Oil Futures

Gasoline prices are rising nationwide as the summer driving season nears, and oil futures appear poised for a breakout on encouraging economic news and fears about the seriousness of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Over the last week, pump prices saw their biggest jump in more than a month, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of U.S. filling stations. Nationwide, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline rose 4.9 cents to $2.898. In California it rose 3 cents to $3.118.

WASHINGTON - Facing heat for high gasoline prices, President Obama tried to shift the focus to Congress, Republicans and energy traders, calling for legislation that he said would "put more cops on the beat" to crack down on potential manipulation of the oil market. Obama called on Congress to provide more money for regulators and increase penalties for market manipulators. The president, flanked by Treasury SecretaryTimothy F. Geithnerand Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., suggested that traders and speculators are affecting the price of oil and digging into Americans' pocketbooks.

Retail gasoline prices increased sharply again over the last week, while oil futures rose to the highest close since November. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California jumped 11.9 cents to $2.756 a gallon, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations. That was the nation's biggest rise, ahead of the Midwest's 11.7-cent climb to $2.585 a gallon, helping drive the national average up 8.9 cents to $2.524 a gallon.

U.S. oil prices on Monday remained nearly $10 a barrel above last year's record average for the commodity, leading at least one analyst to suggest that $105 crude may become "the new normal" unless fears about Mideast turmoil begin to ease. Crude oil futures were up 4 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $106.91 a barrel. In 2011, oil prices on the NYMEX averaged more than $97 a barrel for the first time ever, according to Energy Department statistics. "At the end of the day, we have one heckuva Iran premium built into the current price for oil," said Phil Flynn, an oil analyst for PFGBest Research who made "the new normal" comment, referring to continuing fears over Iran's nuclear power development.

There were ample supplies of both crude oil and gasoline in the U.S., but the price of oil climbed Monday and managed to regain the $79- to $80-a-barrel level. Gasoline prices fell in California and nationally. Analysts said that oil's ability to remain high despite a variety of negative economic indicators, as well as retail gasoline's inability to escape its own demand fundamentals, were among the reasons that some U.S. refineries have been shut down or idled. On Tuesday, the nation's No. 2 oil company announced it would restructure its refinery business.

Oil futures prices continued falling in volatile trading today, dropping below $20 a barrel for the first time since 1979. At noon on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark U.S. grade, was selling at $19.85 for delivery in February, down $1.42 from Monday's close of $21.27. Overabundance of supply, weak demand and market factors have all contributed to the decline, analysts said.

Oil futures prices stabilized Wednesday, moving back above the $16-a-barrel level and giving a breather to some of the other futures markets. Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange advanced 72 cents a barrel after sinking $4.22 in the three previous trading sessions. Grain and precious-metals futures also settled higher, partly because of the increase in oil prices, analysts said. Heating oil futures advanced strongly, with the contract for delivery in March rising by 3.

Oil futures prices slumped again Wednesday, eroding the gains registered during a three-day rally last week and dipping below the $16 level. The crude oil contract for delivery in March touched $15.70 a barrel before settling at $15.73, down 82 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The market reacted to a report late Tuesday showing "a strong buildup in crude stocks," said Peter Beutel, an analyst in New York with Rudolf Wolff Energy.

Oil futures moved higher Friday, closing out a week of broad price swings and strengthening the belief that the recovery in crude prices may still be alive. Crude oil settled at $15.59, up about 75 cents since a midweek slump featuring two days of sharp declines. "It was a technical correction to the sharp sell-off," said Nauman Barakat, an analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Oil futures prices rallied Friday for the third consecutive session, propelled by an aggressive demand for heating oil. The contract for heating oil for delivery in March, on which there is no daily trading limit, advanced by 4.96 cents a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The other deliveries were up the 2-cent limit.

Some respite. After a day or so in which prices dropped by a negligible amount,  the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is again on the rise, up 0.9 cents overnight and up 3.4 cents since last week to $3.801. In California, the price rise appeared to be leveling off, but few analysts seemed willing to place a bet on that. Overnight, California's average for a gallon of regular rose 0.1 cent to $4.359. Other states were also feeling the pain, with Illinois last week joining Hawaii, California and Alaska as the only states averaging more than $4 a gallon.

Oil prices tumbled to the lowest level in more than eight months and retail gasoline prices slipped amid concerns about a double-dip recession and Standard & Poor's downgrade last week of the U.S. credit rating. The U.S. benchmark grade of crude, West Texas Intermediate, plunged $5.57 to close Monday at $81.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was its lowest close since Nov. 23. The European trading benchmark, Brent North Sea crude, dropped $5.63 to settle at $103.74 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration announced Thursday that it planned to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as part of a coordinated international effort to drive down high crude prices and revive the flagging economic recovery in the world's most industrialized countries. The decision sparked a plunge in crude oil prices in the U.S. and Europe. Oil futures were down $4.02 to $91.39 a barrel at about 10:45 a.m. PDT. The price was down as much as $5.72 a barrel in earlier trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

U.S. regulators launched one of the biggest ever crackdowns on oil price manipulation Tuesday, suing two well-known traders and two trading firms owned by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen for allegedly making $50 million by squeezing markets in 2008. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said traders James Dyer of Oklahoma's Parnon Energy and Nick Wildgoose of Europe-based Arcadia Energy amassed large physical positions at a key U.S. trading hub to create the impression of tight supplies that would boost oil prices.

Crude oil prices pulled back from highs not seen since 2008 as leaders from Saudi Arabia to the White House offered fresh assurances that the world wouldn't run short of oil despite violence in the Mideast and North Africa. Oil futures hit $103 a barrel in New York trading Thursday but ended the day at $97.28, down 82 cents. In Europe, oil also fell in electronic trading after nearing $120 a barrel. Petroleum prices had surged on fears that political unrest in Libya, Egypt and other countries could reduce global supplies ?

U.S. crude oil prices tumbled from their highs Thursday as some speculators apparently backed off from bets that Middle East unrest would worsen. The market also may have been calmed after Saudi Arabian officials reiterated their intent to replace any crude supplies lost because of production cutbacks in strife-torn Libya. Near-term oil futures in New York ended floor trading at $97.28 a barrel, down 82 cents from $98.10 on Wednesday and down from an intraday high Thursday of $103.

Financial markets may have been slow to recognize the threat from Middle East social unrest, but the message now has registered painfully loud and clear. Wall Street's fear level has zoomed, driving stocks down from multiyear highs on worries that soaring oil prices could upend the economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 178.46 points, or 1.4%, to close Tuesday at 12,212.79, amid a global sell-off in equities. Some analysts say markets are reeling less from the actual jump in oil costs so far than from the utter lack of clarity about how high prices could go. "The thing that's scaring people is the speed with which things are occurring" in the Middle East, said Peter Beutel, head of trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover in New Canaan, Conn.

U.S. stock-index futures fell as investors speculated that Egypt's crisis would slow the global recovery. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 index expiring in March tumbled 0.4% to 1,267 during trading Monday morning in Tokyo, while Dow Jones industrial average futures retreated 79 points, or 0.7%, to 11,696. Middle East shares sank Sunday, sending Abu Dhabi's index down 3.7%, its biggest drop in 14 months. "The situation in Egypt is the catalyst for a downturn," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management, which oversees about $340 billion.