Oil Prices Rise Above $69 A Barrel.

Source: AP-BreitBart.com

Big shocker here. The price of a gallon of gas is going up again.

I guess the "big money" oil companies feel the need to fleece people for all they can while the getting is still good.

Oil prices rose above $69 a barrel Tuesday amid concerns that Iran's nuclear standoff and violence in Nigeria could hurt supplies, as well as interest in a new fund which allows individual investors to participate in the energy markets.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 36 cents to $69.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in morning trading, after rising to a new seven-month intraday high of $69.45 earlier. The contract had risen $1.35 to settle at $68.74 on Monday.

The first exchange-traded fund in the United States to track the price of crude oil, the United States Oil Fund managed by Victoria Bay Asset Management LLC, was launched Monday on the American Stock Exchange. The buzz surrounding the ETF is pushing up futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange, said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.

"If the ETF has good demand, we'll see a lift," Silliere said.

In London, May Brent crude rose 61 cents to $69.36 a barrel, after reaching an intraday record of $69.70.

Prices were also pushed higher by expectations of a further draw on gasoline stocks ahead of the U.S. summer driving season. Such worries overrode expectations that the weekly snapshot of U.S. inventory data on Wednesday will show crude-oil stocks climbing an average of 1.2 million barrels from last week.

When are people going to get it and end the addiction with gas-guzzling vehicles? We are running out of oil, folks. The time to embrace alternative fuel sources is now. The clock is ticking, and we are quite literally running out of time.

Go get yourself a hybrid vehicle. They get good gas mileage, and a lot of states are now offering tax credits if you purchase one.

Here's a list where you can compare different hybrid vehicles (cars, trucks, and SUVs).

Tags: [oil], [oil companies], [gas-guzzling vehicles], [oil prices still rising], [reasons to get a hybrid vehicle], [time for alternative fuel sources]