Explosion in Mexico oil pipeline

[Medic]

International Herald Tribune

Mexico's state-run oil company reports explosions at pipelines in southern Mexico
The Associated Press
Published: September 10, 2007

MEXICO CITY: Several explosions ripped apart pipelines for Mexico's state oil monopoly early Monday, the company said. There were no injuries.

Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, issued a statement saying it believed the explosions were sabotage. Government officials said 12,000 people had been evacuated.

A small, left-wing guerrilla group claimed to have attacked a major Pemex gas pipeline in July and at least a dozen major companies, including Honda Motor Co., Kellogg Co. and The Hershey Co., were forced to suspend or scale back operations.

That's great news. I wonder how this will effect output and gas prices?

[J]

Depends on what OPEC decides to do at tomorrow's meetings and the numbers on Wednesday's DOE inventory report. Hurricane Dean causing a total shutdown of the Cantarell and DMZ oil complexes in Mexico did practically nothing for oil & gasoline prices so I have doubts this is going to have much of an effect either. I could be wrong though, the mention of terrorists may cause mass panic and really drive up the price, but who knows?

[Eris]

Cantarell was entirely shut off recently? I have heard absolutely nothing about it, and I make a concentrated effort to keep up on events like that. Damn, but I love the media.

I would have said we'd have price fluctuations due to this new explosion, but knowing now that an event like Cantarell turning off the taps for a bit doesn't necessarily mean price jumps, I'm not so sure anymore. And just when I thought the wacky world of oil prices couldn't make any less sense...

[Admiral Valdemar]

What's that? Mexico going into self-destruction? Ah, who cares. It's not like the US gets much oil from them or they have a border shared at all.

It'll be fine, and I'm sure OPEC will open the taps tomorrow and save all our current lifestyles.

[J]

Cantarell was entirely shut off recently? I have heard absolutely nothing about it, and I make a concentrated effort to keep up on events like that. Damn, but I love the media.

The Oil Drum, everything you've ever wanted to know about oil & energy, and their effects on society. The shutdown of Cantarell in preparation for Hurricane Dean was a big discussion item over there. Fortunately, damage was minimal and production was ramped faster than expected.

[Sikon]

Speaking of gas prices, the above is an exceptionally good graph of historical data, from 1920 to 2007, for the U.S. The top plot is adjusted for inflation, while the fainter plot underneath is the unadjusted price at the time. To see the graph better, click on it to enlarge.

Equivalents at current exchange rate:

$1.00 / gallon = $0.26 / liter = €0.19 / liter

$3.00 / gallon = $0.79 / liter = €0.57 / liter

Gas prices vary a lot between countries with different tax rates, like this illustration for June 2007 with all prices converted to Euros per liter:

[Admiral Valdemar]

If you look at how the market as reacted... you can see the market is somewhat disconnected from reality right now. It may sink in tomorrow, but I doubt it.

[Eris]

I know I should have learned by now that the markets are about as intuitive as as sifting through a presidential press conference, but really. I would have hoped that some of the big things still shone through. I find it mildly frightening that as fairly dismal I consider my outlook on our economic situation, I'm proven to be overoptimistic on a fairly regular basis.

And thanks muchly for the link, J. I've mostly been depending on Reuters for my economic news, and apparently they let things slip through the cracks. A more tailored site is enormously appreciated.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Oh no you don't, J. You're not getting to post interesting links without a fight!

Try here as well, Eris. It may not be TOD, but it does allow more varied discussions on what TOD and the Energy Bulletin report.