As the dollar has fallen, the dollar price of crude oil has risen. But the euro price of crude oil remains essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period. It does not seem logical that this result is pure coincidence. It is more likely the result of purposeful design, namely, that OPEC is mindful of the dollar’s decline and increases the dollar price of its crude oil by an amount that offsets the loss in purchasing power OPEC’s members would otherwise incur. In short, OPEC is protecting its purchasing power as the dollar declines.
The same principle applies to all exports.
And that is why so many countries are adjusting their currency value.
It is not a war, it is a race to the bottom, like lemmings in order to keep their export markets.
The oil exporters can and do run counter to normal market forces because it is a seller’s market.
That is about to change, not this year but within the next several years.
Rumors are rampant here in Colombia....the dollar has tanked against the peso. The US carried the Colombians credit for several years, drug war yrs.
Now the Colombians are enjoying a booming economy but concerns are the peso getting too high and of course the US gov’s actions on various fronts.
OPEC prices in Euros, iow there’s a conscious (though unadvertised) policy of keeping crude price-stable in Euros; they aren’t doing this singlehandedly of course, but their overriding reason is to keep western Europe from turning to another supplier, e.g. from helping Russia enhance production (existing field enhancement, new drilling).