The oil rose a new record above $100 a barrel after the government reported a larger than expected decline in oil inventories and an unexpected rise in heating oil supplies.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories fell by 4 million barrels last week, much more than the 1,7 million barrel decline analyst surveyed by Dow Jones, on average had expected. But who can expect that kind of decrease in the production.
On the other hand, inventories of distillates, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 600.000 barrels, countering analyst expectations that distillate supplies would fall by 600.000 barrels. And supplies of gasoline rose by 1.9 million barrels, more than the 1,3 million- barrel increase analyst had expected. This fact is quite strange; because I wonder why they are increasing the production of more expensive fuels, and reducing the production of crude oil (the cheapest). I really think there are some “evil intentions”.
Then the real problem is associated with the oil. The new trading record on the New York Mercantile Exchange for oil is $100,09. Prior to the 2007 run-up in prices, the record had been an inflation-adjusted high of $94,06 in January 1981. You can see now that the Evil cartel is making loads of money with the increment.
The High oil prices prompted to travel organization AAA to issue a warning that “record high prices will be paid by consumers for gasoline in the year ahead. That is because the price of oil accounts two thirds of the pump price of gasoline. The situation is even worse because refineries are required by law to switch to a type of clean-air gasoline by june1 every year and this new gasoline is more expensive than the regular. Then after June you will have two options: take the bus or share your car.
High prices this time of year are especially unsettling (January 4, 2007), AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom noted, because fuel prices typically don’t start their seasonal climb until spring. Then What is happen really?
The new record on the oil prices prompted Indonesian officials to announce plans to ask OPEC to boost output to bring down oil prices. Many analysts think high prices will themselves do the trick by cutting the demand. But is possible that oil will rise the $150.
Note: On June 28th 2008 after a lot of new records, the oil price reaches a maximum near to $141.
Vocabulary
Pump: transitive and intransitive verb make liquid or gas flow; to force a liquid or gas to flow.
Rose: past form of rise.
Struggled: try to overcome problem; to make a great effort to deal with a challenge, problem, or difficulty.
Prompted: transitive verb cause somebody to act; to make somebody decide to do something.
Unsettling: upsetting; producing a feeling of unease or insecurity.
Spokesman: somebody, especially a man, authorized to speak on behalf of another person or other people.
Boost: to cause something to increase.
Tepid: showing little enthusiasm or warmth.
Reading comprehension
1. According with the summary, how much did the crude inventories fall the last week?
2. According with the summary, what is the meaning of EIA?
3. What can the OPEC do to bring down the oil prices?
4. Did The analyst expect an increase in the supplies of gasoline?
5. How long has it been since the oil price risen $94,06?
