In the know

Bet of the day

Has the oil price gone too far? BetsForTraders.com offers odds of 2-1 that BP’s share price, up 6½p at 619½p, will fall below 605p in five market days. Bets on BP and Shell have been the most popular so far, the bookie for traders reports. With 76 per cent of clients betting on BP’s price falling, does it mean that oil’s relentless rise is coming to an end?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article3920115.ece

Oil traders may be in for tougher oversight: Senate Democrats are seeking to crack down on speculation in an overseas market that has come to play a major role in oil trading in a little more than two years.

PERTH (Reuters) - Oil hovered close to record levels above $126 a barrel on Monday as violence in the Middle East heightened worries of supply disruptions in the world’s largest crude producing region

The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, which includes advertising in the nation’s largest newspapers, news conferences in many state capitals and trips for bloggers out to drilling platforms at sea.

During 2007 the largest oil companies were bringing in an astounding $1,300 per second! If I were them I wouldn’t lower prices either.

LONDON — The recent slump in Nigeria’s oil output may have been disastrous for Africa’s largest oil producer, but problems could worsen.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices leapt to a new peak of more than $126 a barrel on Friday, hitting a record for the fifth straight session, in a market given an additional spur by tight supplies of diesel.

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil rose above $126 a barrel for the first time Friday, bringing its advance this week to nearly $10, as investors questioned whether a possible confrontation between the U.S. and Venezuela could cut exports from the OPEC member. Gas prices, meanwhile, rose above an average $3.67 a gallon at the pump, following oil’s recent path higher.

Nigeria production, which fell to the lowest level in a decade in April, has been cut a further this month by rebel assaults on Royal Dutch Shell Plc pipelines. OPEC said yesterday it doesn’t need to increase supplies, even as its president warned prices may reach $200 a barrel.

“If our profits are taxed, that means we’ll have less capital to invest in new production” and it could raise gas prices, John Hofmeister, president of Shell U.S., recently told CNNMoney.com.