hurt by Hurricane Katrina; and in 1991, George H.W. Bush released 17 million barrels in response to the Gulf War.

☆ Gas prices are heading down, with or without Biden’s help
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —It’s not at all clear if President Joe Biden’s latest announcement that he’s releasing oil from the nation’s emergency stockpile will help bring gas prices down. The national average stood at $3.85 a gallon Wednesday, down 2 cents from Tuesday and 7 cents in the last week. But a number of West Coast refineries that had been offline have returned to operations, and that has sparked a plunge in gas prices west of the Rocky Mountains, driving down the national average. “As it started selling off [Tuesday], it triggered some liquidation [of oil futures].” Oil and gas prices both rebounded modestly in Wednesday trading. Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the day of the week the national gas price average stood at $3.85 a gallon and the prior day.

New York CNN Business —Even before Wednesday’s action by OPEC+ to cut oil production, US gas prices were on their way up. Gas prices rose nearly 3 cents a gallon in AAA’s daily reading Wednesday, to $3.83 a gallon, the biggest one-day hike in nearly four months. Gasoline futures are up about 20 cents a gallon since the slide in gasoline prices ended last month, pointing to possible higher prices ahead. Unfortunately, the refinery capacity squeeze “means gas prices are not going to go down like I had thought,” said veteran oil analyst Andy Lipow. The concern by the Biden administration is that rising gas prices bring renewed focus in voters’ mind.

Search resuls for: "nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve"

10 mentions found