Nyt fra USA:
BP har lige lukket en større olieledning i Alaska, som forsyner USA med
8% af deres forbrug. Det kan vel påvirke vores oliepriser?
***
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/07/news/international/oil_alaska/index.htm?
cnn=yes
_or_
http://tinyurl.com/pu3r8
New worry for drivers: BP shuts oilfield
Damaged pipeline in Alaska affects about 8% of U.S. oil production.
August 7 2006: 8:34 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a blow to drivers already struggling with
high gasoline prices, BP was forced to shut off about 8 percent of the
nation's oil supply after discovering "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in
the Alaskan pipeline.
BP announced early Monday that the pipeline problems had caused it to
begin the first shutdown ever in the biggest oilfield in the United
States, Alaska's Prudhoe Bay. (Video:BP spokesman comments)
Oil futures, already near record highs hit in July, shot higher on the
announcement, and gasoline futures also rose.
U.S. light crude surged $1.13 to $75.89 a barrel in electronic trading
early Monday, while Brent crude trading in London rose 99 cents to
$77.16. Gasoline futures rose 3.85 cents to $2.27 a gallon.
Oil analyst Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, said shutting
down an oil field is an expensive and risky step that is only taken in
extreme circumstances. He said that suggests the 400,000 barrels a day
produced in Prudhoe Bay could be shut off for some time to come.
"They wouldn't be shutting down Prudhoe Bay if this wasn't absolutely
necessary," said Beutel. "Once you shut it down, you don't know what
will happen when you come back. It could cause all types of problems."
Beutel said he expects about a 5 cent a gallon rise in gasoline futures
due to the pipeline problems.
The outage will cut global daily oil output by about half a percent,
putting more strain on an already tight market. Beutel said he believed
the news in Alaska was outweighing even new threats out of Iran to shut
production there if that country is hit with United Nations sanctions
over its nuclear program.
"This is almost all Alaska," he said about Monday's price hikes. "It
doesn't look like something that will have a quick fix or can be ignored
by the markets. I think it's going to be measured in weeks, not days,
and it could drag on for months."
Beutel said the shutdown is significant for markets because it was the
one supply of oil that traders did not believe to be at risk from either
geopolitical events, such as fighting in the Middle East, or hurricanes
that threaten U.S. production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Still Beutel said he believes the impact will be less severe than caused
by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. And he also expects a quick
announcement of the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum
Reserve to mitigate the lost supply.
"The Bush administration has made clear it will lend barrels from SPR to
combat supply disruptions," he said.
The U.S. Energy Department will consider loaning emergency supplies of
crude oil to refiners caught short of supply following the shutdown, a
department spokesman said Monday.
Fadel Gheit, oil analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., said he also wouldn't be
surprised to see the SPR move to distribute oil to cover the shortfall
from Alaska.
"It would be more to calm down the nervous market," said Gheit. "There's
plenty of oil around the world (without the SPR), but it would be a wise
thing to do. It's all perception and in the markets perception is
reality."
Gheit said the problems with the pipeline should not be a surprise, that
it's been well known that oil companies are not doing enough regular
maintenance on their infrastructure.
When the price of oil was low, they were reluctant to spend on that kind
of maintenance, he said. But when prices soared in recent years, the
cost of shutting down a pipeline or other facilities to do maintenance
was too much of an "opportunity cost," which is a measure of lost
production.
"This thing has been in operation for more than 30 years. Corrosion has
to happen. Something has to give," Gheit said. "This is going to be a
warning to other companies."
---
ObT: The 1970's "Gas Crisis" all over again, folks?
Well, Mark Twain said it best:
"History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes, it rhymes"
--
regards, Peter B. Perlsø - liberterran.org, siad.dk
"The politicians don't just want your money. They want your soul. They
want you to be worn down by taxes until you are dependent and helpless."
- James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union