Don't believe claim that Alaska pipeline problem could raise gas prices by $10 per barrel

400,000-barrel per day reduction in output would have a major impact on oil prices, said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.

"Oil prices could increase by as much as $10 per barrel given the current environment," Emori said. "But we can't really say for sure how big an effect this is going to have until we have more exact figures about how much production is going to be reduced." . . .

Well, if people really believed that the market price would already be up by $10 per barrel. Instead,

ight, sweet crude for September delivery was up $1.23 to $75.99 a barrel in mid-afternoon Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At London's ICE Futures exchange, the Brent crude contract for September jumped $1.09 to $77.26 a barrel . . .

If traders believe that prices will go up by $10 per barrel, it will pay for them to keep on buying the oil until it has gone up to that price.