Help me out here...The chart below reflects the price of crude oil over a one year period.
In Sept 2021 crude oil was $81.00 a barrel and in Sept 2020 it was only $44.00 a barrel.
Anyone want to tell me who or what caused this major one year conflict in crude oil prices?
You did.
Last year, people were locked down and going nowhere, thus there was no Demand for crude oil.
Because there was no Demand for crude oil, oil wells had to be shut down.
You cannot shut down an oil well with a mouse-click.
An oil service crew has to drive to the well -- because we don't have Star Trek transporters yet -- and spend 6-10 days working 8-12 hours a day to cap the well, blow out the feeder lines, shut the valves, and drain the coolants and hydraulic fluids from the machinery to prep for long-term storage, because the US EPA says so.
Now Demand has increased, but in 2020 more than 61 oil service companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- because there was no Demand.
You cannot open a well with a mouse-click.
An oil service crew has to drive to the well -- because we don't have Star Trek transporters yet -- and spend 6-10 days working 8-12 hours a day to uncap the well, blow the air out of the feeder lines, open the valves, and re-fill the coolants and hydraulic fluids from the machinery to get it running again.
Did I mention more than 61 oil service companies file for bankruptcy?
Just like you have a shortage of oil, you have a shortage of oil service workers to uncap the wells.
Did I mention that 1,000s of the 950,000+ oil and natural gas wells in the US (not counting off-shore platforms) were shut down?