Weatherization Department
The Friday Report Friday December 20,1996
FromWright Energy's
Weatherization Network Since 1984
970-349-0551 fax
970-349-0923 voice Mike@Weatherstrip.com email
WebSite
http://WrightEnergy.com
Updated 12/4/96
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Israeli Jets Fire on Lebanon Guerrilla Positions
From Wire Reports
Israeli jet fighters fired rockets at suspected
guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon in two raids, security officials
said. The first, shortly after dawn, Wednesday came amid fighting between
Israeli forces and guerrillas of the Hezbollah militia. At least three guerrillas
were killed in the fighting, the officials said. Israeli fighter-bombers
returned later to fire two more rockets at the same area, the officials
said. No casualties were reported in that attack.
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World oil prices soared past $26 a barrel Wednesday to their
highest level since the Persian Gulf War, as harsh Midwestern weather, U.S.
refinery problems and stockpiling in Europe and the Far East caused demand
to surge. Gasoline and heating oil prices also rose.
Analysts said the jump of 45 cents per barrel
of crude was spurred partly by breakdowns at refineries in New Jersey and
Louisiana that will limit supplies of heating oil just when freezing areas
of the nation need them most. Also, a bomb scare in Staten Island, N.Y.,
temporarily
shut a pipeline, further disrupting markets.
And although Iraqi oil has already begun to
flow since a United Nations-brokered oil-for-food deal, it will take another
week or more before those supplies reach U.S refineries and work to moderate
prices, said John Hervey, oil analyst at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette in New
York.
Analysts described the current price run-up
as a short-term
phenomenon, and many are convinced that the arrival of Iraqi oil in coming
weeks--amounting to 1% of daily worldwide consumption --and the onset of
new oil production in various global venues will create an oil glut sometime
next year.
Though California gasoline prices are insulated
to some extent from the rest of the country, industry and government officials
said prices at the pump could continue their slow drift upward from October
lows if harsh weather continues elsewhere.
The average statewide price of a gallon of
unleaded gasoline last week was $1.18, up 2 cents from the previous month.
That's still far below the peak of $1.55 a gallon in April, when refinery
shutdowns caused by accidents and state-mandated modifications, combined
with crude oil dislocations, caused pump prices to surge, angering politicians
and consumers.
For now, severe winter weather gripping the
Midwest and heading for the Rocky Mountains has caused a spike in refinery
demand for crude oil.
Near-term futures contracts for crude rose 45 cents on Wednesday to $26.16
a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since January
1991, when the Mideast war pitched energy markets into a frenzy.
In addition to the heavy demand, supplies
of heating oil and
gasoline were interrupted by shutdowns of a Tosco refinery in New Jersey
and an Exxon facility in Louisiana. January heating oil futures closed up
0.64 cent at 74.15 cents a gallon, and gasoline finished up 1.4 cents
at 71.17 cents a gallon. Natural gas futures fell 9.5 cents to $4.075 per
1,000 cubic feet.
For now, energy prices will remain volatile,
said Drew Dickson, director of research and trading at GSC Energy, an Atlanta-based
futures brokerage.
"Inventories are tight enough that changes
in demand will affect the price. There is no inventory to buffer the market,"
Dickson said.
But Hervey said inventories will eventually
be replenished by the Iraqi oil and, later, by increased production expected
from the North Sea, Nigeria, Algeria, Colombia, Venezuela and the deep-water
areas of the Gulf of Mexico now being developed by U.S. oil firms.
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