The sporadic nature of oil prices has over the years posed as a great deal of concern to economists, investors, financiers, consumers, analysts and other relevant stakeholders. In a perfect market, the price of a commodity is an indication of the present circumstances as well as future signals that could impact demand and supply. Ordinarily, we expect prices of commodities to move in response to changes that affect demand and supply at a relatively ‘normal’ rate. When prices change drastically within a short period and consistently over time, then such market is fraught with high volatility – a typical case of the crude oil market. A sudden increase in oil price becomes a concern for the consumer as it results into a reduction in his purchasing power; thereby struggling with allocation of income among competing demands. For an investor, high price volatility increases risk associated with the investment and also creates uncertainties. High volatility will impact the macroeconomic variables in an economy including but not limited to unemployment, inflation, consumption, investment and industrial output (Ebrahim, Inderwildi et al. 2014a). This paper seeks to evaluate oil price volatility by examining the trend of oil price from 1970 to 2013. Attempts will be made to explain the causes and root factors influencing price changes. Finally, a view on whether oil price volatility is inevitable will be established. Annual U.S. Imported Crude Oil Prices Nominal vs.
Oil is the product that each and every one of us use. It can be used for fuel, heating and even cooking. The most often known for unstable price is crude oil or gasoline. According to the The Economist, The main reason for price shifts of oil is oversupply. The oil production in Saudi rose 10.3 million barrels per day. This increase is the effect of a new method that I being applied to oil extraction. This method is called fracking, fracking is where they drill into tight-rock formations then gradually turning horizontal for several thousand feet more. This results to accommodations to multiple oil wells. This new approved method of oil harvesting has raised the productivity gains and reduced the cost of harvesting oil.
The United States consumes more than 25% of the world’s petroleum products which is a large percentage, considering only 3% of the world’s oil reserves are produced by the United States. Given the demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, understanding why Crude oil prices have skyrocketed in recent years, is not hard. According to the article “Ending America’s Oil Addiction,” the surge in crude oil prices can be reduced in large part to the simple concepts of supply and demand. (Cooper, 2008)
From 2014, the crude oil price has dropped in a sudden since the global economic downturn, oversupply of crude oil and the appearance of new energy. Global economy fatigued, and thus the demand of crude oil was not strong,
Based on the tornado chart results, it can be seen in figure 4.8 that field A post-tax NPV is affected by the oil price fluctuation. Furthermore, development expenditure (devex) and discount-rate ranked second and third as the variables which affected it. Therefore, oil price is indeed essential factor to consider for investors.
A group of researchers show that oil price fluctuation have significant impact on the economic activity. The significant are expected different from oil importing and exporting countries. (Soytas, Sari, Hammoudeh, & Hacihasanoglu, 2009). However, those countries exporting oil an increase in the oil price considered good news to them. When the price of oil increase the exporting, countries gain more money, but for importing countries when the oil price decreases, it’s going to have an impact on their real economy especial when the country relies on the oil as one of their main source of income. The monetary transmission mechanism which has the control on the interest rate which the oil price have has an impact on
A number of theories have emerged as to why the price of oil has taken a severe plummet since its peak in June 2014. The price of crude oil was around $115 a barrel at in June 2014. By 2015, it had fallen by more than 40% to below $70 a barrel. (Petroff) There has been exhausting speculation over this matter including reasons relating to geopolitics, natural disasters, economic trends and the lack of regulation by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC is the vicar of oil pricing, but has clearly contributed to the drastic price drop in the past year. The standard of OPEC is to ensure balance in the oil markets in order to secure a proficiently economic and steady supply of petroleum to consumers. (OPEC) In November 2014, OPEC failed to reach an agreement on setting a standard of how much petroleum each OPEC nation could produce, which essentially drove down the price of oil. If all of the countries in OPEC are not mandated to supply a fixed amount of oil, they will produce enough to drive down the price making it comfortable for consumers and importers to buy. This has been part of the issue since the plunge began. This de-regulation creates competition because each oil-producing country wants to set the most profitable price, which requires oil production exceeding the typical OPEC standard. The plummeting prices of oil have created positive and negative effects in different industries. The transportation and industrial industry experience lower
Besides the effect in the terms of trade, an oil price increase may have immediate effects on aggregate demand by means of higher consumer energy prices since inflationary pressures reduce consumers’ real disposable income, and, therefore, consumption. This is known in the literature as direct first-round effect. The size of the direct effect of an oil-price increase depends on the share of the cost of oil in national income, the degree of dependence on imported oil and the ability of end-users to reduce their consumption and switch away from oil .
This essay will explain why the price of crude oil has fallen so dramatically. Also, it will analyse the impact the fall in the price will have on major oil producing nations. Moreover, it will explore the effect that the fall in price will have on major oil companies and their supply companies. Finally, it will present how the fall in oil price might affect consumers in the European Union.
The effect of the law of supply and demand is clearly demonstrated in the news article titled “Gas prices go below $3” (Isidore, 2014) which is closely related to the article “Oil prices are plunging. Don 't cheer yet” (Egan, 2014). We begin by analysing the supply of gasoline, which has been increased by several supply shifters. One of the factors is the increase in capacity of existing oil refineries, which produce petroleum (EIA, 2013). Another aspect is the improvements of refining technologies that allow more gasoline to be yielded out of the same amount of crude oil (GAO, 2005). Nevertheless, one of the most crucial supply shifters is the price of input which is, in this case, the price of crude oil that has recently fallen “below
When considering how the price of crude oil and its by-products are determined, one must first look at the
In recent years, the fluctuations of oil prices have gotten the attention of the whole world. From $20s in 2003, it hit a mid-term peak of $148 in mid 2008, then fell to $30 during early 2009, and now back to $70-$80. Economic principles have demonstrated that the rise of oil price is a function of lack of supply and greater demand. We know that oil is lack of supply since there’s no major oil field found in the last 40 years and oil can’t be made within decades. However, the following conundrum has not been resolved: What are the key demand side drivers of price for oil? The price of oil depends on a variety of factors which leads to the increase of price. In summary,
Empirical studies on the relationship between crude oil prices and stock market returns date all the way back to the early 1970’s. Jones and Kaul (1996) have found a negative relationship between the oil prices and stock market returns. (Nandha and Faff, 2008; Sadorsky, 2001) Supports the fact that oil price changes also have been seen to have a positive effect on oil and gas industry returns. There have been many variables affecting the way in which this correlation is looked upon. Narayan and Sharma (2011) have studied the relationship between stock return and the oil price shocks based on firm sizes. Tsai (2015) has studied U.S how U.S stock returns respond differently to oil price shocks pre-crisis, within the financial crisis, and post financial crisis. However, based on the specific time period Kilian and Park (2009) found that the effect of the stimulus package dominated the effect of oil price shocks and provided evidence that the U.S stock market was still thriving, representing a positive relationship between crude oil prices and stock market returns. An economy with higher oil prices, increase the discounted value of cash flows of oil firms, assuming these prices are able to be passed onto customers.
There has been a sharp drop in the prices of oil. Over the past decade there has been a recurrent drop that has been recorded. Estimated the place effect has been in the range of 0.5 to 1 %( dadush 2015) the drop in the prices has have caused contending large deficits in many countries especially those which receive oil exports. The effects are both negative and positive depending on the boost of the global aggregate demand. Non OPEC countries have had the opportunity to have the eventual decision to enable the price to align according to the global economy
Over the past year oil prices have dropped significantly. This is mainly due due to an increase in technology, which has allowed for a significant increase in the production of oil. The United States whose top import is Oil has started to produce more oil domestically. Oil prices have dropped from $110 a barrel of WTI to a whopping $41. This reduction in the demand for oil would usually curb supply, but many countries are afraid to curb supply incase of loosing market power. Another reason prices are dropping is people are being more environmentally conscious and reducing there oil use. In recent years we have seen many alternative fuel sources introduced into the market and people seem to gain utility from “going green” even if it cost more. The reduction in oil prices is heavily affecting economies that are reliant on oil exports. Oil prices, which continue to drop, are negatively affecting the GDP of countries who are reliant on oil exports. This drop in prices is can be simply by supply and demand there is most evidently a higher supply of oil then demand has brought prices down. Since the oilrigs have already been drilled countries rather sell oil at a loss then not sell any oil at all, so that some of the money can be recovered. This means countries are choosing not to curb the supply but continue to produce even though the market price is so low.
In this report we have tried to highlight the fluctuations of crude oil during the period of 2001-10. The scope of this report is limited only to this period as we believe that events that took place during this decade had the potential to change the oil game so