Oil Crosses $100

February 23rd, 2011

CNNMoney.com

By: Ben Rooney

U.S. oil prices spiked above $100 a barrel for the first time in over two years Wednesday, as reports of Libyan oil production shutdowns swirled.

Italian oil giant Eni said Wednesday that it had partially shut down its 150,000-barrel-per-day production in the North African country.

Andrew Lebow, an oil broker at MF Global in New York, said the unrest has already cut Libya’s production by 300,000 barrels.

“But 300,000 barrels could be just the beginning,” he said. “The situation is very chaotic and it’s difficult to get good information, but the market is anticipating that more production will be lost.”

Libyan oil production grinding to a halt
Oil industry executives told the Financial Times that half of Libya’s production has been shut down. But Eni said those reports couldn’t be confirmed.

Crude futures for April delivery jumped $4.58, or 4.5%, to $100 a barrel in midday trading, a level not crossed since October 2008.

Brent crude, the European benchmark oil price, rose $5.72, or 5%, to $111.50 a barrel in extended trading.

Oil prices have surged this week as violence spread in Libya, the latest country to be swept up in a wave of anti-government protests that started earlier this year in Tunisia.

The rally continued Tuesday, as investors in the United States returned to work following the Presidents Day holiday and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi took a hard line — insisting that he is still in power and cracking down on the opposition.

Why the oil market is nervous
Libya, which exports 1.6 million barrels of crude per day, is the first oil exporting nation to be affected by the unrest in the Arab world. While it is the third-largest producer in Africa, Libya only provides 2% of the oil that the world consumes on a given day.

Prices have been driven higher by speculation that the unrest in North Africa could spread to oil rich nations in the Middle East.

“The market remains on edge that tensions will migrate across the Middle East, and toward major oil producer Saudi Arabia,” said Tom Pawlicki, an energy analyst at MF Global. “A spreading of potential revolution elsewhere in the Middle East may continue to boost oil prices in the near-term.”

The International Energy Agency, which was formed to protect against global energy supply disruptions, sought to ease those concerns Tuesday.

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Wealthy Tax Cuts to Expire

July 23, 2010

The Wall Street Journal

By: Deborah Solomon

The Obama administration will allow tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire on schedule, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday, setting up a clash with Republicans and a small but vocal group of Democrats who want to delay the looming tax increases.

Mr. Geithner said the White House would allow taxes on top earners to increase in 2011 as part of an effort to bring down the U.S. budget deficit. He said the White House plans to extend expiring tax cuts for middle- and lower-income Americans, and expects to undertake a broader revision of the tax code next year.

“We believe it is appropriate to let those tax cuts that go to the most fortunate expire,” Mr. Geithner said at a breakfast with reporters.

His comments came as a number of Democrats, among them North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, have begun agreeing with Republicans and some economists who want to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all earners, including couples earning above $250,000 and individuals earning above $200,000. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, added his voice on Thursday, saying through a spokesman that he was “concerned about the impact of allowing the tax cuts to expire during our fragile economic recovery.”

Mr. Geithner said there’s “still some uncertainty about how strong the recovery is going to be,” which may be affecting spending decisions by businesses and individuals. He discounted that as a reason to extend the tax cuts for top earners, saying most private forecasts show moderate economic growth and increasing public confidence in the recovery.

Pressure is growing on the administration from a small number of Democratic lawmakers to extend all the Bush cuts, which include taxes on investment income and capital gains.

“I think given the fragility of the recovery, the timing is wrong for any kind of tax increase of this nature,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.) said. “I know that puts me out of step with many in my own caucus, but it’s important for members to remember the top 5% [of earners] generates 30% of consumer spending.”

Mr. Connolly said there were “lots of conversations going on sotto voce” among House Democrats over whether to extend current tax levels for all earners, not just the middle class.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers Thursday the U.S. “should maintain our stimulus in the short term.” Extending the Bush tax cuts “is one way” of doing that, he said. “There are other ways as well.”

Many economists say raising rates on top earners could prompt consumers to rein in spending. A Goldman Sachs research report projects the expiration of the tax cuts could shave just under 0.5 percentage points off growth in 2011.

All the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year, meaning Congress must act if it wants to avoid raising taxes across the board. Political strategists said that could give Republicans an edge, since they could essentially hold the entire package hostage unless Democrats agree to extend the cuts for high-income earners.

“The question is, do Republicans think they can get this to the end game, where Democrats face a choice of seeing an income tax increase on everybody,” said Tom Gallagher, a Washington-based analyst with ISI Group, a Wall Street research firm. He speculated that a compromise could include a short extension for higher earners.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide said as of now, neither a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts nor a full extension could win the 60 votes needed to break an expected Senate filibuster. Liberals would try to block a full extension. Republicans would try to block an extension of just the middle-class tax cuts.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland planned to lay out Democrats’ agenda on the economy in a speech Friday. He is expected to criticize Republicans by lumping their support for tax cuts with their opposition to government regulation of Wall Street and the oil industry.

Even if Republicans and centrist Democrats succeed in winning an extension of current tax levels for the next year or two, taxes could be going up after that. A top Republican on President Obama’s blue-ribbon fiscal commission, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said tax increases are on the table in the bipartisan panel’s negotiations, along with spending cuts.

The administration estimates that allowing tax cuts to expire for upper-income earners would increase U.S. revenue by more than $800 billion over the next 10 years. It also plans to push to reinstate the estate tax to the 2009 level of 45%.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California appeared to back Mr. Geithner in ruling out a compromise. “Our position has been that we support middle-income tax cuts,” she said at a press briefing. “The tax cuts at the high end have increased the deficit enormously and…have not created jobs in the eight years of the Bush administration.”

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