Who sets oil prices?

Every time the oil prices rise (every day) the reason we are given is supply and demand. The Saudis say they are pumping enough to keep up with the demand. If there is a new demand every day then where are all these new demands coming from. The same people have been demanding oil for the past few years. What happens when hurricane season gets here? Are they gonna raise prices again on fears of a hurricane? Also, who sets the prices of oil per barrel here in the US?Who sets oil prices?
The oil companies by creating an artificial short supply of it. and the oil speculators that are driving the price up beyond belief- this is the result of Bush opening up oil to the futures market so his rich buddies on wall street can cash in before he leaves office- The price of oil would drop over 50% immediately if they stopped this practice. Nothing will be done by our corrupt congress, unless and honest man is elected president and pushes for the repeal of this practice of speculation in oil futures. Since no honest politician comes to mind right now, I fear we must have a taxpayer revolt to change anything.Who sets oil prices?
Actually, you do!





';Demand'; in economics is usually the act of buying (or intending to buy). Every time you turn up the theromstat too high (especially with windows open), or leave your computer on overnight, or buy gas at the pump, etc, you create a mini-demand.


The sum total of all these mini-demands, every second, every minute, every day get interpreted by the free markets as reasons to keep prices high or higher.





If you - and everyone else - stopped using energy so much, oil producers and sellers would find that they had excess oil and would reduce prices...





Basic economics
The current demand isn't for oil to make gasoline, it's for oil to speculate with..


';oil futures'; is oil that hasn't been pumped yet,...


You buy oil at 120..00 a barrel now for October, with the idea that you will sell that barrel to someone else in July ( still oct. del.) at 150.00 a barrel ... and make 30.00 a barrel


It's a never-ending upward spiral, because the oil market doesn't decrease..


If governments would say '; oil is now priced {as delivered}';


this would end the speculation market......


Roughly 60-70% of current price is due to speculation....
OPEC doesn't set the oil prices anymore





In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges, all of which have their own Web sites featuring information about oil prices. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX, http://www.nymex.com), the International Petroleum Exchange in London (IPE, http://www.ipe.uk.com) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX, http://www.simex.com.sg).
It's a commodity, just like corn, sugar, or coffee. The price is set by the markets.
fat cat oil Barron's set the price .there the ones with big yachts, fast cars, islands,and ranches
the rich man.