Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulS
The price is based on supply and demand and our price is prob. the same as others (ignoring taxes and transportation costs, etc). But if you lower demand (any where in the world) the resulting supply/demand relationship will reset. So if every car in the US now gets 10 extra MPG, then the demand will not be as high. If China is using more oil/gas at the same time as our cars are getting more MPG, the demand may be going up or down (whatever factor is larger). So while I assume the link is showing increasing demand, it would have been higher if our cars were getting lower MPG and if our houses where less energy efficient. Add in less demand bc of solar, wind, nukes, etc (US and all over the world) and add in increased supply b/c of fraking and you end up at an all together different price. We are the world's largest consumer of oil and we have used less and less over the last few years. Partly as a result of incr. supply in gas but partly as a result of (mainly) more fuel efficient cars.
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Worldwide demand for oil (if the chart I posted is accurate) is higher than it's ever been, yet the price has plummeted in recent weeks. That tells me that the recent price drop probably isn't due to an absolute decrease in demand, because there is no drop in demand. Demand is up (though not up by as much as it might be, thanks to insanely expensive yet fuel efficient cars), yet prices are down.
Which is why some economists believe th edrop is due to supply. Some believe that OPEC is keeping supply insanely high, in order to drop th eprice down, to levels so that frakking becomes un-profitable.
There is no absolute drop in worldwide demand to explain th eprice drop. So it's more likely due to increased supply. Does Obama deserve credit for th esurplus in supply? I can't see how...