One dude caused oil to hit $100/barrel
It was reported here yesterday that the price of a barrel of oil hit $100 for the first time ever. What actually happened was that one guy bought oil slightly above market price just so he could say "I was the first schmuck to buy oil at $100 a barrel!" The trader hasn't been identified, but after buying the minimum lot of 1,000 barrels from a colleague, he then sold them right back at a loss. It isn't clear what oil was trading at when he bought the barrels, but for his $100 per barrel order, he got $99.40 per barrel return. That means his moment of worldwide fame cost him $600, along with a few hours of jittery markets. Even if it was artificially induced, he was the first, and it probably won't be long before people are spending that much for real: Goldman Sachs predicts oil to be at $105 by year's end.
[Source: Daily Mail]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Honest Oil 1:15PM (1/27/2008)
I am interested in lobbying the fuel companies into raising the price of oil to around $500 per barrel over the next 5 years, and the UK petrol/diesel price to £5+ per litre.
This would at least give a shot in the arm to the alternative energy industry, and remove a few cars and trucks from our roads.
This year we may see $200 a barrel:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/future_traders.php
Any ideas on how best to proceed?
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Mulad 4:38PM (1/03/2008)
Heh, no big surprise there. Maybe it was the guy's New Year's resolution to start off 2008 with a bang? ;-)
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aytunc 4:42PM (1/03/2008)
Schmuck....
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wxwluvwxw 4:42PM (1/03/2008)
what a wanker! we now pay £1.09p / litre (around $2.20) here in the UK.
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jegjrfan 5:25PM (1/03/2008)
I remember during my 8 deployments with the Navy to europe that petrol ran no more than the equivalent of $5.50/gal. If that price you quote is correct that is now up to $8.25. Shameful and not caused by the current US administration as I will prove in future replies to other posts on this board.
rndmnme 4:42PM (1/03/2008)
I bet that guy doesn't have any friends, stood inline to buy an iPhone, and has his entire movie collection on BetaMax.
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John R 7:12AM (1/04/2008)
lol. He was also that kid back in school that said, "Hey, teach! You for got to give us the quiz!"
chewy 4:51PM (1/03/2008)
So the correct place to blame high gas prices is the stock market.
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jegjrfan 6:00PM (1/03/2008)
To some extent, supposedly there is a speculation factor of between $15-25/barrel(59-1/2 cents/gallon) because of violence in Nigeria, the situation in Pakistan and other geo-political events. At least that is what I hear listening to CNBC on XM channel 127. That figure was good up until the recent speculative price spike driven supposedly by a weak dollar, and supply worries.
The supply worries are easy to see from the Weekly Inventory Report from the Energy Information Agency. Totals compared to a year ago are 51.8 million under a year ago when oil was at $55 and OPEC(mainly Hugo and Maqmoud(sp and I don't care to know) decide to cut 1.8 million from production between Nov. 2006 and Feb. 2007 trying to get back to $60. And prices went back to 60 and flown on by to where we are today. Of the 51.8 is 25. 5 for crude itself and 16.1 for distillates(what New Englanders heat the house with). Granted there is more discrepancy than the 21.6 of total production cut over a year, but coupled with what might still be off-line after Katrina doesn't help.
el dorko 4:53PM (1/03/2008)
Actually he was identified...maybe do a google search next time?
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/01/03/9882/100-oil-and-that-trade/
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WillDaThrill 11:17PM (1/03/2008)
Where can I find Richard?! I'm cool, I just want to explain to him how he helped the price of EVERYTHING go up. You know, let him feel the pain that we'll all feel within the next few weeks. LITERALLY!
Chris 4:57PM (1/03/2008)
Oil is traded via speculation and the cost of a barrel on Wall Street has little to do with what oil companies actually pay. We can thank the media and energy traders for most of our much higher oil prices. Assholes like this guy. The irony would be to find out he was hit by a car on his way home from the bar where he was bragging about his exploits at work.
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Airesucs 5:06PM (1/03/2008)
That story is ridiculous. In any given second, I imagine millions of barrels of oil are traded...do you honestly believe that trading 1,000 barrels would move the price at all? The price of oil is determined by several factors...when hurricane Katrina hit and production was hit hard in the Gulf of Mexico (where we produce millions of barrels a day) prices shot up...but do you honestly believe that 1 trader could manipulate the price of a commodity by moving 1,000 barrels? To say that 1 person pushed oil past $100 is just ludicrous
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tpp 5:26PM (1/03/2008)
"To say that 1 person pushed oil past $100 is just ludicrous"
You really don't understand how commodities are traded, do you?
Anyway what should happen next is figuring out what OTHER trades Mr. Arens made on and around the same day he bought his overpriced barrels of oil. If he shorted any of the stock indexes, for example, he should be convicted for securities fraud.
Regardless if I ever meet this person, I'm going to punch him in the face, and then kick his balls in. He cost investors around the world a LOT of money.
Owain Ozymandias Buck 10:37PM (1/03/2008)
If it's the traders who are pushing the price, why should he have his balls kicked in for costing them money. They stand to gain from this in the log term.
Anyway, it's not good for your peace of mind to be craving to smack another man's testicles.
iSpec 4:58PM (1/03/2008)
We are standing on sinking sand. I'll say no more.
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fizzandpop 5:05PM (1/03/2008)
C**NT!
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rndmnme 7:00PM (1/03/2008)
Clint?
Owain Ozymandias Buck 10:35PM (1/03/2008)
Count?
(Blah! Blah! Blaaahhh!)
;)
Richard 5:22PM (1/03/2008)
It's all BS. Anyone who looks at the higher than gasoline price of diesel in the US - and realizes that you have to make diesel on the way to making gasoline - knows that it's all BS....and they're getting away with it.
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