Oil Prices Rise in Time for Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of the summer traveling season and is usually the time when oil prices slightly rise. With less than two days until the weekend begins, bulk oil prices hit a record high of $132 a barrel. This shot up gas prices to $3.80 for the national average. The news comes in light of a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that claims gas and oil stocks had declined, as well as President Bush’s unsuccessful trip to the Middle East, requesting a higher production rate.

Analysts are now predicting a national average of $4 for gasoline within the next month and $140 a barrel come September.

New Records Continue to Haunt Pumps as the Start of the Vacation Season Creeps Closer

The price of bulk oil – yet again – continues to rise to new heights as it reaches near $128 a barrel, pushing the average to roughly $3.79 per gallon. The price of diesel fuel has also gone up to due to China’s demand to refuel their power plants in light of this week’s earthquake. This news comes as President Bush journeys to Saudi Arabia to push the production of oil in the Middle East. Analysts expect the national average for gas to reach $4 a gallon within the coming weeks, though some states are already paying that.

Oil Lobbyists to Appeal to American Public

Today, the Washington Post reported that the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s main oil lobby, is embarking on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign.

The intended audience is elected officials and the public, with an emphasis on the latter. The industry is trying to convince voters — who, in turn, will make the case to their members of Congress — that rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.

The campaign has stirred outrage among consumer groups. They complain that the industry is using its outlandish profits to make even more money, and that its advertisements use statistics selectively.

The news comes on the heels of a brief record high of bulk oil prices coming in at $126 a barrel, before falling back down to $124.

Dems Unveil Bill that Targets OPEC and Oil Firms

Today as bulk oil prices again reached a record high of $124 a barrel, Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C. unveiled the Consumers First Energy Act. The bill contains provisions that feature a 25% windfall profits tax on oil companies in the U.S., as well as giving the U.S. Attorney General authority to bring price collusion charges to OPEC.

GOP leaders also had a plan to open up oil production and drilling in Alaska.

While legislators work on a solution, analysts are now predicting barrel prices to reach $160 by fall.

Gas Tax Holiday

Bulk oil prices are surging to $123 a barrel, up from $116 last week. Several factors – including a recent attack on a Nigerian oil producer and the fluctuating American dollar – have caused unsteady prices in the last year. Now politicians are calling for a gas tax holiday. Sens. Hilary Clinton (D – NY) and John McCain (R – AZ) are urging to cut federal gas tax between Memorial Day to Labor Day. Likeminded state politicians are also lobbying to have the state gas tax cut in the same time period, which is particularly important since it is an election year.

This surge comes after predictions that gas prices would begin to fall; a poll by CNN has Americans expecting fuel prices to reach up to $5 a gallon.