>> World oil prices jumped briefly on Wednesday after a television station
>> in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- the No. 62 U.S. media market -- posted an
>> erroneous story about a refinery fire on its Web site.
Someone explain something to me.
> Why would the price of a raw material go up due to a refinery fire?
> It'd be like the price of wheat rising on news of a fire at a Wonder
> Bread factory. I could see the price of gasoline rising, but not oil.
> John Mayson
> Austin, Texas, USA
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not really, since there is a more than
> ample supply of wheat with which to make more bread, but oil is a
> somewhat more limited substance. And, refineries do more with crude
> oil than simply make gasoline. How about all sorts of 'petroleum-based'
> by-products? PAT]
I think that is a good question. Perhaps the competition says, "hey, buy us more oil so we can make a run at the marketplace while that refinery is down." Thus bidding up the price of crude.