DERANGED PRESIDENT

WorldWatch has once more found that SPECULATION and the " MAD MAN" are again on the move...crude oil rose to a one-month high after Valero Energy Corp. shut its Delaware refinery because of a storm-related power failure yesterday and cold weather moved across the northern U.S. and also the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to halt oil exports to the U.S ...so partial power failure at a refinery , cold weather, and the words of a deranged president all affected the crude price !!! this we call SPECULATION...
The Valero story is heightening nervousness about the refining industry, the big worry is that there will be a slew of problems as the US prepares for the driving season this spring....EVERY SEASON, THERE IS A DRIVING SEASON !!! Lets change this to a cycling season, its much healthier !!!
Crude oil for March delivery rose to $93.59 a barrel at 2:46 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since Jan. 14. Futures are down 6.5 percent since touching a record $100.09 a barrel on Jan. 3. Brent crude for March settlement rose to $93.53 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was the highest close since Jan. 9. Brent touched a record $98.50 on Jan. 3.
Valero's Delaware City refinery can process 190,200 barrels of oil a day, according to U.S. Energy Department and company data. Citgo's Lake Charles refinery had the capacity to process 454,500 barrels of oil a day as of January. U.S. refiners make repairs and upgrades during the lull in demand between the end of the heating season and the beginning of the driving season. Refineries probably operated at 84.3 percent of capacity last week..
Temperatures in the US have been very moderate so far this winter, however with all of the refinery utilization occurring, we can expect to see further inventory drops!!!
Also contributing to the crude rise is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as he threatened to halt oil exports to the U.S. after Exxon Mobil Corp. took action to freeze $12 billion of oil assets.
`Mr. Danger'
`Listen to me, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger. If the economic war continues against Venezuela, the price of oil will reach $200. Venezuela will take up the economic war and more than one country is inclined to join us,''
Chavez said 10-02-2008 during his weekly television show. Its pure madness to pay much attention to what he says...quite Mad...90 percent of its foreign exchange derives from oil income...90% !!!
This attitude is about maximizing the impact on the oil market .. nothing else.. Exxon's move may cut into Chavez's popularity by forcing him to cut back spending. Venezuela counts on oil income for 90 percent of its foreign exchange and half of federal tax revenue.
According to the US Energy Department Venezuela was the fourth-biggest source of U.S. crude-oil imports during the first 11 months of 2007. Supply threats abound at the moment, both real and imagined, violence in Nigeria looks to worsen after this latest round and while it may be empty rhetoric on the part of Hugo Chavez, you also must consider that he is capable of anything.
The geopolitical risk is being re-inflated.