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Importance of oil
Impact of oil on the economy
Oil prices and economic effects
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Oil is one of the most beneficial and harmful elements for humanity. It serves as fuel at our homes, transportation and also various petroleum products help us in our daily living. On the other hand, is an essential element for war, it is used as fuel for ships and airplanes, and lately is identified as something that can adversely affect the economy of those countries that produce it and those who depend on it. Oil is the most important source of energy recently used and is a raw material in a lot of the chemical industry processes. It is a fossil resource that it is used as a primary source of energy since the end of the XIX century. Based on the huge importance of Oil in our life the increase or decrease of its price is a matter of very …show more content…
With lower gas prices people save more money and can spend it in other goods and services therefore raising that nations GDP. But for exporting countries the declining oil prices are harmful, because they suffer potentially budget downfalls. In major exporting countries such as Russia and Venezuela the downfall of oil prices is harmful for their economies. The oil extraction and production costs it normally maintain as a standard in the short run and if the sales are made at a cheaper price the revenues are less than expected. But in a long term it may become dangerous because oil producing countries budgets were based on expectations of $100 or more per barrel ( ). Although it might not be good news for oil producers, it’s great for consumers and the global economy. Ten dollar fall in the price of oil transfers the equivalent of 0.5 percent of world GDP from oil producers to oil consumers this is because consumers will start spending the money they are saving in gas prices in other products, production and consume has a direct relation (Phillips, 1), assuming that a $10 fall in the oil price would boost global demand for goods and services by 0.2 to 0.3 percent (Phillips,
Brent crude, the main international benchmark, was trading around $48 a barrel. The American benchmark was at around $45 a barrel (Clifford Krauss). Regular gas nationally now averages around $2.65 a gallon, compared to $3.45 a year ago. Now the law of demand states consumers will buy more of the product if the price falls; of course when gas was at it's lowest peak everyone was driving around with there a/c on. They would use gasoline more often since it was not hurting their pockets as much. Now there is some instances where other goods and services can drop from gasoline prices. This can include a lawn mowing services and automotive business.
CBC News says that with the US Dollar continuously increasing, prices for United States oil will continue to fall. A big consumer of our exported oil is the United States. Since they can produce oil at a cheaper price then we can, oil rigs in Canada begin to lose demand. To recover from oil prices lowering and the cost of producing it is rising, the Canadian oil industry decided to lay off workers. This caused unemployment to rise and National Income to decrease.
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
People need oil for daily life and work. Since World War II, oil has caused many serious problems in the United States and throughout the world. Remarkably, economic and social problems were heightened by the emerging energy crisis. By 1974, the United States gained a third of its oil by importing from the Middle East. James Oakes, et al.
Over the last five to seven years, the American people have had to pay outrageous prices at the gas pumps, wildly fluctuating from under $2.00 a gallon or less to paying $4.00 a gallon or even higher for gasoline. This issue of paying unreasonable and unpredictable prices at the pump comes from the higher prices of oil. Most will say that oil prices fluctuate so because of conflicts in the Middle East or due to shortages of oil, but the simple reason of the oil prices go up so high is because of oil speculation. Oil speculation is the single greatest problem of higher gas prices further causing more economic problems and compounding living for the middle and lower class individuals and families. The economical truth is that speculation is not a necessary thing. In fact, it inhibits the economic growth of the nation and will either stifle or completely suppress any economic growth or recovery. The solution to this problem is essential to the survival of the future of the United States’ economy and industrialization.
According to the website of Oil-Price, today’s value for a barrel can be bought at the price of $41.25 this means that oil is not demanded as much as it used to be over the years, because of the awareness of the environment and also because it is a cyclical phenomenon, there’s no actual reason, but the price will eventually rise again. Since oil is used to produce gas, it would come with surprise if the price of gas is low since the oil cost are also low. Gas prices depend on oil costs and oil costs depend on
Every year the demand for oil grows, and the amount the U.S. produces decreases while the amount of oil America imports increases. In 1994 the oil imported from OPEC members was about 1,400,000 thousand barrels in 2008 it was about 2,200,000 thousand barrels. The amount of American oil imported from non-OPEC members was roughly 1,700,000 thousand of barrels to 3,000,000 thousand barrels. According to eia.doe.gov the U.S. imported roughly between 4,000,000 and 4,500,000 thousands of barrels of oil in 2010. All this boiled down means that the U.S. imports more than half of all its oil. And at the current rate the U.S. spends roughly $13 million dollars on oil per hour. Furthering its impact on our economy the NRDC found that roughly 1/5 of our trade deficit stems from imported oil. Every day the U.S. loses $390 million to foreign oil, money that could be spent on the United States’ infrastructure, or helping to get the U.S. out of its recession. This is money that is most likely not going to be reinvested in America and will only further our deficit. Another problem outside our spending is the fact that we are importing from some highly unstable nations...
We the American people have seen rising oil and gasoline prices continuously over the last few decades. Each year is slightly higher than the last. However, we have seen a few instances where oil and gasoline prices have spiked rapidly enough to invoke the American public to stop spending or cut back. The first time in recent history was after the hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Then, in July 2008 we saw a massive jump to the current record high national average of $4.50 per gallon of gasoline. Oil at this time was over $115 per barrel of light sweet crude which is the oil that American’s use in their gasoline. Currently the US oil and gasoline prices continue to increase. In the last month gasoline alone has risen almost 17 cents a gallon that’s slightly over a 5% increase (source). Compare the increase in the last month to the average yearly increase of %14 or roughly 39 cents per gallon (source). This leads to a particular, why is the price of oil and gasoline increasing at such a rapid rate? Three possible reasons for this could be: the unrest in the Middle East, speculation and risky trading on futures, or a simple difference in supply and demand.
The modern world of today runs on fossil fuels with crude oil being the live blood of industrialized countries. Though much of the twentieth century old was plentiful easily acquired and low in cost it has only been in the past thirty years that we have seen oil prices rise substantially. This can be attributed to many different reason. These price changes have challenged the industrialized world to become more creative with their techniques of both acquiring oil and using it.
Currently, the most important factor in the rise of gas prices is the increasing cost of crude oil. Unfortunately, the United States has three percent of the world’s oil reserves. (Horsley) In 2009, the United States was third in crude oil production as well as the world’s largest petroleum consumer. (e. I. Administration) Such consumption required and still requires the United States to import petroleum/crude oil from other countries.
In 1970 oil reserves became more scarce, leading to a decrease in production, while consumption continued to grow rapidly (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In order to fill the gap between rising demand and falling supply of oil, the United States became more and more dependent on imported oil, primarily from Arab countries in the Middle East. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). As the U.S and many other countries became highly industrialized nations, they became even more dependent on oil imports. With demand being higher than the actual amount of supply, prices kept rising reaching a peak of $140 a barrel in 2008. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011).
Exposing the Saudi Arabian Royal Family, U.S. foreign policy, and the poverty currently occurring within Saudi Arabia
Oil is an essential resource in the whole world. People use oil in a variety of ways. The world has used oil for many years and it will still use it as a basic commodity. Oil use can be traced back to 1850s. However, when Edwin Drake produced commercially usable quantities of crude oil from a 69-foot well in Pennsylvania in 1859, he marked a new period that considered oil as a valuable commodity. Oil prices have been inconsistent since 1859. The discoveries of more wells considerably lowered oil prices and made some oil barons abandon the industry. However, oil prices have increased over time because of several factors.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a petrostate. It is a petrostate in the sense that the oil sector dominates the national economy and international exports. (Colgan 226) This is due to Saudi Arabia’s one crop economy, oil. (Ali 100) Oil accounts for 70-80% of the state revenue as well as roughly 95% of export revenues. Before the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the economy rested on Islamic pilgrims. Containing the Grand Mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram, Saudi Arabia gets a large influx of believers every year for the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. During this time of year, income was made by food and shelter sold to the travelers. This was enough to support the state, but not enough to make it the monetary power it is today. What allowed for Saudi Arabia’s climb in the world economic ladder was oil. Oil has been a valuable industrial resource since the beginning of World War 1. Since then the demand for oil has progressively become higher and higher amongst industrial nations, allowing for oil rich states to receive large amounts of affluence. Among these oil rich states is Saudi Arabia, the region with the highest capacity for oil production out of the entire Middle East. From their remarkably high oil production, Saudi Arabia was able to gain considerable amounts of wealth and political significance. Oil in Saudi Arabia politically affected the Saudi government in both their foreign and domestic policy by providing economic power, the ability to fund wars, the ability to use economic diplomacy.
“Pollution is the major disadvantage that is formed due to fossil fuels. When burnt they give out carbon dioxide, a green housed gas which is the main aspect of global warming.”(conserve-energy-future.com) That is an environmental hazard. Drilling can be inconsistent because some places may have a lot of oil, and some places do not. Sometimes if there is too much oil there can be a blow out. People also drill on their properties just for money, and some drill just to see if they have oil for money. Doing that is inconsistent. Gas prices rise and cause tension between nations. “Middle-east countries have huge reserves of oil and natural gas and many other countries are dependent on them for constant supply of these fuels.”(conserve-energy-future.com) Gas prices rise and some people cannot afford gas...