Word: bbl
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...week, they will try to avert the disaster that was arising because prices have been collapsing. Asia's stalled economies and a very warm winter have cut oil consumption way below what was projected for 1998. Result: a 50% plunge in oil prices from early 1997, to $13.31 per bbl. And with storage tanks brimming, the price looked poised to fall even further--to $10 per bbl., or lower...
What a change from a little more than a year ago, when many expected a tightening oil market to send prices soaring above the $25-per-bbl. level that oil then commanded. How sweet is it for motorists, then, to have enjoyed gasoline prices that, adjusted for inflation, are lower than at any time in memory--and lower than average prices during the Depression. Even the higher crude-oil prices of the past few days, should they hold, will add only 5[cents] to 10[cents] per gal.--still keeping retail gasoline prices near their historic lows...
...least not in the stock market. When the Gulf War began, the U.S. was in the throes of a banking crisis and slipping into recession. Saddam was bent on hanging on to his oil-rich conquest. Stocks were down, and oil prices had briefly doubled to $40 per bbl. There was a lot to fight for. This time around, stocks are high and oil is low. The economy is on a historic roll. And Saddam isn't strong enough to upset any of that greatly; he is merely being defiant. Where is the market's upside...
...interest rates are partly the result of cheap oil prices. And Wall Street expects that a defeated Iraq would be allowed to flood the world with oil to raise money to rebuild, which is one reason the price of crude has slumped since October from $23 to $16 per bbl. But would Iraq be treated with such kindness if an allied mission were unsuccessful? Doubtful. Such an outcome could reverse psychology in the oil market and send prices higher, stoking inflation and squeezing stocks and bonds...
...Iranian President MOHAMMED KHATAMI for favorable signs. It's all part of a modern version of Rudyard Kipling's "The Great Game"--the 19th century competition between Russia and Britain for influence in Central Asia. Today the prize is access to the Caspian Sea's pool of 200 billion bbl. of oil. But tapping that will require construction of the pipeline network. The U.S. hopes Iran will recognize that it is in its own interest to become a player so that it will qualify for much needed Western investment...