SENSE AND NONSENSE: drop in crude oil prices

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Oil Prices: Supply and Demand? Some Questions!

On July 11, 2008, crude oil prices hit a high of over $147 a barrel. Today, crude oil prices were hovering at about $127 a barrel. If the price of crude oil is truly determined by supply and demand, we suddenly had a significant drop-off in demand. The belief in the supply and demand theory has taken a bit of a hit as crude oil prices have dropped over $20 in 11 days. We heard about the Enron loophole and crude oil speculation was driving up the prices much as 30% or more. Then the "other" experts told us that the price of oil wasn't a result of speculation but a result of supply and demand. Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke testimony before the Senate committee supported the notion that the price of crude oil was a result of supply and demand. So much for credibility.

It is likely that "some" degree of speculation pushed the price of crude oil to its record heights. Once the price began to back off, the owners of crude oil contracts (we don't dare say speculators) began to sell off their contracts in fear that the price would soon begin to decline. Once a few people sell off, then a few more people sell off, and the next thing that happens is a "correction." It remains to be seen how much more the price of crude oil declines in the coming days and weeks.

If I were an owner of crude oil contracts I would be a little nervous now. There is no doubt that supplies of crude oil worldwide have been under pressure. But for the short term, and probably for the intermediate term, crude oil prices will remain high. However, in the not-too-distant future are factors such as T. Boone Pickens multibillion-dollar investment in wind power and others looking to make money in alternative energy could have more of an impact on the long-term price of crude oil then we had been led to believe. Also, the recent trend towards the manufacture and purchase of more fuel-efficient cars can have an impact on the price of oil. If Americans persist in this trend so-called speculation in crude oil prices might become less lucrative.

A Brief Introduction

About Me

I retired from the life of an administrator and a bureaucrat to become a writer. My first novel, Unholy Embrace, Was Published in April 2010 by Night to Dawn. My Short Story, A Problem with Werewolves, Was Published in the October 2010 issue of night to Dawn magazine.

I pulled back from publishing blogs on this post because discussion on the key issues had become vitriolic and neither side was listening to the other. I tend to be liberal on most issues, but I tried to keep an open mind. Having an open mind no longer seems to be in vogue.

During the time I had been making posts to this blog, I moved from Myrtle Beach South Carolina, to Forsyth County Georgia. The birth of our granddaughter was a large incentive for moving here.