3 replies to this topic

[johngeorge]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4980285.html

July 18, 2007, 11:35PM

WASHINGTON — Motorists may gripe about the price at the gas pump, shake their fists at the oil companies, even dial up their members of Congress — but they're still filling their tanks at record levels.

Gasoline deliveries for the first six months of the year averaged 9.2 million barrels a day, the American Petroleum Institute reported Wednesday.

That was up 1.5 percent from the same period a year ago, the previous record for the first half of a year.

In June, gasoline deliveries topped 9.79 million barrels a day, the strongest demand ever for a single month.

"The industry pulled out the stops to meet unprecedented consumer demand," said John Felmy, the American Petroleum Institute's chief economist.

Energy demand is burgeoning, not just here but around the globe. And a government advisory panel is warning that policymakers must take decisive action to ensure energy supplies keep up with demand.

Demand for fuel surged in June after pump prices, which had reached their highest levels ever just days before the Memorial Day weekend, began to ease.

Nationwide, motorists were paying an average $3.03 a gallon Wednesday for regular unleaded, down from a record $3.23 on May 24, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Houston residents were paying $2.85 at the pump, down from a high of $3.04 on May 23.




Worries about demand
The Petroleum Institute, an industry association, released its latest gasoline data Wednesday as the National Petroleum Council formally presented a report to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, warning about the difficulties the world will face trying to meet an anticipated doubling in global energy demand by 2030. In its report, Facing the Hard Truths About Energy, the council — a government advisory group led by former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief Lee Raymond and dominated by oil industry executives — surprised many observers by urging government leaders not only to help boost supplies but to also help curb demand.

The report urged government leaders to impose new fuel mileage requirements for cars and trucks to the "maximum rate possible," a measure the study's authors argued could save upwards of 5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030.

The Senate has passed legislation that would require cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs to achieve an average 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

The White House supports an increase in car fuel-efficiency standards, but House Democrats — who are expected to take up an energy bill as early as next week — remain divided on the issue.




Wonderment over policy
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a leading voice in support of a dramatic increase in fuel economy standards, said Wednesday he could not understand how others could oppose his proposal "when a group that represents the oil and natural gas industry concludes that our cars and light trucks should use less oil." At the same time, the Petroleum Council report recommended that government leaders help expand energy supplies by lifting restrictions that bar oil and gas drilling along much of the nation's coastline, prodding production of unconventional energy resources such as heavy oil and oil shale and encouraging production of transportation fuels from coal.

Indeed, the Petroleum Council urged policymakers to encourage development of a wide array of energy sources, from biomass to nuclear power.

"To assume we have the option of not pursuing one of the sources of energy is a false choice," Raymond said. "We don't have the option of saying, 'That's not on the table.' "

Greater use of fossil fuels raises fears of accelerating the warming of the planet, by releasing carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The Petroleum Council urged the federal government to take a leading role to set up a worldwide framework to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

That discussion represented an evolution in thinking at the Petroleum Council.

Bodman, who had not read the full report, said Wednesday much of what he was hearing from the council sounded like "what I've been saying since I took this job."




Long-haul beliefs
Demand for energy has grown 60 percent over the last quarter-century as China and other developing nations rapidly industrialized and the economies of developed countries, including the United States, continued to expand. Over that period, energy prices have fluctuated widely. Crude oil dipped below $11 a barrel in late 1998, only to soar above $77 a barrel last year.

But the oil markets have come to believe as demand continues to rise, high energy prices may be here for the long haul. Three years ago, for instance, Deutsche Bank was predicting oil prices in 2010 would average $27 a barrel. Last year, it raised that estimate to $45 a barrel. Then earlier this week, Deutsche Bank oil analyst Adam Sieminski raised that estimate again, to $60 a barrel in 2010.

And that's still about $15 less than current oil prices.

david.ivanovich@chron.com

[fib_1618]

Nice timing on the published article.

Fib

http://stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=$GASO&p=D&st=2006-01-01&i=p71939202156&a=83667613&r=8531.png

[nimblebear]

Nice timing on the published article.

Fib

http://stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=$GASO&p=D&st=2006-01-01&i=p71939202156&a=83667613&r=8531.png

That pecker better drop. The US Car owner is depending on it.

[johngeorge]

Nice timing on the published article.

Fib

http://stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=$GASO&p=D&st=2006-01-01&i=p71939202156&a=83667613&r=8531.png

You know what they say about the news, Fib.