Everyone is worried about Hurricane Ike

The Oct NYMEX crude oil contract closed at $106.34, only pennies from the close on Friday but still a bit higher, with the high at a higher level, too. Everyone is worried about Hurricane Ike, which could make landfall near the cluster of refineries near Corpus Christi—or elsewhere.

It has weakened to Category 1, however, and in Vienna, Saudi oil minister Al Naimi told the press ahead of the OPEC summit that “The market is fairly well balanced and we have worked very hard since June’s meeting to bring prices to where they are now… Whatever the customers want, we will satisfy.” Putting the cherry on the ice cream, Algerian oil minister and current OPEC president Khelil said “A production cut would not serve much of a purpose. Rather, it will damage the advantage the organization has got by making a positive gesture toward consuming countries.'' Khelil says there will not be a need for OPEC to meet again before the regularly scheduled Dec meeting.

The oil price obediently went down to $104.23 on these comments and is at $105.05 at 11:50 am GMT.

Bye for now

Barbara Rockefeller