Dec,22,2010 Crude oil prices closed above $90 a barrel for the first time in two years, raising the likelihood that U.S. gasoline prices will reach an average of $3 a gallon for the first Christmas ever.
California already far surpassed that point this season — the average pump price was $3.28 Wednesday, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Experts said it's heading for $4 and more in parts of the state.
A gasoline price spike now would be even worse than it was back in 2008," said Stephen Stone, a 48-year-old computer scientist from Norwalk, because "the economy was booming then and people could afford it more."
Stone has already curbed his use of fossil fuels. He uses a Zap Zebra electric car for trips around town, but it has only a 40-mile range before needing a recharge. He uses a 2006 Town and Country van for longer drives.
Gasoline prices in U.S. is likely to hit season high. Will lithium become the new oil?
Lithium is predicted to turn into the most sought – and fought over – commodity on the planet according to the world’s industry sectors. China, Chile, Australia, America and many more countries are all investing to support the demand for lithium metal, which is set to grow as car makers increasingly look to lithium as a fuel solution.
Spot price versus cost of metals
Investors can easily find the market prices for commodities such as gold and silver, but the spot price for lithium remains ambiguous, and despite the metal’s popularity, there is no international lithium spot price.
Industries Claiming a Stake in Lithium Production
The world’s biggest players are wasting no time staking their claims to control available supplies. Korea, Japan, and other Asian nations have already stockpiled 150,000 tons of lithium produced in Western Australia. China also revealed that it would increase its 2011 production of lithium by almost 500 percent over its production in 2010.
Allocation of the mineral has become increasingly important as the present U.S. administration has earmarked $25 billion and already distributed $8 billion for the production of electric cars, which require lithium batteries, to the Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., and Tesla Motors Inc.
Demand for the mineral is set to continue to rise. LG Chemical Ltd., the largest Korean chemical company, will produce 10,000 lithium-ion battery packs for the Chevy Volt within 12 months, while the French company Saft Groupe S.A., a France-based developer of batteries, joined forces with Johnson Controls Inc. of Virginia, USA, to produce more than 5,000 lithium-ion battery packs.
Who will become the "Saudi Arabia of Lithium"?
Chile
Chile has two producers of lithium products, SQM (Sociedad Quimica y Minera) and Chemetall SCL, responsible for more than 65% of the world market.
Australia
The largest rock production of lithium is in Australia, while the largest brine production is in Chile and Bolivia. Australia currently has 8 ASX listed companies with Lithium deposits and is amongst the world's top six producers according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
China
China, the world’s third largest miner of lithium, after Chile and Australia, has proven lithium reserves of 3.35 million tons, meaning it ranks third in terms of salt lake brine lithium reserves and ranks fourth in terms of lithium ore resources.
Its production is quickly consumed within the domestic marketplace by demand for electric bikes and other consumer electronic devices. China’s principal lithium-producing province, Qinghai, plans to boost output of the metal from approximately 6,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate by a factor of five over the next five years.
Link:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-gas-prices-20101223,0,5310668.story
http://www.cars21.com/content/articles/46720101223.php?AlertDate=2010-12-22#comments
I do get your point on the gas prices rising situation.
回复删除Gasoline demand in the US usually falls during recession periods since drivers focus on cutbacks, after recovering they come in full force to the roads. But this occasion even the CEO of Exxon Mobil mentions that this time even when the economy fully recovers, will not reach the 2006 level of demand again.(Americans are burning an average of 8.2 million barrels — 344 million gallons — of gasoline per day in 2010. That’s 8 percent less than at the 2006 peak, according to government data).
Policy changes and R&D for Green and more efficient vehicles are factors playing a strategic effect, the federal government is providing billions of dollars in subsidies to increase production.
The electric, hybrid and flex fuel vehicles will actually help reduce demand for fissile energy resources with energy saving technologies and increasing fuel efficiency, interestingly lithium is showing to be a very common component in this new wave of new technologies to tackle our environment emissions.
But the price ambiguity seen within dfferent markets is basically a temporary perception. Soon it will be pegged to the extraction costs of the mineral, but of course right now is time for some arbitrage and price fluctuation to generate sense of high volume of profitability, just like the cycle of any other commodity or resource.