U.S. Oil Demand Fell to 18-Year Low for January, API Says

[Michigan11]

Unemployed people don't need to drive to work.

From 60 million gallons per day to 30 million per day, looks like MPG has finally broken through the barrier and increasing by the year, or half the working population has dropped out of the work force?

[oyarde]

Unemployed people don't need to drive to work.

Correct

[oyarde]

Or to a restaurant,or a movie,vacation,sunday cruise in the country with the kids...
It adds up.

The avg people go nowhere but work , and they work less days now than before, these things are not changing for the better.

[Michigan11]

Were on our way to oil freedom, looks like in the next couple years at most we will be down to a 1/3rd of what we once used with a 1/3rd more population. This all happened within a few years of the news media or government not even telling us.

[osan]

Why market manipulation? Oil just had to catch up with Gold/silver for a bit, oil has fallen. I wish people weren't so conspiratorial.

We should be angry at Fed and government, not "manipulators"

Your view of the world of human affairs is very small and linear, judging by this response.

Conspiracies are all around us; large ones, small ones - some profoundly evil and others relatively innocuous.

Unless supply has dried up, a decrease in demand should be followed by decreased prices. Econ 001. That has not happened. At the moment the price of oil is completely decoupled from those of silver and gold. The FRN, while losing purchasing power, has by some mechanism been successfully propped up - given what should be happening in the wake of the printing of trillions of dollars. Because the FRN is the financial lingua franca of the petroleum world, the price of its products should still behave more or less as one would expect, again barring a significant shortage of supply that outstrips the decrease in demand. That has not been reported and therefore one need almost necessarily infer something funny going on.

All else equal, were the oil companies in the game solely to provide product at the best possibly price in freely competitive markets, we should see the prices fall. This indicates to me that the oil companies are not in the game just for the presumed reasons. Something more is going on. Collusion? Conspiracy. Social engineering. Conspiracy. Politics. Conspiracy. No matter how you slice this pie, the serious consideration of possible conspiracy of one sort or another should be undertaken. If it looks like a duck...

[SkarnkaiLW]

Not necessarily, osan. Heading to bed right now, but I am fairly sure that worldwide demand has picked back up since the slump of 07-08. Oil is a global commodity, and its price is based on the margins like everything else. Although the supply may be going up the cost of extraction is likewise going up for these more marginal barrels. Though local demand for oil may be dropping, it is increasing elsewhere. Of course there is more than just the Oil factor in gasoline, given the whole winter/summer blend thing, and refineries switching and such.

[ILUVRP]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...-JmN6fDV3Lk_Yw

gasoline prices are going much higher.

[Demigod]

Your view of the world of human affairs is very small and linear, judging by this response.

Conspiracies are all around us; large ones, small ones - some profoundly evil and others relatively innocuous.

Unless supply has dried up, a decrease in demand should be followed by decreased prices. Econ 001. That has not happened. At the moment the price of oil is completely decoupled from those of silver and gold. The FRN, while losing purchasing power, has by some mechanism been successfully propped up - given what should be happening in the wake of the printing of trillions of dollars. Because the FRN is the financial lingua franca of the petroleum world, the price of its products should still behave more or less as one would expect, again barring a significant shortage of supply that outstrips the decrease in demand. That has not been reported and therefore one need almost necessarily infer something funny going on.

All else equal, were the oil companies in the game solely to provide product at the best possibly price in freely competitive markets, we should see the prices fall. This indicates to me that the oil companies are not in the game just for the presumed reasons. Something more is going on. Collusion? Conspiracy. Social engineering. Conspiracy. Politics. Conspiracy. No matter how you slice this pie, the serious consideration of possible conspiracy of one sort or another should be undertaken. If it looks like a duck...

No it is just the fact that very few people have control over most of the oil production and that the modern society can not function without oil so they can ask for any price they want.Almost all mayor oil producers either have nationalized their oil fields or have the same 2-3 corporations exploiting them.

Russia showed the power of owning natural resources a few years ago when they decided to halt distribution of natural gas to Europe over a price dispute with Ukraine in the middle of winter.There is no replacement for oil and the oil masters know it.Everything is dependent on oil.

[oyarde]

I am @ $3.70 today on gas , ten days ago $3.90 , twelve days ago $3.50.Remember winter gas is the cheap gas, summer blend coming later.

[oyarde]

Oil @ $93.36 , Brent crude $114.10 with the one year forecast on oil @ $107.