Oil and Gold

One of my readers, “dimitrianshah”  has pointed out on these pages that if we were to price oil in gold, rather than in US dollars, we would see that the price of oil has been stable, relatively speaking. Or, to look at things the other way round, the price of gold has always been relatively stable if you used oil to buy gold. It seems that you could have always bought a barrel of crude oil for between two and three grams of pure gold.

How high energy prices will change business and Google’s electricty bill

High energy prices will change the way we do business. It is inevitable. Although there has been much excitement about the oil price dropping by 21% in the past 45 days, the price is still 60% higher than it was 365 days ago and for business that means higher energy costs that directly relate to the prices that businesses charge for their goods and services. 

Business knows that particularly in recession with governments all over the world determined to avoid inflation in order to survive they have to price their goods and services at levels that enable consumers to purchase them in a recession. If they do not do this the merry go round stops and businesses fail.

What measures will business take in the face of these events which can cripple them if they do not handle them appropriately?

Oil prices keep getting higher – what will happen next?

The oil price is getting higher and higher. This time last year it was $66 a barrel. On 22^nd May it reached $135 a barrel, jumping by 2% in just 24 hours. It seems that when the United States announced that its stocks (or as they say inventory) of oil showed that they are holding 5.4 million barrels less than they used to hold, the market expected the US to buy in oil to make up the shortages and that would cause prices to rise as demand rose.

There are various differing takes on why the oil price is rising and where it will go.