Found a couple of interesting articles this AM on news wires and such...they are worthy of attention since Memorial Day weekend fast approacheth...


Oil prices surge on Nigeria unrest, US refinery woes
05.21.07, 8:59 PM ET


NEW YORK (XFN-ASIA) - World oil prices rose on Monday as the market saw no end to concerns over tight supplies caused by unrest in key crude producer Nigeria and output disruptions at US refineries, traders said.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, gained 1.33 usd to close at 66.27 usd a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery added 1.07 usd to finish at 70.49 usd. In intraday trade, it climbed as high as 70.83 usd, a level not seen since late August.

Crude prices remained underpinned by concerns about abnormally tight supplies of gasoline in the

United States due to refinery problems, just as motorists take to the road this weekend at the start of the summer vacation driving season.

'With the country running on fumes for supply and another bad week for refiners with outages, or good luck if you look at it from the profit angle, the market seems to be adjusting to its bullish destiny,' said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading.

Meanwhile, US gasoline prices continued to hit fresh record highs. The American Automobile Association (AAA) said the average national price of unleaded regular gasoline had jumped to 3.196 usd per gallon, the highest average it has recorded.

A month ago the price was 2.859 usd a gallon.

The AAA has forecasted 38.8 mln Americans will be on the roads this weekend, up 1.7 pct from last year.

Fresh unrest in Nigeria, where strikes are planned this week at two refineries, also drove prices higher.

'Crude futures were a little firmer today, supported by further attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria,' Sucden analyst Michael Davies said in London.

Reports of an attack early on Monday by unidentified gunmen on France's Total oil facility in Nigeria, an OPEC member, added to instability.

Nigerian oil unions threatened Sunday to launch a strike this week to protest against the planned sale of two government-owned oil refineries to private investors.

Representatives of the PENGASSAN and NUPENG oil workers unions told a joint press conference in Lagos that the strike against the proposed sale of the installations in the oil city of Port Harcourt would begin on Thursday.

The refineries, which have a combined production capacity of 210,000 barrels of crude per day, are subsidiaries of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that employs some 4,000

workers.

'What could stir things a bit are worries over the strike on 24 May that would affect the global crude market,' said Tobin Gorey, a Commonwealth Bank of Australia commodities strategist in Sydney.

Oil-rich Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer, accounting for 2.6 mln barrels per day of crude, but a quarter of that figure is currently lost to unrest in the restive oil-producing south.

Further price support this year would come from limited refining capacity in the United States, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London-based research body which published its monthly report on Monday.

'As long as ... capacity remains inadequate to meet gasoline demand and OPEC responds by restricting output to keep prices too high ... the oil market's current period of high and volatile prices will continue,' the CGES said.

The CGES also warned that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) must increase supplies to avoid oil prices spiking to record levels.


http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/...fx3744172.html


The other interesting piece of news:

"The news today that Kuwait had "unpegged" their currency from the "dollar" because of its rapid devaluation guarantees we will see more price increases in the near future."
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As long as there is political turmoil in the Mideast things are not going to get any better...as long as the dollar continues to fall in value things are not going to get any better...a poster to a message I read frequently said it best:

" Anyone looking for sanity regarding gas prices is best off exhibiting some themselves and making serious adjustments to their lifestyle. It is probably best to do this before the hurricane season lobs a kill shot right into the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, things aren't going to get much better, and they may get significantly worse in the months (and certainly in the years) to come."