Price of petroleum

Recent price history


A recent low point was reached in January 1999 ($8 per barrel), after increased oil production from Iraq coincided with the Asian financial crisis, which reduced demand. The prices then rapidly increased, more than tripling by September 200

0 (35 dollars per barrel), 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.

Overnight gas price hike shown at a Chicago area BP-Amoco station (background) on August 12, 2005. The Shell station (foreground) has not yet posted the 12 cent price hike.
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. 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. In September 2007, US crude (WTI) crossed $80 a barrel. Multiple factors caused this high price. OPEC announced an output increase lesser than expected. US stocks fall lower than experts predicted and six pipelines were attacked by a leftist group in Mexico.
In October 2007, US light crude rose above $90 per barrel for the first time, due to a combination of tensions in eastern Turkey and the reducing strength of the US dollar.
On January 2, 2008, a single trade was made at $100 per barrel, but the price didn't stay above $100 until late February.

Oil prices for brent in US$ and Euro
Oil broke through the $110/barrel mark on March 12, 2008, $125/barrel on May 9, 2008, and $130/barrel on May 21, 2008.
The current record high was reached on June 6, 2008, at $138.54/barrel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Definition

Money is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts.[1] The main uses of money are as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.[2] Some authors explicitly require money to be a standard of deferred payment.[3]
Money includes both currency, particularly the many circulating currencies with legal tender status, and various forms of financial deposit accounts, such as demand deposits, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. In modern economies, currency is the smallest component of the money supply.
Money is not the same as real value, the latter being the basic element in economics. Money is central to the study of economics and forms its most cogent link to finance. The absence of money causes a market economy to be inefficient because it requires a coincidence of wants between traders, and an agreement that these needs are of equal value, before a barter exchange can occur. The use of money is thought to encourage trade and the division of labour.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia