Oil Pricing
Overnight gas price hike shown at a Chicago area BP-Amoco station (background). The Shell station (foreground) has not yet posted the 12 cent price hike.
Short-Term Oil Prices, 2005-2007 (not adjusted for inflation).
Medium-Term Oil Prices, 1994-2007 (not adjusted for inflation).
Long-Term Oil Prices, 1861-2006 (top line adjusted for inflation).
References to the oil prices are usually either references to the spot price of either WTI/Light Crude as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for delivery in Cushing, Oklahoma; or the price of Brent as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, which the International Petroleum Exchange has been incorporated into) for delivery at Sullom Voe. The price of a barrel (which is 42 gallons) of oil is highly dependent on both its grade (which is determined by factors such as its specific gravity or API and its sulphur content) and location. The vast majority of oil will not be traded on an exchange but on an over-the-counter basis, typically with reference to a marker crude oil grade that is typically quoted via pricing agencies such as Argus Media Ltd and Platts. For example in Europe a particular grade of oil, say Fulmar, might be sold at a price of "Brent plus US$0.25/barrel" or as an intra-company transaction. IPE claim that 65% of traded oil is priced off their Brent benchmarks. Other important benchmarks include Dubai, Tapis, and the OPEC basket. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) uses the Imported Refiner Acquisition Cost, the weighted average cost of all oil imported into the US as their "world oil price".
Oil demand is highly dependent on global macroeconomic conditions, so this is also an important determinant of price. Some economists claim that high oil prices have a large negative impact on the global growth. This means that the relationship between the oil price and global growth is not particularly stable although a high oil price is often thought of as being a late cycle phenomenon.
OPEC, consisting of Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela, was formed to maintain the price of oil at a level most beneficial to its membership considered as a whole, and is considered to be a cartel by most observers.Price history
Price of oil
A recent low point was reached in January 1999, after increased oil production from Iraq coincided with the Asian financial crisis, which reduced demand. The prices then rapidly increased, more than doubling by September 2000, then fell until the end of 2001 before steadily increasing, reaching US $40 to US $50 per barrel by September 2004. In October 2004, light crude futures contracts on the NYMEX for November delivery exceeded US $53 per barrel and for December delivery exceeded US $55 per barrel. Crude oil prices surged to a record high above $60 a barrel in June 2005, sustaining a rally built on strong demand for gasoline and diesel and on concerns about refiners' ability to keep up. This trend continued into early August 2005, as NYMEX crude oil futures contracts surged past the $65 mark as consumers kept up the demand for gasoline despite its high price. (see Oil price increases of 2004-2006).) Crude oil futures peaked at a close of over $77 a barrel in July 2006, and in December 2006 at about $63. That is just about where they began the year 2006.
Individuals can now trade crude oil through online trading sites margin account or their banks through structured products indexed on the Commodities markets.
See also History and Analysis of Crude Oil Prices, asymmetric price transmission, and Benchmark (crude oil)International market
Oil consumption per capita (darker colors represent more consumption).
Petroleum efficiency among countries
There are two main ways to measure the petroleum efficiency of countries: by population or by GDP (gross domestic product). This metric is important in the global debate over oil consumption/energy consumption/climate change because it takes social and economic considerations into account when scoring countries on their oil consumption/energy consumption/climate change goals. Nations such as China and India with large populations tend to promote the use of population based metrics, while nations with large economies would tend to promote the GDP based metric.
Selected Nations
Oil Efficiency (US dollar/barrel/day)
Switzerland
3.75
United Kingdom
3.34
Norway
3.31
Austria
2.96
France
2.65
Germany
2.89
Sweden
2.71
Italy
2.57
European Union
2.52
DRC
2.4
Japan
2.34
Australia
2.21
Spain
1.96
Bangladesh
1.93
Poland
1.87
United States
1.65
Belgium
1.59
World
1.47
Turkey
1.39
Canada
1.35
Mexico
1.07
Ethiopia
1.04
South Korea
1.00
Philippines
1.00
Brazil
0.99
Taiwan
0.98
China
0.34
Nigeria
0.94
Pakistan
0.93
Myanmar
0.89
India
0.86
Russia
0.84
Indonesia
0.71
Vietnam
0.61
Thailand
0.53
Saudi Arabia
0.46
Egypt
0.41
Singapore
0.40
Iran
0.35
Selected Nations
Oil Efficiency (barrel/person/day)
DRC
0.13
Ethiopia
0.37
Bangladesh
0.57
Myanmar
0.73
Pakistan
1.95
Nigeria
2.17
India
2.18
Vietnam
2.70
Philippines
3.77
Indonesia
4.63
China
4.96
Egypt
7.48
Turkey
9.85
Brazil
11.67
Poland
11.67
World
12.55
Thailand
13.86
Russia
17.66
Mexico
18.07
Iran
21.56
European Union
29.70
United Kingdom
30.18
Germany
32.31
France
32.43
Italy
32.43
Austria
34.01
Spain
35.18
Switzerland
34.64
Sweden
34.68
Taiwan
41.68
Japan
42.01
Australia
42.22
South Korea
43.84
Norway
52.06
Belgium
61.52
United States
68.81
Canada
69.85
Saudi Arabia
75.08
Singapore
178.45
(Note: The figure for Singapore is skewed because of its small population compared with its large oil refining capacity. Most of this oil is sent to other countries.)
Top petroleum-producing countries
Oil producing countries
In order of amount produced in 2004 in MMbbl/d & ML/d:
Producing Nation for 2004
(×106bbl/d)
(×103m³/d)
1
Saudi Arabia (OPEC)
10.37
1,649
2
Russia
9.27
1,474
3
United States 1
8.69
1,382
4
Iran (OPEC)
4.09
650
5
Mexico 1
3.83
609
6
China 1
3.62
576
7
Norway 1
3.18
506
8
Canada 1,3
3.14
499
9
Venezuela (OPEC) 1
2.86
455
10
United Arab Emirates (OPEC)
2.76
439
11
Kuwait (OPEC)
2.51
399
12
Nigeria (OPEC)
2.51
399
13
United Kingdom 1
2.08
331
14
Iraq (OPEC) 2
2.03
323
1 peak production of conventional oil already passed in this state
2 Though still a member, Iraq has not been included in production figures since 1998
3 Canada has the world's second largest oil reserves when tar sands are included, and is the leading source of U.S. imports, averaging 1.7 MMbbl/d in April 2006.Top petroleum-exporting countries
Oil exports by country
In order of amount exported in 2003:
- Saudi Arabia (OPEC)
- Russia
- Norway 1
- Iran (OPEC)
- United Arab Emirates (OPEC)
- Venezuela (OPEC) 1
- Kuwait (OPEC)
- Nigeria (OPEC)
- Mexico 1
- Algeria (OPEC)
- Libya (OPEC) 1
1 peak production already passed in this state
Note that the USA consumes almost all of its own production, while the UK has recently become a net-importer rather than net-exporter.
Total world production/consumption (as of 2005) is approximately 84 million barrels per day.See also: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Top petroleum-consuming countries
Consuming Nation
(bbl/day)
(m³/day)
1
United States
20,030,000
3,184,516
2
China
6,391,000
1,016,088
3
Japan
5,578,000
886,831
4
Russia
2,800,000
445,164
5
Germany
2,677,000
425,609
6
India
2,320,000
368,851
7
Canada
2,300,000
365,671
8
South Korea
2,061,000
327,673
9
France
2,060,000
327,514
10
Italy
1,874,000
297,942
11
Saudi Arabia
1,775,000
282,202
12
Mexico
1,752,000
278,546
13
United Kingdom
1,722,000
273,776
14
Brazil
1,610,000
255,970
Source: CIA World Factbook
Top petroleum-importing countries
Oil imports by country
Importing Nation
(bbl/day)
(m³/day)
1
United States
13,150,000
2,790,683
2
Japan
5,449,000
866,322
3
China
3,226,000
512,893
4
Netherlands
2,284,000
363,127
5
France
2,281,000
362,650
6
South Korea
2,263,000
359,788
7
Italy
2,158,000
343,095
8
Germany
2,135,000
339,438
9
India
2,090,000
332,283
10
Spain
1,582,000
251,518
11
United Kingdom
1,084,000
172,342
12
Belgium
1,042,000
165,665
13
Canada
963,000
153,105
14
Turkey
616,500
98,016
Source: CIA World Factbook
Top petroleum non-producing and consuming countries
Consuming Nation
(bbl/day)
(m³/day)
1
Japan
5,578,000
886,831
2
Germany
2,677,000
425,609
3
India
2,320,000
368,851
4
South Korea
2,061,000
327,673
5
France
2,060,000
327,514
6
Italy
1,874,000
297,942
7
Spain
1,537,000
244,363
8
Netherlands
946,700
150,513
Source : CIA World Factbook
Other Mineral Resources:
