Gasoline cost to jump $700 for average household | Reuters

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Alternative Fuels, commodities speculative trading, Cricket Diane C Phillips, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, crude oil, diesel fuel, fuel costs, gas prices, gasoline, heating oil, hedge funds, NYMEX, oil and natural gas industries, petrol, Petroleum, petroleum industries, shipping costs, speculation, trasnportation costs, Wall Street

Gasoline cost to jump $700 for average household | Reuters.

There is a 25 percent chance the pump price will exceed $4 a gallon from June through August, the agency said, compared with a 10 percent probability gasoline could fall below $3 during the same period.

My Note –

I think they need to review their math skills at the agency where they made this projection. It is wrong.

The price of gasoline is already at or over $4.00 a gallon in Chicago, it has been reported. And, it is over $4 a gallon in California, Denver and probably anywhere Spring Break destinations are used to having a captive audience.

Summer will be even more so. My guess is that the price of gasoline will go up substantially higher than that because the traders and speculators driving the prices per barrel are already trying to figure out how to offload what they’ve purchased and make a bigger profit from it. They likely figure this is one of those once in a lifetime deals where they can really make a killing. That would be my guess. It will stagger through the economy faster than the contracts that will get delivered because that is how it has done in the past (2008, 1970’s) as companies try to get ahead of the upswing in costs to have a buffer.

On a personal note, as I have noticed in the stores when I stopped buying cereal – it the boxes that cost nearly $5 already get any skinnier – we can use them as postage stamps instead. I don’t know how they get away with it. Many foods now look like something from a child’s play kitchen set with little in it at all. That is going to be even more so as the commodities prices have been driving upwards by the traders on the exchanges and now add the increased price of oil, gasoline, shipping and increased cargo charges to them. It is not going to work.

The law of supply and demand would naturally bring these prices down or the quantities up because there cannot possibly be as many people buying these things at these prices for the amount of product offered. But, the free market doesn’t exist in America in that sense. It is unnaturally supported in the manner middlemen including the commodities traders are driving the prices. The losses can be written off and it doesn’t yield any incentive to meet the market demand where it is and price competitively to it at the real value.

Oh well. If we had a better deal on the oil that is being pulled out of the ground in America, like Libya’s foul leaders got from the oil industries – we wouldn’t even be having this problem.

They only give away 12% of the profits and charge a “sign-on” bonus over a billion dollars each to the oil companies (and they are glad to get it.) Damn ridiculous while we are subsidizing the oil companies and begging them to do whatever they will to get our oil out of the ground so they can profit at our expense. Damn ridiculous.

- cricketdiane

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The secret group setting the price of oil: Us. – FORTUNE Features – Fortune on CNNMoney.com

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The secret group setting the price of oil: Us. – FORTUNE Features – Fortune on CNNMoney.com.

From the article – everyone needs to read it in America, including my children and parents, aunts, uncles, friends, acquaintances and anyone reading this durn blog –

At least it explains why the price of oil is going up and why when it does go up for contracts that won’t be delivered for three – four months, that we still watch the little sign at the gas station go up three to four times a day upwards –

(and prices of everything else quickly accommodate that despite none of them having bought any gasoline or jet fuel at those prices yet.)

– cricketdiane

A couple bits of this article (from the link above) –

Power plants, gas stations, fuel distributors, and oil companies across the globe paid close attention to this rarefied casino, watching carefully for any price changes that would determine how much they would pay for fuel and what they’d charge their customers, the ordinary consumer. Newspapers and television networks trumpeted Nymex’s prices as the holy gospel, beaming them throughout the continents for all to follow—banks, hedge funds, Wall street investors, even the top-producing oil nations of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Norway.

D’Agostino: No. OPEC only sets the oil supply. . . . The price of oil is actually set in New York. . . .

O’Reilly: Is there a guy who says $125 a barrel?

D’Agostino: No. There’s a huge market. It’s filled with hedgers. It’s filled with speculators. It’s filled with moms and dads, average Americans. It’s a big market that sets the price.

O’Reilly: somebody has to put the $125 on the barrel. Who does it?

(an excerpt from the Bill O’Reilly show included in the text, the first paragraph is from the author of the article and book that serves as its basis) – well worth reading the whole thing, my note.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/09/excerpt-from-the-asylum-the-renegades-who-hijacked-the-worlds-oil-market/

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L’Aquila G8 Summit underway right now – well continuing in a few hours and some info they are getting from the International Energy Agency and the continuing saga of financial and economic crisis in the US over toxic assets they are now going to replace with good ones and money and whatever those poor little bankers need – (after they’ve screwed everybody)

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my note-

technical difficulties

–

our apologies

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IEA’s G8 Programme – Aiming at a Clean, Clever and Competitive Energy Future

Following up on its participation in G8 events during the past four years, the IEA has been invited by the Italian G8 Presidency to take part in the G8 Environment Ministers meeting in April, the G8 Energy Ministers meeting in May and the G8 Summit in July. See the official Italian G8 web site: http://www.g8italia2009.it for more details.

Attending the G8 Energy Ministers meeting, in Rome from 24-25 May, the IEA presented its analysis on the impact of the financial crisis on global energy investments (read executive summary). The Agency also provided a background paper on climate policy (read report).

At the G8 Environment Ministers’ meeting in Siracusa on 22-24 April 2009, IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka presented a paper on presented a paper to the Ministers on the RD&D and investment needed to ensure that low-carbon technologies become viable, commercial technologies in the future. The IEA presentation emphasised that low-carbon technologies must play a key role in climate change mitigation. See Mr. Tanaka’s remarks, slide presentation and G8 paper.

The IEA G8 programme has identified new strategies for greater energy security and climate protection. IEA points to policies for speeding development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies. The IEA has submitted a set of concrete policy recommendations for promoting energy efficiency that could reduce global CO2 emissions by 8.2 gigatonnes by 2030.

The IEA work focuses on: alternative energy scenarios and strategies; energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, transport and industry, including indicators; cleaner fossil fuels; carbon capture and storage; renewable energy; and enhanced international co-operation.

The IEA G8 programme was initiated following the G8 leaders’ request at their 2005 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Access the IEA Press Release following the G8 Hokkaido meetings.

http://www.iea.org/g8/index.asp

***

http://www.iea.org/textbase/npsum/G8_EE_2008.pdf

Executive Summary of IEA suggestions 2008 – to G8 summit

25 Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations by IEA to G8- 2008
	2008
Executive Summary	Size: KB
	ISBN:
	No. of Pages: 68
Download the PDF	Type of Document: Paper
The IEA recommends that G8 leaders adopt and urgently implement this package of measures to significantly enhance energy efficiency. This package was developed underthe Gleneagles G8 Plan of Action, which mandates the pursuit of a clean, clever and competitive energy future.

Feedback, comments suggestions on this publication? Please contact us at this link.

[From – ]

http://www.iea.org/Textbase/publications/free_new_Desc.asp?PUBS_ID=2047

***

Publications for Sale		Publications/Surveys Free for Download
Renewables Information 2009 with 2008 data World Energy Statistics 2009 CD-ROM service Energy Balances of OECD Countries 2009 Edition Energy Statistics of OECD Countries 2009 Edition CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion, 2008 Edition Natural Gas Information 2008 with 2007 data Oil Information 2008 with 2007 data Electricity Information 2008 with 2007 data Coal Information 2008 with 2007 data Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries 2008 Edition Energy Statistics of Non-OECD Countries 2008 Edition Energy Prices and Taxes (quarterly) Quarterly publication Oil, Gas, Coal, and Electricity (quarterly) Quarterly publication		Oil pdf, excel (view archive since 1999 ) Natural Gas pdf, excel (view archive since 1999 ) Prices pdf, excel Electricity pdf, excel (view archives) Key World Energy Statistics 2008 Oil Market Report Energy Statistics Manual
See all publications

http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/index.asp

***

Welcome to the Oil Market Report online service.

Each month, access to information on supply, demand, stocks, prices and refinery activity is available through the Oil Market Report online service.

The OMR publication published each month can be found here on this website in pdf. Available along with it are over 3000 charts and graphs updated monthly. All of this is available to subscribers who choose to receive the Oil Market Report by email. The charts are available simultaneously with the release of the OMR. This web service is a perfect complement to the macro analysis in the report.

Subscribers, please log in (to the left) for the very latest oil market information.

Visitors, please see our free public access site. This information is available with a two week time delay.

http://www.oilmarketreport.org/

***

http://omrpublic.iea.org/

Visitors, please see our free public access site. This information is available with a two week time delay.

(Which is the link immediately above)

World Oil Demand Chart from 2009 through July 1 - International Energy Agency

Highlights of the latest OMR
dated: 11 June 2009

Forecast global 2Q09 crude runs are raised 0.2 mb/d to 71.3 mb/d, as a result of higher April preliminary data in OECD countries, reports of high crude runs in China and marginally stronger global demand. But 3Q09 crude runs are forecast at 72.8 mb/d, representing an annual decline of 1.2 mb/d.

[Etc.]

The latest free issue of the full OMR

http://omrpublic.iea.org/

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Day One of the L’Aquila G8 Summit: the press conference

Prime Minister Berlusconi has summed up the first day’s proceedings at the Abruzzo Summit, stressing the agreement reached on fighting climate change, which is to be submitted to the G5 countries during the forthcoming sessions. The other topics on the agenda included the economic crisis and the need for new rules, development and food security.

Summit Documents: the first day

08/07/2009 A new page entitled “Summit Documents” is now available online in the “Summit” section of the website. This new item on the menu, the first item in the “Summit” section, will contain all of the Declaration and documents from the L’Aquila Summit in Pdf format ready for downloading and printing.

http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_Home.htm

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http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/Home/Media/Foto/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_1246707983758.htm

The People Working on Our Behalf at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy right now – July 8 – 10, 2009

High Resolution Download

Da sinistra: il Presidente giapponese Taro Aso, il Premier canadese Stephen Harper, il Presidente degli Stati Uniti Barack Obama, il Presidente francese Nicolas Sarkozy, il Presidente del Consiglio italiano Silvio Berlusconi, il Presidente russo Dmitry Medvedev, il Cancelliere tedesco Angela Merkel, il Premier del Regno Unito Gordon Brown, il Primo Ministro del Regno di Svezia Fredrik Reinfeldt e il Presidente della Commissione Europea José Manuel Barroso durante la foto di famiglia nel primo giorno del vertice G8 a L’Aquila. SitoG8/ANSA foto: Maurizio Brambatti

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About Italy

Welcome to Italy, and Welcome to Abruzzo

Many of the guests who will be coming to Italy during this year of the Italian G8 duty Presidency are already familiar with the country and its landscapes, its artistic heritage and the wide variety of cultures, dialects and aspects of the various italian regions. Many of them are admirers of the goods produced by italian creativity in sectors ranging from fashion to design and from machinery to traditional agricultural produce and leading-edge technologies. Connoisseurs of italian wine and cuisine, with their extraordinary variety of flavours and aromas, are also legion worldwide.

For several reasons, however, Italy is also a country that faces a large number of hazards due to the forces of nature and the way the land has been managed.

Around 40% of its population lives in highly seismic areas, and Abruzzo, the region that is to host the summit, was struck by a violent earthquake in April. The quake left 300 dead and razed a considerable portion of the architectural heritage of L’Aquila and the surrounding province to the ground.

The italian G8 Presidency decided to move the Summit venue from its original site in Sardinia to L’Aquila, both as a sign of sympathy and support for the people of Abruzzo and to draw the world’s attention, at this time of hardship, to an italian region with a wealth of history, culture and natural beauty.

http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/Home/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_ConoscereItalia.htm

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G-8 leaders have ambitious environmental goals

L’AQUILA, Italy (CNN) — Leaders of the world’s most powerful economies pledged to seek huge cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions at a summit in Italy on Wednesday.

The Group of Eight leaders said they would “join a global response to achieve a 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050 and to a goal of an aggregate 80 percent or more reduction by developed countries by that date.”

[Etc.]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/08/g8.summit/index.html

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8141561.stm

BBC slide show G8 Summit in photos – 07-08-09 – Amazing.

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http://www.abruzzo2000.com/abruzzo/laquila/laquila.htm

See below toward bottom of this post for some general info from this site about L’Aquila and the surrounding area – (before the earthquake, April 6).

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9 firms to run toxic assets program

Among those selected: BlackRock and Invesco. Program will be kickstarted with $30 billion government investment.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: July 8, 2009: 7:04 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government on Wednesday tapped nine financial firms to manage a scaled-down program aimed at helping the nation’s banks and said it would invest up to $30 billion to get it started.

Among those selected to serve as asset managers of the so-called Public-Private Investment Program were BlackRock (BLK, Fortune 500), AllianceBernstein (AB), Oaktree Capital Management, Invesco (IVZ), Angelo, Gordon & Co., Marathon Asset Management, RLJ Western Asset Management, The TCW Group and Wellington Management Company.

[ . . . ]

“While utilization of legacy asset programs will depend on how actual economic and financial market conditions evolve, the programs are capable of being quickly expanded if these conditions deteriorate,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair said in a statement.

[ Etc. ]

Treasury has said the program is intended to generate a return for private investors and protect taxpayers.

Under the program, banks and other qualified firms looking to rid themselves of assets will sell commercial mortgage-backed securities and certain residential mortgage-backed securities issued before 2009 and originally considered ‘AAA’-rated by two or more recognized agencies.

Each of the nine selected fund managers are required to invest a minimum of $20 million in firm capital in the funds they manage. At the same time, no single investor will be able to own more than a 9.9% stake in the PPIP funds.

It remains to be seen how effective the program will be in helping shore up banks’ finances.

[there’s more – but the next little bit says that a “key industry group” has long advocated for the program – gee, wonder who that is? – my note]

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/08/news/companies/ppip/index.htm?cnn=yes

First Published: July 8, 2009: 4:31 PM ET

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25 charged in $100 million mortgage fraud

(also on CNN – and the news tonight)

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http://www.abruzzo2000.com/abruzzo/laquila/laquila.htm

L’Aquila History and Region Information site – (not the most current – but very interesting and good information).

Altitude: 714 m a.s.l — Population: ca. 67000 inhabitants — Zip code: 67100 — Phone Area Code: 0862

L’Aquila

province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy

L’Aquila (surface area 466,96 kmq, about 67,000 inhabitants on the whole territory of the Commune, about 45,000 only the town and suburbs), the capital town of Abruzzi and of the Province of L’Aquila, is situated on the left bank of the Aterno River, at an elevation of 2,150 feet (655 meters), in a valley surrounded by the highest mountains of the Appennines, the Gran Sasso and the Velino-Sirente, 58 miles (93 km) northeast of Rome. For its geographical position in the middle of high mountains the city has long, cold winters and abundant rainfall throughout the year, even if autumn is the wettest season. L’Aquila is the main historical and artistic centre of Abruzzi, has an archbishopry and is renowned for its University, Musical Conservatory, Arts Academy, Theatre and Concert Society, National Museum of the Abruzzi and the ancient Salvatore Tommasi library.Formerly a center for handicraft and agriculture, L’Aquila has nowadays become primarily an administrative center for its large province and partly for the region (regional bodies are divided between L’Aquila and Pescara). The economy of the town is characterized by chemical, mechanical and farming industries, the production of wine, cereals, saffron and dairy products, traditional delicatessen and craftswork; the nearby mountains also offer facilities for winter sports and excursions.

(more info on history and sites in the region found on this page – I don’t think it is the official site but it is a good one.)

http://www.abruzzo2000.com/abruzzo/laquila/laquila.htm
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Brainstorming Solutions To the Oil – Energy Crisis – Cricket Diane C “Sparky” Phillips – 2008

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About the Oil Crisis – Brainstorming Solutions –
2008 Cricket Diane C Phillips
07-29-08

The basic problem I see is this – most of our mechanical power and propulsion systems are based on combustion. This means that we are still harnessing the discovery of fire to translate into our mechanical work mechanisms.

In each translation there is a significant loss of energy and efficiency. With each gear and armature, there is a loss of energy. Rather than amplifying power input, our current systems degrade that input at each juncture of change from source to output.

As the basis for engineering and science, surely there has already been discoveries about natural and cosmic phenomenon beyond creating fire, heat or combustion.

If petroleum is atomized to the nano particle level, isn’t the surface area of combustion increased? Or does something else occur at that point? Do we have to continue living with exotic chemical combinations in our air or can we harness them for transportation fuels?

Could we use reflexive skids under our existing cars rather than tires to decrease the effects of friction and no longer need to push our vehicles against the ground surface? Is there really a need for that many moving parts in vehicles’ mechanical systems? Are we only doing it that way to support businesses that are no longer viable?

Do we require controlled blasts to move pistons as a reaction of combustion (fire) or could a chemical reaction do that? Couldn’t a plasma reaction ionizing the air inside the combustion chamber of existing vehicles move the pistons with less energy and greater efficiency? Wouldn’t that make better sense along with restructuring a certain degree of complexity that has over the years been used “under the hood”?

Even water given a pressurized environment contains enough power to move the mechanical workings of a car or pull a load, such as required by trucks. The idea that we have not progressed beyond the discovery of fire must be wrong with the time, knowledge and money that has already been put into our understandings of physics, etc.

When do we utilize what has been developed, considering the costs associated with keeping the status quo?

If –> two powerful magnets holding in stasis a plasma reaction of carbon nanoparticles, then could an electron swarm be culled from this reaction and for how long with what input?

Why not use hovercraft technology on land for vehicles’ motion?

With as much nitrogen derivative compounds in every city’s air from car and truck emissions, it would seem this is a better fuel source that is available. Under a pressure system, the change of neutrons could occur releasing great quantities of power to harness. Or, using the basis of energy in temperature change, could harnessing of these nitrogen compounds create a fuel source for another kind of kinetic engine?

There are many chemical reactions which yield energy in transmutation. Isn’t there anything that industrial slag from one process which would combine with that of another to produce power by chemical reaction rather than combustion?

We also have methane from landfills that are abundant. Can this be used to fuel existing systems for cars and trucks, as is being done by some industries? Is it really necessary for the habits of filling up the car with gasoline to remain the same for people to feel comfortable?

Would there be anyway to create a distribution network in a timely manner for alternative fuel stations such that there would be convenience to using them? Could these be offered by a retail chain whose locations already exist that is not a gasoline retailer but possibly a discount merchandise retailer instead? There are groceries and discounters that have huge chains nationwide that could simply add an island of alternative fuels in their parking lots, perhaps by subcontracted businesses. Would they do that?

In 1992, Popular Mechanics magazine, there is a Nissan vehicle (car) that was announced in full working model that ran on 100% electricity. It is now 2008. Every car manufacturer has working models that have been shown at one time or another for fully electric cars, light trucks and other mechanical marvels, including lawn mowers, power tools, heavy load movers and others. Why aren’t these available to the market considering there has been more than enough time to do all the tests on them to date?

What conflict of interest is placing our car and truck manufacturers on the list of beneficiaries to the petroleum industry’s continued profitability extreme? The extreme has been a complete monopoly on the market and the compliance in the vehicle manufacturing concerns to keep the current petroleum based systems in place indicates some deep pocket advantage to them. This has kept the status quo in place despite every evidence of its detriment across several areas of impact and concern.

There are laws of physics which have some interesting possibilities for motion and propulsion. Some of these have been pursued by scientists and engineers. Some have been designed into systems already but they are not on the market. It appears that the entrenched powers in the marketplace have been undermining the introduction of these new technologies and uses of the new understandings of physics for market-ready products, particularly in transportation uses.

Unless pollution that is currently prevalent everywhere is somehow harnessed and utilized to power modern living, there will be no turning back from the damage that has already occurred. The time has passed already for assessing, studying, testing, figuring, analyzing and in fact, all that has been done at this point. Possibilities exist that simply need to be put into play now.

Written by Cricket Diane C “Sparky” Phillips, 07-28-08/07-29-08, Cricket House Studios, USA