The reason for falling oil prices explained (maye)

paulcardoza wrote:
Not correct at all. Oil is traded on the world commodity market, which determines pricing. OPEC has influence, based on how they manage output, but their power to influence prices is now significantly compromised by the large increase in drilling/fracking in the rest of the world.

NYCgrrl wrote:
The cost of crude is controlled by organisations like OPEC which the USA is not a member of. Now if one of the members decides to set it's own prices, drop production, etc. for internal reasons, it can and does.

I, on the other hand, think we are both correct and it's sort of like which came first: the chicken or the egg?;).
The commodity market gets it's cues from OPEC's meetings and reports.

Fracking has certainly helped to drop prices yet so has unexpected lower consumption in other parts of the world; somewhere out there people are crying in the futures market. And speaking of futures, let's not forget that there are internal problems in countries that produce, refine and supply oil, so while prices have dropped I wouldn't stake the farm on it continuing say 2 years from now.