Price of oil drops 24% in 2 months

[Arcite]

Speaking of conspiracy theories....

From ft.com:

"...in a claim that could fuel conspiracy theories about the recent oil price decline – in an interview to be broadcast on CBS on Sunday – Mr Woodward described a conversation between Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Mr Bush in which the former Saudi ambassador said he could ease oil prices ahead of the elections.

“They could go down very quickly. That’s the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day,” Mr Woodward said."

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


actually any speculators who drove up the price by buying forward are pretty screwed as well.

a good portion of the money of course ended up in the pockets of oil exporters - IE the govts of Venezuala, Iran, Russia, etc. Id be very interested in how Congress forces them to give us our money back.

Don't forget about our good old domestic oil producers.

[Kidlicious]

Regarding oil price conspiracy, there's no way that oil producers could conspire to hold up prices when they are high. I don't see how they could when they are low, but a lot of oil analysts say they can. I don't see it though. It seems to me that producers just cut back on production as producing stops becoming profitable.

[Solly]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Prices fell elsewhere in the world, too, where the Republicans aren't as actively campaigning.

True. UK spot gas and electricity fell below zero yesterday.

[Dinner]

I do remember hearing some conspiracy theorist on NPR recently claiming that for the last ten years everytime it was an election year (so basically every two years) prices declined. It's hard to explain such a coincidence away.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I do remember hearing some conspiracy theorist on NPR recently claiming that for the last ten years everytime it was an election year (so basically every two years) prices declined. It's hard to explain such a coincidence away.

Anyone have a graph?

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I do remember hearing some conspiracy theorist on NPR recently claiming that for the last ten years everytime it was an election year (so basically every two years) prices declined. It's hard to explain such a coincidence away.

Except see my above point: demand for energy is lower in fall than winter or summer, and since US elections are always in late fall...

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


Except see my above point: demand for energy is lower in fall than winter or summer, and since US elections are always in late fall...

But not every year.

I want to see a graph.

Where I am gas prices are the cheapest since October 2004. Last October was not this cheap.

[Victor Galis]

Well, there are many other factors in play which are non-seasonal. The overlap of those and seasonal factors determines the price, but in general prices should fall in Fall and Spring.

[Wezil]

I'm not saying I buy the conspiracy theory. I'm just curious.

[Victor Galis]

Well, I don't claim to either follow the oil market that closely or know enough to do so. Indeed, maybe I should.

Low oil prices are going to hurt me

[Wezil]

Good for me all around (work and personal).

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Wezil

Anyone have a graph?

Originally posted by Wezil

But not every year.

I want to see a graph.

http://www.altenergystocks.com/assets/charts/20050909.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gas_Prices_Medium_Term.png

http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.png

[Wezil]

Thanks Darius.

[DanS]

Wezil gets a gold star for demanding a chart. I wanted to collect all the conspiracy theories in one place before blowing them out of the water.

The chart shows that the price of oil is nearly identical to last year at this time. This is true, even with Katrina last year.

I think we can move on from the conspiracy theories.