The most recent reason I have seen for the sudden increase to the price of oil is because Mr. Chaves decided to nationalize the oil industry and back out of OPEC, among other things. Actions such as this cause the futures market to freak out thus driving up the cost of fuels and other petrol based items.
Thanks for the response.There are some black boxes in your response that I would love to see opened (note that I'm not putting you personally on the hook for greater detail, as I'm sure these issues are pretty darned complicated). For instance, I didn't think Venezuela controlled a large enough percentage of the world's production to cause a "freak-out". Also, is the "freak out" warranted? Isn't Venezuela still selling oil on the market,only now in competition to OPEC? If so, why isn't this competition leading to a decrease in per-barrel prices?
And what exactly constitutes a "freak out"? Is that really a good enough excuse? Perhaps instead of "freaking out", there's some analysts out there that need to spend a little more time checking out the price environment, and not just clicking on the "INCREASE" button everytime
anything changes.
Look, I'm just trying to apply some common sense to a ridiculously complex system. I know I'm missing loads of facts and nuances here. I would love just to understand, and be able to mentally account for the quick movement of the price I pay at the pump.