What does the price cap on Russian oil mean for global oil prices?

Dec 7, 2022
The $60 price cap was designed to limit Russian oil revenues, while keeping the oil itself flowing to avoid a global price shock.
After debating how high to set a price cap on Russian oil, Western allies agreed to $60 per barrel. 
Above, an oil refinery in Moscow.
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OPEC+ agrees to boost oil production. But probably not enough to lower prices.

Aug 3, 2022
The small increase of 100,00 barrels a day may be a sign that the cartel thinks a recession is coming.
By pledging to increase output by just 100,000 barrels a day, OPEC could be implying that it expects demand for oil to fall. Above, OPEC's headquarters in Vienna.
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"Increases in the crack spread that we've seen recently has been just supply and demand,” explained MIT professor Christopher Knittel.
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Why aren't oil companies drilling on their 9,000 land leases?

Aug 1, 2022
Shortages of labor and materials are making it hard to drill and maintain wells.
Shortages of steel pipe, sand and workers are cutting into potential oil production. Above, drilling rigs sit unused in Odessa, Texas.
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Iran is following Russia's lead and selling oil at a discount

Jul 6, 2022
The discounted oil is cheap even once the risk of violating sanctions is factored in.
A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows an Iranian labourer walking the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf.
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Biden asks companies "setting those gas prices" to lower them. Can they?

Jun 23, 2022
Gas stations are usually separate from the big oil conglomerates whose names they carry. Owners are often individuals with some control over what you pay at their pumps — but not much.
Most gas stations are owned by individuals who pay to use the oil company's name.
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Energy stocks are now the belle of the Wall Street ball

May 24, 2022
Energy investors have profited as prices climbed. But companies hesitate to boost production, even though costs weigh on consumers.
The sun rises behind an oil storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma. High energy prices raise costs across the economy.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

U.S. oil refiners' margins smash records, but few plan to build more plants

May 23, 2022
"Crack spreads" are higher than ever. But investors aren't interested in dumping money into fossil fuel expansion.
A "COVID hangover" is keeping the price of gas high, one expert says.
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If oil prices are off their peaks, why are gas prices still rising?

"Gasoline prices and diesel prices are going to be very high through the summer, potentially higher than they are today," says Bloomberg's Javier Blas.
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Rising oil prices fuel a windfall for the industry

Apr 29, 2022
Outsize profits and stock buybacks are inviting more scrutiny from policymakers and environmental advocates.
Exxon Mobil reported quarterly profits of $5.5 billion and plans significant stock buybacks. Above, prices at a Southern California gas station in 2008.
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