• Home
• About

Subscribe

A Hostage of the Times

Growing international concern about the global petroleum market is prompting Saudi Arabia to increase oil production from 300,000 to 500,000 barrels a day; the highest level since 1981.

However, it is unclear whether or not this “promise” of more oil will slow down the historic surge in crude prices, and how soon we, as consumers, shall experience any relief.

Drivers in California are paying an average of $4.50 per gallon, Missouri residents paying $3.80. It is not improbable to assume that consumers will be forced to pay almost $5.00 per gallon during the summer.

The United States of America has a dependency on oil that not only pinches the consumers’ pockets but also continues to fuel OPEC’s rising profits. Intense global demand, tight oil supplies, and the fact that a majority of the world’s oil supplies originates from politically unstable countries, pushed the price of crude oil up to $139.89 a barrel this week.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) was founded in 1960. The original founding members are: Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Over the next decade, Qatar, Indonesia, Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Nigeria joined the organization.

The current price of oil per barrel has not been this high since the Gulf War in 1991. What are some of the factors that have set such a drastic increase in motion?

Comments