著者
岩間 剛一
出版者
石油技術協会
雑誌
石油技術協会誌 (ISSN:03709868)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.74, no.2, pp.128-134, 2009 (Released:2011-02-22)

The year 2008 was the historical and memorable year from the view of crude oil prices. Skyrocketing oil prices resulted from the following reasons. The first reason is the rapid economic growth in BRICs such as China and India. The second reason is rebirth of nationalism in major oil producing countries. The third reason is financial capitalism of crude oil future market. Now, the major players in NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) are financial institutions, hedge funds and commodity index funds. The movement of crude oil prices depends on sentimental factors such as crude oil stock level and nuclear weapon development in Iran. On July 11 2008, crude oil prices reached recorded 147.27 dollars per barrel. And then, crude oil prices fell rapidly to 30 dollars per barrel after the bankrupt of the famous investment bank. I think neither 150 dollars per barrel nor 30 dollars per barrel are adequate prices which reflected the fundamental of world demand and supply of crude oil. The excessive fluctuation of crude oil prices gives the great damage to all consumers and companies. The future of world economy depends upon the success of green new deal policy of the United States.