Not Many People Blame OPEC for This Summer’s Record Oil Prices
October 22nd, 2006 | by Brian Carr |In a recent poll conducted on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, more people blamed the Republican Party than the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for this summer’s record high oil and gasoline prices.
According to the poll, in which nearly 300 people participated, most people blamed one of three possible sources for this summer’s meteoric rise of gasoline and oil prices: the “Republican Conspiracy” was at 29% (84 votes), commodity traders was at 23% (66 votes) and America’s out of control consumption was at 22% (65 votes). India and China’s population growth accounted for 13% (39 votes) of the votes and OPEC accounted for 13% (38 votes) of the vote.
To me it seems a bit odd that considering OPEC is responsible for nearly half of the oil produced each day in addition to controlling nearly 2/3rds of the world’s inventory, yet it received the least amount of votes - while a conspiracy received the greatest number of votes.
That being said, there is certainly a case to be argued for each of the five options in the poll.
The Republican Conspiracy: Many people believe that because the Republican Party appears to be very pro “Big Oil” that it was able to some how manipulate gas and oil prices in such a way that they would fall just in time to help the Republicans for the mid-term elections.
Commodity Traders: This summer as prices were continuing to go up, it appeared that there was always more bad news to continue the upward slope of gas prices. Whether it was geopolitical tensions, the supposed worst hurricane season on record, oil production shortages, etc., none of these items came to fruition, yet collectively they were all responsible for the price of oil nearly reaching $80 per barrel.
America’s Gasoline and Oil Consumption: Considering America accounts for less than 5% of the world’s population but consumes more than a quarter of its oil, it’s fairly obvious that something’s out of whack.
China and India’s Population Growth: As these two countries continue to grow in size (combined they account for over 2/5ths of the world’s population) the global demand for oil is only going to increase as well.
OPEC: Considering OPEC is the world’s strongest oil cartel, they have a large say in the price of crude oil. While it certainly appeared that OPEC was trying to maximize oil production, it certainly didn’t seem that the cartel was too upset with the record high oil prices.
No matter which way you look at it, there certainly seems to be plenty of blame to be spread around regarding this summer’s record high oil and gasoline prices.
2 Responses to “Not Many People Blame OPEC for This Summer’s Record Oil Prices”
By Rob on Oct 22, 2006 | Reply
Ummm….no.
The U.S. is in fact about 5% of the world’s population, however, it doesn’t use half the world’s oil. The real figure is bad enough - just over 25%. The latest figures I’ve seen indicate the world consumes something like 82 Mbbl/day (megabarrels per day) of which the U.S. consumes a little over 21 Mbbl/day.
I do enjoy your blog though.
By Brian Carr on Oct 22, 2006 | Reply
Rob - thanks for catching the error, I have since gone back and fixed it. Thanks for reading!