What has caused the recent drop in oil price/bbl(about $20/bbl; $0.60/gal at the pump)? (Vanity)

self ^ | 05/30/2012 | izzatzo

[jjotto]

America produces about as much oil as Saudi Arabia and is by far the world’s largest consumer of it. Hardly numbers that don’t matter!

[Dusty Road]

A few of the refinerys are doing turn arounds right now, I sell to Navajo and their going through one right now. they can only take in half as much crude as they were. I’m starting to stack up on a few of my battery’s and theres been times I’ve had to shut in some of my better wells. I’ve got one centeral battery with 3 500’s on it that I can transfer to but even it gets tight. I’m not the only one having this problem.

[Theoria]

Funny, Kerry accused that of Bush a few years ago.

Kerry questions Bush over `secret deal' on oil prices with Saudis

Bandar later said:

"We hoped that the oil prices will stay low, because that's good for America's economy, but more important, it's good for our economy and the international economy," he said. "This is nothing unusual. President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000. In fact, I can go back to 1979, President Carter asked us to keep the prices down to avoid the malaise."

"So yes, it's in our interests and in America's interests to keep the prices down. But that was not a deal."

Bandar said much the same thing on April 1, after he met with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice at the White House amid concerns that OPEC production cuts might further push up the price of oil, with U.S. gas prices already at record levels.

Bandar said then that the Saudis wanted to keep the per-barrel price of oil, now topping $33, to between $22 and $28 a barrel, and he also said Bush and Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, "have been in touch on this subject for a while now."

[Sea Parrot]

If the Saudis open up their closed spigots, get back to me then about US being their equal.

[izzatzo]

I think that’s exactly what will happen. And, if he’s re-elected, he’s said it himself, he’ll have a lot more room to do anything he damn well pleases. And, folks, then it’s time for serious resistance.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks izzatzo.

Hussein has lifted the drilling moratorium; Hussein approved Keystone; Hussein has opened domestic exploration, drilling, and production; Hussein has opened the "strategic reserve"; Hussein didn't actually "invest" all those billions in Brazil's, etc. petroleum industries, he invested it our petroleum industry; Hussein Obama pees oil thereby increasing domestic supply driving the price down; isn't Obama wonderful? NOT

The price of anything is whatever the buyer is willing to pay *and* the seller is willing to take for it.

[A.Hun]

Speculators have finally realized the the world economy is still swirling around the toilet, and demand for oil products must necessarily fall. I don’t think there is any conspiracy to it....

Even as population has increased, US use of gasoline has fallen because of the terrible economy, China growth forecast keeps shrinking, and the EU is a basket case.

WTI should be 38-40 per barrel right now! The only reason its not there has been pure speculation that the world economy was improving. They found out last month that it definitely is not.

This is bad news for Obama. He can’t crow about the low price much, simply for the reasons it dropped, and it is a harbinger of things getting much worse before the election.

[FreedomPoster]

On the West Coast, you guys have a lack of refining capacity combined with a lack of E-W pipelines and special formulation requirements that are keeping prices high.

In the rest of the country, low demand because of the poor economy both here and in Europe, plus increased supply driven by the high prices of the last year, plus perhaps increased Gulf State production to hurt Iran, are driving prices downward.

[beethovenfan]

Yep, that’s about it.

[RegulatorCountry]

Regular unleaded peaked at $3.93 here and can now be found for $3.27, with $3.35 being widely available. This, after falling into the low three dollar range before Christmas of last year.

Supply and demand is not swinging that widely or rapidly. War fears are no more and no less than in years past. Wide volatility has been a feature of the market since 2008. The price crash of 2009 came on the heels of a revelation tha a single now failed hedge fund controlled over 80% of all crude oil futures with no intent or even ability to take delivery.

This is not normal. It’s speculation run amok. Such volatility is not healthy and does not contribute to the economic health of the nation.