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Oil And Gas Prices Go Through The Roof With No End In Sight

June 7th, 2022 Comments off

Sheldon Filger-blogger for GlobalEconomicCrisis.com

 

 

As governments  globally boasted of their speedy transition to a “Green” economy, in the process doing everything possible to discourage future oil exploration and extraction, they suddenly were confronted by a painful realization. The economically developed nations in the world are still highly dependent on fossil fuels, and will likely be for several decades to come. That, and the Covid-induced supply chain disruptions coupled with  geopolitical shocks, in particular the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have created a perfect storm. Every element leading to elevated oil prices is in play, an economic torrent driving up consumer prices for gas to unprecedented levels.

Just over a year ago, in May 2021, U.S. crude oil was priced at under seventy dollars per barrel. Only one year later, that price exceed in $113.00, and has continued to accelerate into June.  This has had major inflationary impacts throughout the global economy. Virtually every form of major  economic activity, from manufacturing to land and air travel and maritime shipping of exports and imports, is reliant on oil. Renewable energy is but a small fraction of the energy consumption required for sustaining global economic activity. To give but one example, food prices, already experiencing high price increases due to supply disruptions, greatly exacerbated  by the war in Ukraine, will be further hammed by  energy price inflation. Agriculture and food processing , along with its transpiration to market, is a highly industrialized process  involving staggering levels of carbon energy consumption.

The oil price spikes will create a tsunami of inflationary pressures. The immediate impact most visible to consumers, however, will be at the gas pump. No other economy in the world is as depended on cheap gasoline  as is the United States. One year ago the average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. stood at just over $3.00.A year later that average is just under $5.00.In California the average cost of a gallon of gas exceeds six dollars.

In response to the exploding cost of oil, the Biden administration has attempted band aid solution, such as releasing some of its strategic petroleum reserve  into the market. This has only brought about a marginal and brief amelioration in the cost of oil. In effect, the U.S. and the other major  energy consumers have no policy prescriptions. There remains only one force that will ultimately retard price inflation in the carbon  fuel sector: demand destruction resulting from a severe global recession.

 

Global Economic Crisis Unleashed by Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic Sends Oil Prices Into Free Fall Collapse

March 28th, 2020 Comments off

The quarantines and shutdown of economic life precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the global oil industry. This is due to demand destruction occurring in the wake of panic responses to the coronavirus outbreak. Since the beginning of the year, oil prices have plunged from one half to around two thirds from their peak. On March 27, West Texas intermediate fell nearly 5 % from the previous day, to $21.51 per barrel, while Brent Crude was priced at $27.95. Lower grades of crude have plummeted to below $20.00 per barrel.

The collapse in oil prices has accelerated a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia for market share amid declining demand, further exacerbating downward price pressures.

A global economic crisis that seems increasingly likely to become another great depression spells doom for the oil industry. However, there is one wild card; a war breaking out between Iran and the United States, which economist Nouriel Roubini sees as a high-probability event. This would create a supply shock to complement the demand shock to the global economy that has already occurred, reversing the decline in oil prices and sending them to record highs, at least temporarily before plummeting again. This would unleash a wave of inflation, leading to stagflation: negative growth combined with high inflation. That in turn would further depress economic activity, and impede a recovery in the global economy even after an effective Covid-19 vaccine has become widely available.

Oil Prices Continues To Plummet

January 6th, 2015 Comments off

 

The implosion of global oil prices that dominated the last quarter of 2014 will likely set the stage for the major economic news of 2015; the economic destruction wrought by the collapse of petro-economies. With the price per barrel of oil now south of fifty dollars, the stage is set for global economic volatility.

The vast level of price destruction being witnessed globally is only good news in the very short term; lower consumer prices at the pump, and a reduction of fuel expenses for major importers and industrial users of petroleum-based fuels, such as airlines. These short-term benefits will likely be overwhelmed by the fiscal consequences enabled by the implosion of oil prices  that will be faced by economies largely dependent  on oil export income to maintain their balance sheets.

Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela and Russia are among these economies most vulnerable to the collapse in oil prices. Currently, Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela, is hopping the globe in a desperate attempt to save his regime from defaulting on its sovereign debt. Countries facing fiscal disaster owing to the collapse of their major source of export income may resort to desperate measures, which may in turn create collateral ripples that afflict unforeseen damage on the global economy.

 

 

If Hillary Clinton runs for President of the United States  in 2016, see the video about the book that warned back in 2008 what a second Clinton presidency would mean for the USA:

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW VIDEO

Hillary Clinton Nude

Hillary Clinton Nude

 

Oil Prices Continue To Contract As OPEC Maintains Production Levels

December 10th, 2014 Comments off

Since mid-June the price per barrel of petroleum has collapsed by a staggering 37 percent. This almost perfectly  mirrors–in reverse- -the steep rise in oil prices  in mid-2008, which was followed by an equally sharp contraction when the Great Recession–the onset of the global economic and financial crisis–struck with full fury.

Only a few years ago, the talk in global investment circles was about the phenomenon of Peak Oil.  However, several factors have converged to precipitate the collapse of oil prices. Not only has the continued slump in the Eurozone  softened global demand for petroleum exports; the production of shale-derived oil in the United States, enabled by cost-effective technological breakthroughs in extraction, has greatly increased the global supply of oil, while dampening demand in the U.S. for oil imports. Furthermore, China’s growing appetite for imported oil has been at least partially retarded by lower rates of economic growth. In addition, OPEC has failed to cut global production, thus maintaining high global output of oil.

Oil remains a volatile commodity. A new crisis in the Middle East, particularly with Iran, could easily spike oil prices. However, if the economic forces that have propelled the downward  pressure on petroleum prices prove stable, the result could very well be fiscal calamity for several oil-dependent economies, particularly those of Venezuela and Iran, and to a slightly lesser degree Russia. Left uncertain is the long-term impact of shale oil extraction in the United States, which requires prices above the cost of extraction, currently in the mid-forty dollars per barrel range, to remain economically viable. With the current per barrel price of oil below 70 dollars, it is not inconceivable that further declines may place the booming shale oil industry in the U.S. in a serious quandary.

The current collapse of oil prices, combined with other negative economic trends, opens up long-term implications that will further upset the already fragile state of the global economy. The short-term befits of lower prices at the gas pump will be likely offset by the worldwide ramifications of shrinking fiscal resources for major oil-exporting emerging economies, which may place financial institutions and investment firms at risk that are highly exposed to debt by sovereigns that are highly reliant on oil exports.

 

If Hillary Clinton runs for President of the United States  in 2016, see the video about the book that warned back in 2008 what a second Clinton presidency would mean for the USA:

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW VIDEO

Hillary Clinton Nude

Hillary Clinton Nude