Islamic Middle East Blog

•Jordan Bach-Lombardo, October 18, 2008

•”Oil Prices Slip Below $70 a Barrel”, 10/16/08 — Column

•The New York Times — http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/business/worldbusiness/17oil.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

•Article Summary

Time – The past few months, the time it has taken for oil prices to drop from $145 a barrel to less than half that.

Place – The world oil market

Key People/Groups – OPEC, oil consumers, the stock markets

Main Ideas

     Oil prices dropped to just under $70 dollars a barrel on Thursday, less than half the price it traded at just four months ago.  This drop was precipitated by slowing world economy and by the lower aggregate demand for oil worldwide.  In response, OPEC has called an emergency meeting for Oct. 24 during which they will try to curb the drop in price, possibly taking the drastic action of slashing petroleum production by one million barrels a day.  The drop in price also has buoyed the stock markets, causing the Dow Jones industrial average to close up 401 points.

Your Response to Article

     One big issue I see that could see coming out of this situation is a release of pressure on the general public to be more efficient in its use of oil.  In the face of the current economic crisis and the general problems the US will face with the introduction of a new president, both problems that more immediately affect the public than the potential effects of global warming, it might seem easy for our new leader to sweep the issue of energy efficiency under the table for a little while and let the car companies continue making larger cars for a while longer so they won’t have to spend the money to change their assembly lines, or not pressure the public into further insulating their home or buying that fuel efficient car in order to allow that person to have a little more money in his or her pocket.  Of course, the counter argument exists that the economic crisis will force people to make become more efficient anyway, but if these steps are allowed to be taken the world will emerge from the crisis in even worse shape than before.