gas prices

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$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries
$3 Gas
Fuels Retail Worries

$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries

Prices at pump hit milestone again, first time since July

(Newser) - Gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon for the first time since mid-July, prompting worries about a consumer pullback as the US heads into the holiday shopping season and cold weather increases energy demands, reports USA Today. It’s the first time gas prices, up 80 cents from a year ago...

PetroChina Becomes First Trillion-Dollar Company

Wildly successful IPO gives China 5 of world's top 10 companies

(Newser) - In its first day of trading, PetroChina Co. became the world’s most valuable company, hitting $1 trillion in market capitalization after shares nearly tripled to 43.96 yuan from an IPO of 16.7 yuan. It’s now worth more than the entire Russian stock market. Some analysts interpreted...

China Hikes Domestic Oil Prices 10%

Move to lower demand spurs crude prices to record highs

(Newser) - China raised its domestic oil prices 10% yesterday, one of the key factors in crude’s surge to over $95 per barrel. The move was actually designed to decrease global oil prices, the Wall Street Journal explains, by lowering demand. But Chinese refineries, usually stuck with low government-set prices for...

Exxon Mobil Profits Plunge
Exxon Mobil Profits Plunge

Exxon Mobil Profits Plunge

Biggest quarterly profit drop in three years, based on narrowing margins

(Newser) - Exxon Mobil profits plunged in the third quarter by the most since the first three months of 2004, when oil was $35 a barrel. The behemoth's quarterly report, released today, sent Exxon shares diving. The drop was caused by equipment and power failures, as well as a narrowing profit margin...

What Inflation? Consumer Prices Fall 0.1%

Fed's rate cut looks good as housing, gas prices hit books

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke is likely patting himself on the back right now, Bloomberg reports. US consumer prices fell 0.1% in August, the first decline this year, making Federal Reserve chairman’s rate cut look good, with inflation potentially under control. “Core inflation has now been falling for nearly a...

Americans Hot for Hybrids
Americans Hot for Hybrids

Americans Hot for Hybrids

Sales up 49% thanks to surge in Mid-West sales

(Newser) - Hybrid sales skyrocketed 49% in the first half of 2007, thanks to boom in the Midwest. Oklahoma’s 143% increase was the most of any state, but every state except Hawaii saw growth, the AP reports, with 215,997 vehicles registered this year, compared to 144,721 over the same...

Oil Prices Approach All-Time High
Oil Prices Approach All-Time High

Oil Prices Approach All-Time High

Hopes set on sign from OPEC meeting that production will increase

(Newser) - The price of oil approached a record high yesterday, hiking interest in next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna, where observers hope the association will give some positive sign that production will increase. OPEC, however, seems divided on the matter, with the group’s president calling the market “very...

US Gas Supplies Hit 2-Year Low
US Gas Supplies Hit 2-Year Low

US Gas Supplies Hit 2-Year Low

Drop coincides with end of summer vacation season

(Newser) - The nation's gas inventory slipped last week to its lowest level since Hurricane Katrina decimated stockpiles 2 years ago, but officials aren't worried. "We're at the end of the summer and demand should start declining over the next several weeks," one analyst told Reuters. The current supply is...

Labor Day Traffic Forecast: Not Quite as Bad

With gas cheaper, 28.9M expected to hit road this weekend

(Newser) - Nearly 29 million people will travel by car during the upcoming Labor Day weekend, AAA reports—slightly fewer than last year, despite lower gas prices. A gallon averages $2.75, down 10 cents from last Labor Day. The overall number of travelers this holiday weekend is expected to go up,...

Weak Wal-Mart Profits Turn Smiles Upside-Down

Stock dips in early trading on anemic report

(Newser) - Wal-Mart stock saw its biggest dip in five years in early trading this morning, after Q2 profits rose less than analysts had expected. The Arkansas-based behemoth says full-year profit will total $3.13 a share, 3 cents lighter than its projections: Bloomberg reports that surging gas prices, faltering home sales...

Iraq's Power Grid Is Near Collapse
Iraq's Power Grid Is Near Collapse

Iraq's Power Grid Is Near Collapse

Insurgents target plants, and provinces are disconnecting from the system

(Newser) - Iraq’s power grid is teetering on the edge of collapse as insurgents destroy almost any attempt to restore power and the country’s fractured government is stalled, the AP reports. With enough power for only half of demand, there have been four nationwide blackouts in the last two days....

Senate Passes Energy Bill
Senate Passes Energy Bill

Senate Passes Energy Bill

Vehicles must hit a green 35mpg by 2020; Detroit seeing red

(Newser) - The Senate gave a green light to an energy plan that would pump total fuel-economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020, and require vehicles to run on 85% ethanol by 2015. Democrats say the bill will reduce America's reliance on foreign oil, help control gas prices and counteract the effects...

Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel
Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel

Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel

To get to core of gas problem, pick apples over ethanol, say studies

(Newser) - Simple sugars found in fruits like apples and oranges can be converted into a new type of bio-based car fuel that provides more energy than ethanol, the current hip gas alternative. US researchers say the dimethylfuran can store 40 percent more energy and is less volatile than its corn-based cousin,...

Nothing We Can Do About Those Prices, Says OPEC

It's not us, it's those stingy refiners

(Newser) - Gas prices are soaring, but OPEC says that there's nothing it can do. Historically, the cartel has made big efforts to increase production when prices spike, but not his time, the Wall Street Journal reports. Members of OPEC say that there's plenty of crude being pumped; instead, the price increases...

Biofuels Bump Pump Prices
Biofuels Bump Pump Prices

Biofuels Bump Pump Prices

Government's ethanol push helps slow refinery expansion, boosting costs

(Newser) - Four-dollar gas? Blame biofuels, the oil industry says. Construction of new refinery capacity is on hold thanks to government regulations that will soon require oil companies to produce biofuels such as ethanol. Uncertain standards for biofuels, which may render new refineries useless, have led oil companies to rethink expansion plans—...

Gas Spikes to All-Time Record
Gas Spikes to All-Time Record

Gas Spikes to All-Time Record

Pump pain hits consumer spending

(Newser) - Gas hit a record high of $3.18 yesterday, soaring past the previous all-time high, the inflation-adjusted 1981 price of $3.15 per gallon. A spate of fires and power outages have crippled the nation's refineries, sending prices soaring even as crude oil costs drop. That's turning consumers away from...

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