Gas prices falling!
With the gas prices falling daily, I hope the oil companies are doing OK? I can`t imagine their profits are very high right now? I hope they can make it through these rough times! :B
Forum Discussion
Locally prices stopped falling some weeks ago and some of the "price leaders" edged back up about a dime.
OPEC is meeting, literally almost right now (I think it's tomorrow) and yes some members want to slow production and increase prices (Iran, Venezuela) But others do not (Nigeria and Saudi Arabia).
What the results will be I'm not smart enough to know. But I'm guessing that production will continue at near current levels.
The producers that want to maintain current production have number of reasons: *They can make enough money at lower prices
*The prices are low enough that fracking/tar-sands/oil-shale production may not be cost effective
*They want to reign in the military spending in Russia and Iran (current prices is costing the Russian government about $100B per year)
In the long run, consumption drives prices, but in the short run speculators can drive up the prices. Recall 2008 when world wide consumption was falling, but the speculators were driving up the futures prices. Of course when those futures matured and actual oil demand could not maintain the prices, some of the "late comers" to the oil-futures took a fleecing
OPEC is meeting, literally almost right now (I think it's tomorrow) and yes some members want to slow production and increase prices (Iran, Venezuela) But others do not (Nigeria and Saudi Arabia).
What the results will be I'm not smart enough to know. But I'm guessing that production will continue at near current levels.
The producers that want to maintain current production have number of reasons: *They can make enough money at lower prices
*The prices are low enough that fracking/tar-sands/oil-shale production may not be cost effective
*They want to reign in the military spending in Russia and Iran (current prices is costing the Russian government about $100B per year)
In the long run, consumption drives prices, but in the short run speculators can drive up the prices. Recall 2008 when world wide consumption was falling, but the speculators were driving up the futures prices. Of course when those futures matured and actual oil demand could not maintain the prices, some of the "late comers" to the oil-futures took a fleecing
