- (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil in New York rose to a record
$53.31 a barrel after the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port shut for a third
time in a month as refiners struggle to boost supplies that were depleted
by Hurricane Ivan.
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- The port closed at about 5 a.m. New York time because
of a storm, an official at the facility said. The terminal, located about
20 miles off the Louisiana coast, handles about 1 million barrels of crude
oil a day, 10 percent of U.S. imports. Oil fell earlier after a union said
it won't try to shut Nigeria's oil industry if it joins a national strike
next week.
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- "We can't afford to lose one drop of oil right now
because supply and demand are so tight," said Michael Fitzpatrick,
vice president of energy risk management with Fimat USA in New York. "The
closing of the LOOP just adds to a big basket of woes that is getting heavier
by the day."
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- Crude oil for November delivery rose 64 cents, or 1.2
percent, to close at $53.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil reached $53.40, the highest intraday price since futures began trading
in 1983. Prices rose 6.4 percent this week and were up 79 percent from
a year ago. Futures have risen in 15 of the last 17 sessions and for the
last four weeks.
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- In London, the November Brent crude-oil futures contract
rose 81 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at a record $49.71 a barrel on
the International Petroleum Exchange. Prices reached $49.75, the highest
intraday price since the contract began trading in 1988.
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- The port was closed from Sept. 13 to Sept. 18 and from
Sept. 22 to Sept. 23 because of Hurricane Ivan, said Mark Bugg, scheduling
manager at New Orleans-based Loop LLC, the operator. Bugg said earlier
this week that it would take until the end of October to work through the
hurricane-related tanker-unloading delays.
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- An area of low pressure in the Gulf may grow into a tropical
depression, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
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- Recovery Delay
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- "The storm will keep the LOOP shut for a couple
of days and delay the resumption of production in the Gulf," said
Marshall Steeves, an energy analyst with Refco Group Inc. in New York.
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- Daily oil output at platforms in the Gulf was down by
475,176 barrels, or 28 percent, from the 1.7 million barrels a day produced
before the storm, according to a report from the Minerals Management Service,
part of the U.S. Interior Department. Ivan has reduced production by a
total of 17 million barrels since Sept. 13.
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- "Weather has been the big story," said Michael
Lewis, head of commodities research for Deutsche Bank AG in London. "The
only chance for relief would be if you get mild weather in the U.S. during
November and December, which would take the froth off the current price."
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- 'The One Headwind'
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- General Electric Co., the world's largest company by
market value, said third-quarter profit rose 11 percent as acquisitions
and economic development spurred sales growth. Rising raw material prices
are "the one headwind" the company is concerned about, said Chief
Executive Jeff Immelt in a call with investors.
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- Benzene, a chemical derived from oil that is used to
make plastic, has almost tripled from the year-ago quarter. Still, rising
demand and an ability to raise product prices in several industrial businesses
has helped, Immelt said.
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- "We're not counting on any break in benzene,"
Immelt said. "The one piece of inflation that's going to last into
2005 is going to be around oil."
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- The company narrowed its 2004 profit forecast to $1.57
to $1.60 a share. Immelt had previously forecast $1.55 to $1.60. The company
is expected to earn $1.58, the average forecast from Thomson Financial.
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- 'Serious Situation'
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- "We are one event away from a more serious situation,"
said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, at
a U.S.-Russia investment conference in Washington. "I think there
is a growing recognition of the potential economic effects of a market
that gets away from everybody."
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- Crude oil in New York may rise next week because of concern
that demand is exceeding supply, according to a Bloomberg News survey of
traders and analysts. Thirty-three of 45 traders and analysts, or 73 percent,
predicted an increase in New York oil futures next week, the biggest margin
in favor of a gain in the six months the survey has run.
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- Heating oil for November delivery rose 2.31 cents, or
1.6 percent, to close at a record $1.454 a gallon in New York. Heating
oil reached $1.459, the highest intraday price since the contract was introduced
in 1978.
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- Nigeria Strike
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- The Nigeria Labour Congress, the nation's biggest union,
has called for a strike to begin midnight Sunday. While the white- collar
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria isn't a member
of the congress, it may join the strike.
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- "If the strike goes ahead on Monday, most of our
members will stay at home, but we are not going to shut down oil production,"
said the association's Deputy Secretary General, Lumumba Okugbawa. "Our
members on the oil facilities will keep operations running."
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- A separate walkout, now in its second day at the Royal
Dutch/Shell Group venture in Nigeria, hasn't affected oil exports, Shell
spokesman Andy Corrigan said in London.
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