$100 Oil

it is 99.50 YOU LIAR

NY Crude Retreats 1.2% since Reaching $100/bbl 13:25

SPX Trades Below 1300 Intraday for 1st Time Since Feb. 1 13:20 [SPY US 130.27, -1.56] Watch 50-DMA at 1286.11.

The world as we know it, is coming to an end. Grab your tin foil hats!

So how does this affect Energy M&A? Any effect?

Not really worried. The US economy is much less oil intense than it was in the '80s when oil was $95/barrel inflation adjusted; and even about 5-10% less oil intense than it was two years ago. We've also got more options with shale gas- we are swimming in it- and GTL technology.

We'll be just fine up to $150/barrel.

Nomura called for 220 oil by years end on cnbc this morning

Here's the article:

NEW YORK—The main U.S. oil contract hit $100 a barrel for the first time in more than two years, lifted by violent unrest and supply disruptions in Libya.

Despite yesterday's selloff, from a technical standpoint the stock market is still strong, for now at least. Tomi Kilgore, John Shipman and Paul Vigna report.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery briefly hit $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before falling back, ending the day at $98.10, up $2.68 or 2.8%. The last time the contract hit that level was Oct. 2, 2008, when crude prices tumbled from record highs and the U.S. economic recession began to set in.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange, which passed the $100-a-barrel threshold in January, was up $5.83, or 5.5%, at $111.61 a barrel in late trade. The differential between the two benchmarks widened again Wednesday to more than $13 a barrel.

Reports of fresh violence in Libya pushed oil prices higher Wednesday. Parts of the oil-rich North African state appeared to fall to forces opposing Col. Moammar Gadhafi, while numerous oil companies, including Germany's Wintershall AG and Italy's Eni SpA, said were suspending operations in the country.

"We don't know what's going on…so we have to hit these benchmark prices," said Rich Ilczyszyn, a broker at Lind-Waldock in New York.

The total impact on crude production in Libya, which exports an estimated 1.3 million barrels a day, was unclear. However, Barclays Capital estimated the turmoil has affected one million barrels a day of production.

Oil prices have soared over the last two days on the increasing violence in Libya and fears that the protests that have pushed out entrenched leaders of Tunisia and Egypt will spread to other oil-producing states. Unlike those countries, Libya is an important oil exporter, supplying mostly countries in Europe. It is the eighth-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries, according to the International Energy Agency, and has the largest crude reserves in Africa. [cmdoil0223] Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

German oil firm Wintershall has stopped oil production in Libya.

Crude's climb toward $100 a barrel comes at an inopportune time for the economies of the developed world, which are still working through weak recoveries. Ethan Harris, North American economist at Bank of America, said every $10 increase in oil prices cuts between a quarter- to a half-percentage point off U.S. gross-domestic-product growth.

"You start to worry about a recessionary-type shock if we head up into the record territory," Mr. Harris said. Nymex crude hit an all-time record of $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008.

However, oil prices could easily fall back if Mr. Gadhafi suddenly quits, said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures. When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned earlier this month, oil prices gave back several dollars and fell to under $87 a barrel.

"Oil gets slammed if he steps down," Mr. Waggoner said.

Later Wednesday, analysts will turn their attention to the U.S. for the first of two updates on U.S. crude and fuel supplies. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, will report supply levels at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Energy will release the results of its own survey at 11 a.m. Thursday. Both are due a day later than usual due to Monday's Presidents Day holiday in the U.S.

Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect crude supplies last week rose 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline stocks rose 400,000 barrels, analysts predicted, while supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, fell 800,000 barrels.

Gadhafi ain't stepping down. I'll call that one. IMO, chances are - he'll get whacked. In which case oil falls. Or if he's lucky, he's put in front of a war crimes/crimes against humanity tribunal.

Three ways we'll see oil take off, north of $200 a barrel 1- somehow the suez canal gets blocked off 2- Saudi Arabians start rioting in a serious way. 3- Eastern Libya and Western Libya go to civil war, or the oil fields in SE Libya are attacked by gadhafi's merc's

Sure, libya's only 2% of world supply - and daily output's already down 25%, which OPEC is absorbing in terms of supply pic - but there's a lot of fear out there. Not sure about you boys but I'm long OIL March 25 calls at a buck, in for the ride, lets goooooooo