Speculators have options to buy 80% of the world's entire oil supply

[Newsjock]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

... In the weeks since, Mubarak fell, and turmoil hit not just Libya, but Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, two big oil producers whose output dwarfs the 1.5 million barrels a day that Libya produced before the current war. On Monday, West Texas Intermediate peaked for the year at $105.46 a barrel, before falling slightly this week. Thursday's close was $103.73 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Yet experts say there's no shortage driving that price increase. There are at least 4 million barrels a day of spare oil production capacity globally, they say.

The soaring price of gasoline offers a similar picture. The price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. is up 41 cents from a month ago, at $3.53 a gallon, AAA reported Thursday.

Yet U.S. gasoline inventories are exactly what they were a year ago, Ed Yardeni, a veteran financial analyst, said in a note to investors. Crude oil stocks are where they were two years ago, he added.

Yardeni suggested the biggest driver of the current surge in prices is speculation by people who have little interest in oil except as a way to gamble their money. He said the latest U.S. government report on oil speculation found that large speculators had acquired options to purchase almost 80 percent of the world's entire inventory of oil.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/10/110141/as-gasoline-soars-libyan-rebels.html

[Sonoman]

1. I spent $80 to fill up my tank, today.

Pretty much freaked me out.

Sonoman

[Webster Green]

2. Me too.

Would have been closer to $90 if it was empty.

Ouch!

[Sonoman]

3. Problem is, it gets 14MPG...

but it will go 150MPH.

But my other vehicle gets 100MPG. Unfortunately, it only goes 42MPH.

Sonoman

[OnyxCollie]

4. Drove up to the pump today and saw the last person spent $107.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I spent 20.00 for gas. In December.

I "fill up" about every 3 months, when the tank shows 1/2 empty ( old habit, living in hurricane country)
20 gallon tank, 40 mpg.
We never go anywhere, thank god.

Looks like we are saving a fortune these days.