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The Effects of Petroleum Prices on the Economy

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The Effects of Petroleum
Prices on the Economy

Crude oil prices have taken a dive in the last month, causing the gasoline prices to plummet. Consumers are more than ecstatic to see the prices fall, but this current trend in prices will undeniably be short term. For most of us the prices of petroleum is only apparent at the gasoline pump, but there are multiple products affected such as diesel and heating oil. The intent of this paper is to focus more on gasoline prices, supply and demand of gasoline, and elasticity demand of gasoline, externalities, regulations, and taxes that have put into place regarding gasoline. Also, explaining the underlying origin of such a histrionic change will give a better perspective to all consumers. Let’s start by explaining what OPEC is and their involvement in the petroleum market. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is an intergovernmental organization consisting of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, and Angola ( Brief History, 2015). OPEC was established in 1960 with five original countries and has since added numerous more. The initial and current objective of the OPEC is to maintain prices that are both consistent and protected for the producers of petroleum. OPEC intends to supply the consuming nations with petroleum while gaining a just return on capital to those investing in the industry ( Brief History, 2015). How have changes in supply and demand affected oil’s equilibrium price and quantity recently? How would that affect the market for gasoline? Amplified oil supplies leads to a smaller price and a higher quantity of oil. Since oil is the primary contribution of gasoline, the effect of lower oil prices would be to lower the cost of gasoline production. As the cost of production lowers, producers supply

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