A barrel of oil hits $80.00 (Updated)

Oil prices chart, from ADM Investor Services

Update on 9/18/07: $81.90

Update on 9/20/07: $83.42

Update on 9/21/07: $84.10

Update on 10/17/07: $87.40

Update on 10/18/07: $90.02

Update on 10/25/07: $91.10

Update on 10/26/07: $92.22

Update on 10/29/07: $93.80

Update on 10/31/07: $95.08

Update on 11/1/07: $96.24

Update on 1/2/08: $100.00

Update on 3/10/08: $108.00

Update on 3/14/08: $111.00

(I decided to re-date this post to today, because the updates are getting a little too fast and furious and I didn’t want new visitors to miss the progression. How far we’ve come in a little over a month… since September of ’07.)

In the light of recent record oil prices, I’d like to make a movie recommendation to you.

If you haven’t yet seen (or read) Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, I think it would provide a revealing glimpse behind the scenes in the energy industry.

Of course, I’m not saying that the entire industry is as crooked and devious as the major corporation exposed in this brilliant documentary. Not saying that at all. Isn’t it possible, though, that those innovative, insider executives at Enron didn’t invent every scam they perpetrated on us; maybe they just pushed the old, established playbook a little too hard?

In any case, it just might be interesting for you to watch (or re-watch) that movie, and then review what’s been going on with oil prices and profits over the past several years. Listen to the language and watch the tactics in the movie, and see if it doesn’t shed some new light on what we’re hearing today.