[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by simon varley

and that's exactly why the price is dropping now. The previous high price of crude made shale oil more economically viable so the Yanks brought more on line. The OPEC countries cracked the ***** that the Americans were importing less, so they kept their production high and hence the price drops as there is an excess of supply.

At some point soon the price of crude will drop below the point that the shale oil is viable, and as soon as they stop producing it, the OPEC guys will be laughing all the way to the bank as we hit $2 a litre.

That is part of the story. The other part is to hurt the Russian economy as crude oil is one of their main exports.