* Lawmakers want oil market to be free from manipulation
Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -April 29, 2008: -- Looking past the current prices at the pump, lawmakers pressed the president and the U.S. attorney general to form a task force to make sure oil markets aren’t being illegally manipulated... Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-WA, pointed out in letters to the president and attorney general that the price of oil and gas can no longer be explained or predicted by “normal market dynamics or their historic understanding of supply and demand fundamentals.”... The pair reminded the president and the attorney general that an official from Exxon Mobil testified under oath in a congressional hearing that the price of crude oil should be about $50 to $55 per barrel based on supply and demand fundamentals. Yet, oil is trading well above the $100 per barrel mark with little relief in sight... The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 gave the FTC authority similar to anti-manipulation authority utilized by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The provision also empowers the FTC to levy civil penalties of up to $1 million per day... “Utilized effectively, we believe this new authority will substantially augment consumer protections, help lower and stabilize prices, increase market transparency, and provide drivers the confidence that retail gasoline and diesel prices are free from the influence of anticompetitive practices and the exercise of market power, which might rightly be considered manipulation,” the senators wrote...
* Bush blames Congress for oil prices; OPEC says crude may hit $200Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -April 29, 2008: -- President George W. Bush blamed congressional Democrats Tuesday, April 29, for high oil prices and renewed his call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska... Meanwhile, Big Oil continues to post record profits. For the first quarter of this year, BP Amoco LLC made $6.6 billion in profits. In the same 90-day period, Shell Oil Co. hauled in $7.8 billion in profits... On the other side of the globe, the president of OPEC warned this week that the price of oil could go to $200 per barrel. The Financial Times quoted Algeria’s oil minister as saying the recent run-up in price is largely due to the current weakness of the U.S. dollar... He said that every time the dollar drops in value by 1 percent, the price of a barrel of oil goes up by $4. On Tuesday, April 29, oil was trading around $117 per barrel in New York at midday...
* Truckers See $4 Gas In Rearview
Omaha,Neb,USA -KETV 7 Nebraska -April 30, 2008: -- As analysts warn that $4 gas isn't far off, diesel truck drivers already see that price in their rearview mirrors... Many of the companies or drivers that operate semi-trailer trucks are going bankrupt, and that could mean future shortages on store shelves... Driver Virginia Smallwood said $4.15 per gallon prices are taking a bite out of her income... "(It's) more than tough times," the independent driver said... President of the Nebraska Trucking Association Larry Johnson said 945 trucking companies nationwide have gone bankrupt since the beginning of the year, and all companies are looking for ways to save money... * Gas price blues? Diesel's even worse
Topeka,KS,USA -The Topeka Capital Journal, by Phil Anderson -April 30, 2008: -- The price for diesel fuel, the lifeblood of the American highway system, is going through the roof... Already eclipsing the $4 a gallon mark at the pump, diesel fuel costs are projected to go even higher... In Topeka on Tuesday, diesel fuel was $4.19 a gallon and unleaded gasoline was $3.57 a gallon at the downtown BP station, 601 S.W. Quincy. Similar prices could be found at other service stations across town... Crude oil prices have risen from $65 per barrel a year ago to nearly $119 per barrel on Monday... The biggest hit is being felt by those who use diesel fuel for their day-to-day operations: truck drivers, farmers and school districts with buses, to name a few... (Photo by Ann Williamson / The Capital-Journal - Randy Obrecht, of Grand River, Iowa, fills up his truck with diesel fuel at the Kansas Turnpike rest stop near Topeka. Obrecht was hauling equipment from Fort Riley to Iowa. Like other truckers, he was paying well more than $4 a gallon for diesel fuel.) Labels: fuel cost troubles
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Peterborough,UK -The Peterborough Evening Telegraph -30 April 2008: -- Lorry horns blared out as truckers lapped up public support during their protest against record-high fuel cost increases... About 70 vehicles converged on the centre of London as drivers voiced their anger at a 30 per cent rise in diesel pump prices in the last 12 months... The main focal point of the protest was the presentation of a symbolic coffin to Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for the Kent constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey... The protestors said the coffin represented the hundreds of hauliers who had gone bankrupt due to high prices at the pump... 
Joe Cook, of JS Cook and Sons Transport, based in Moulton Chapel, near Spalding, draped a Union Flag over the coffin before presenting it outside the Houses of Parliament, he said: "The price of fuel at the moment is ridiculous. We just don't know whether our jobs are going to be safe. If Gordon Brown doesn't do something about this soon, he'll be out of office"... The independent inquiry into the effect of fuel taxation found that the level of diesel duty in the UK was higher than the average EU rate. Typical articulated vehicles now cost up to £1,000 to refuel every week... Supporting the protest in London was Road Haulage Association chief executive Roger King, who urged the Government to abandon plans to raise fuel duty by 2p next October... Mr King said: "We support a peaceful and legal protest, and that is what this is. We think such an exercise helps underscore the real feelings hauliers have. We forecast that if prices continue to rise, hundreds of hauliers are going to go out of business."... (Pictures: 1. About 70 vehicles descended on the centre of London as part of the protests about the rising cost of fuel - 2. Many of the vehicles carried messages to the Chancellor and Prime Minister about the effect of rising fuel costs on the haulage industry) 
