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Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:49 pm**

Oil Falls to Six-Month Low as Refineries Escape Major Damage

By Mark Shenk

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell to a six-month low in New York and gasoline tumbled amid signs that refineries along the Gulf of Mexico coast will soon resume operations after escaping major damage from Hurricane Ike.

About 20 percent of the U.S.'s oil refining capacity was shut, limiting fuel deliveries and prompting the Department of Energy to release 309,000 barrels from its strategic reserves. New York Mercantile Exchange electronic trading opened early today to allow traders to respond to Ike.

``It looks like we've dodged another bullet,'' said Peter Beutel, president of energy consultant Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut. ``The refineries in the Houston area seem to have come out of the storm remarkably intact.''

Crude oil for October delivery fell $1.43, or 1.4 percent, to $99.75 a barrel at 7:55 p.m. on the Nymex. Futures touched $98.46, the lowest since Feb. 26. Prices are up 25 percent from a year ago. Gasoline for October delivery fell 9.46 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $2.6750 a gallon in New York.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:55 pm**

Ten platforms were destroyed though, so there will be some effect.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:06 pm**

I would just like to point out that the Bored's optimists were right and the pessimists were wrong.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:29 pm**

TheCalvinator24 wrote:I would just like to point out that the Bored's optimists were right and the pessimists were wrong.

It depends on your definitions of optimist and pessimist. Cheaper oil prolongs the problem and delays the transition to other energy sources.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:34 pm**

TheConfessor wrote:
TheCalvinator24 wrote:I would just like to point out that the Bored's optimists were right and the pessimists were wrong.
It depends on your definitions of optimist and pessimist. Cheaper oil prolongs the problem and delays the transition to other energy sources.

Not necessarily. Forward thinking politicians should be willing and able to move on alternative energy sources while at the same time bolstering our current oil-based economy.

Alternative energy isn't going to spring up overnight, so for the 20-30 years that it would likely take to get us realistically weaned off oil, we should be taking reasonable steps to keep the use of oil as painless as possible.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:43 pm**

TheConfessor wrote:
TheCalvinator24 wrote:I would just like to point out that the Bored's optimists were right and the pessimists were wrong.
It depends on your definitions of optimist and pessimist. Cheaper oil prolongs the problem and delays the transition to other energy sources.

I imagine what it must have been like in 1908. At that time any clear thinking person would have realized that our dependence on horses for transportation was not sustainable and automobiles were clearly impractical. Projecting into the future it would seem that by 1958 we'd be buried in horse manure. That would to some people mean that the government should engage in some sort to crash program to solve the problem by 1918. I would not know how that would have worked out, but I'm confident that it would not have been efficient and economical or provided the freedom to grow our economy as it did grow.

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:56 pm**

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Projecting into the future it would seem that by 1958 we'd be buried in horse manure.

The projection seems to have been delayed by a few years, but the recent political ads have made this prediction a reality.

Posted: **Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:22 am**

Light, sweet crude for October delivery declined $4.39 to $96.79 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by noon in Europe. The contract rose 31 cents on Friday to settle at $101.18 after dropping as low as $99.99 per barrel. Before that, the last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2.

WWTBAM Bored

Oil Futures drop below $100/bbl

Oil Futures drop below $100/bbl