Oil Below $57 [Update: Below $56]

Cheaper!

According to a new Energy Information Administration report, crude stocks fell for the 6th straight week, a surprise to analysts who by and large expected a build in inventories.  But gasoline, diesel, and heating oil inventories climbed much, much faster than expected, thanks to the agreeable winter weather.

I'm flummoxed.  If the reason oil prices fell in October was that Bush and Cheney were ratcheting them down in an attempt to steal yet another election, why are they falling so precipitously now when they have nothing to gain from it?  It certainly doesn't help the share prices of their Big Oil buddies.

Curious.

At any rate, at more than 7% almost 9% below Tuesday's closing price, crude futures have just sustained their largest 2-day drop since April 2, 2003, when inventories climbed dramatically March 21, 2003.

Historical fun fact:  Also on April 2, 23 years earlier, amid a looming global oil crisis, Jimmy Carter signed into law the "Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax", the disastrous effects of which were to halve domestic production, to double our reliance on foreign sources, and to help crude oil hit its still unbested all-time inflation-adjusted high of more than $94 per barrel.

Yesterday:  Oil Below $58