Crude Oil Prices Surge on Unrest in Egypt

Crude oil futures soared to a record high since September 2009 on Friday on concerns that anti-government protests in Egypt would spread to other oil-producing countries in the Middle East.

Oil prices neared $90 a barrel at one point in the trading day, an increase of over 4%, before retreating in early afternoon trade. Oil for March delivery rose $3.70, or 4.3%, to settle at $89.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Linda Raschke, partner at FuturePath Trading, said, "The crisis in Egypt as well as the significance of a government shutting down the Internet for the entire country is causing major nervousness in market participants that have been long equities in front of the weekend."

Although Egypt is not a significant oil exporter, it is home to the Suez Canal, a major shipping channel between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that 1.8 million barrels of crude and refined petroleum passed through the Suez Canal per day in 2009.

In addition to pumping up oil prices, Egypt's unrest has driven investors to move away from equities toward the dollar, prompting stocks to fall and the greenback to gain.

Raschke noted that investor fears of regional instability could make crude oil a "major benefiting market."

BP Gulf Oil Spill : The story that everybody has been talking about -- Disturbing Test Results

Oil Spill Health Issues, KLFY, January 27, 2011: http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?... [A] new report just out has revealed some very disturbing findings. ... A blood study that was conducted on four males ages 3 to 43 and one female age 38 in December of last year. Subra says the results of those tests have revealed elevated levels of six toxic and potentially life threatening chemicals associated with crude oil, most notably Ethylbenzene which has been linked to kidney damage and cancer. ... UL Lafayette Professor Paul Klerks is an expert in the environmental toxicology and he says the high levels of ethyl benzene found in human patients is alarming but he doesn't believe its reason to panic just yet. "This is potentially cause for concern, but it's a very small sample size of five so it's really hard to tell with just a small sample size what it means as whole." ... [Their] problems included everything from trouble breathing, and bleeding from the ears, to swelling of the limbs and blood in the stool. Some of the more unusual cases include a commercial diver who is plagued by mysterious rash and the three year son of a fisherman who is suffering from kidney stones.

Energy Panel at Davos

Jan. 26 2011 | Energy is among the hot topics at the annual Davos meeting, with James Rogers, Duke Energy chairman, president & CEO, and Marco Dunand, Mercuria Energy Group president & CEO.