Oil just hit $66/barrel.
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. crude and gasoline futures rose to all-time highs Thursday as dealers continued to worry about gasoline supply amid refinery snags, sliding inventories and worries over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
NYMEX September crude hit a record $66 a barrel before easing to $65.55, up 65 cents. The previous intraday record of $65 was set Wednesday.
Whoa. That sounds bad.
Even with U.S. crude averaging above $53 a barrel for the year to date, in real terms prices are still below the $80 a barrel average of 1980, after the Iranian revolution.
Oh, well now I feel better. Speaking of bettors (crude segue (ooh, a double pun!)), did you know that offshore online casinos take bets on these sort of things? They take bets on just about everything:
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – If betting odds are any indicator, it’s looking more likely that gas will break $3 a gallon before the end of the year.
Since PinnacleSports.com, an online sportsbook, began taking bets on gas prices Friday, 90 percent of all bets have backed rising gas prices.
It opened wagering with the odds on the average price of regular gas in New York or Los Angeles hitting $3 a gallon by New Year’s Day as a 30:1 long shot.
Since Friday, those odds have dropped to 9:5, PinnacleSports.com said in a statement.
Now, don’t worry, oddsmakers aren’t always right. They had John Kerry as a 2:1 favorite in 2004, Mike Tyson as a 42:1 favorite over Buster Douglas, and my beloved Twelve-Time World Champion Green Bay Packers as 13½-point favorites over Bucky Horseface and the Denver WhiteDragons in Super Bowl XXXII.
On the other hand…
Gas prices have jumped to record levels, with regular gas currently costing $2.619 a gallon in New York and $2.693 a gallon in Los Angeles, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report.
PinnacleSports.com also took bets on whether the national average gas price, which hit a fresh high of $2.397 Thursday, would reach $2.50 a gallon before the start of the new year.
Wagering opened with odds that the nationwide price would hit $2.50 a gallon at 3:2. With 88 percent of players believing that will happen, those odds have improved to 5:12, PinnacleSports.com said.
Hmm. All-time record oil prices. Detroit automakers struggling due to reliance on manufacturing big gas-guzzling luxury cars. Japanese manufacturers thriving with small, gas-efficient cars infused with new technology. Diplomatic tensions with Iran. War in the Middle East. Gosh, it’s like I’m 11 years old again.
How is it that the president is an oil man, the vice president is an oil man, the secretary of state is an oil woman, the oil industry confers with the administration on our energy policy, we’ve invaded the place the oil comes from, and yet we get more expensive oil. How does that work?
