By MASOOD FARIVAR
August 29, 2006; Page C3
Oil prices dropped nearly $2 a barrel as Hurricane Ernesto weakened to a tropical storm and was forecast to miss the energy-production areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled $1.90 lower to $70.61 a barrel on light volume after hitting an intraday low of $70.15. Ernesto, which over the weekend grew into the first hurricane of a heretofore mild tropical storm season, was downgraded late Sunday, and is now forecast to veer east before making landfall in southern Florida. Natural-gas futures also fell, with the September contract settling 68.5 cents down at a month low of $6.472 a million British thermal units.
With the storm’s threat to oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico receding, traders bailed out of long bets established last week as the storm began to gather force, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., a brokerage firm based in Chicago.
“So many times after a hurricane threat, the market falls harder than it would have if there hadn’t been a storm in the first place,” he said.
Several major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico, including Royal Dutch Shell Group PLC and ConocoPhillips, were expected to remobilize offshore workers evacuated from production platforms over the weekend.
“Last week, the market moved higher as the hurricane gained strength and started making people nervous,” said Edward Meir, an energy analyst at Man Financial in New York. “A lot of the hurricane fears have been receded and that pushed prices lower.”
Easing worries about the international standoff with Iran over its nuclear program have also added to the downward pressure on oil prices in recent days. Although Iran over the weekend opened a heavy-water reactor, there is a growing belief among traders that the standoff will drag on for months as major world powers haggle over ways to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
In other commodity markets:
ORANGE JUICE: Futures on the New York Board of Trade gained as traders bought up the market on the potential for Tropical Storm Ernesto to cause some damage to Florida’s orange groves. September frozen concentrated orange juice futures rose 1.30 cents to $1.8455 per pound.
COFFEE: Prices on the New York Board of Trade slid as rains fell Sunday in Brazil’s coffee-growing regions after a prolonged dryness. September coffee fell three cents to $1.0320 a pound.
Write to Masood Farivar at [email protected]
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
