Sign Gulf

Why is the price of oil going up? The storm isn't a hurricane and the Gulf had 2 cat 5 storms with no damage?

The amount of oil is limited coming from that region so why the increase? To me this is a sign of plain ripping the consumers off. If the rigs out there were able to withstand the two category 5 hurricanes why all of this fuss?

Which two category 5 hurricanes are you talking about? If you're talking about Dean and Felix last year, those two did not enter the upper Gulf, but made landfall in southern Mexico and Central America, respectively. If you're talking about Rita and Katrina in 2005, there was extensive damage, with dozens of rigs either destroyed or heavily damaged.

Also, you have to understand that the price of oil is not just based on supply and demand, but on speculation. If speculators think that some event is going to have an impact on oil supplies, the price can go up or down based on that alone, even if supply and demand remain the same. We have the deregulation of the financial industry to thank for much of this problem. That is why there has been so much volatility in the price of oil over the last several years.

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