Saturday, February 28, 2015

Losers and winners in the Oil price drop

As you all know that the oil prices have literally crashed from a high of 120 U.S. dollar to a barrel to 60 U.S. dollars to a barrel. Most of the people who have followed this price drop attribute it to mainly the Shale gas boom in the United States which has turned that country from an importer to net exporter after several decades. At least I believe that many more people like me are happy about this price drop as we are able to pay less money for the gas (Called Petrol in some countries) in our vehicles and leaving much needed money for our other necessities. It is like literary you are have gotten a raise in your salary as the price at the pump keeps on dropping to lows not seen in many years. I hope it stays this way for the foreseeable future. So the consumers are the biggest beneficiary of this price drop and consumers I mean us ordinary folks. But apart from this the poor countries and also developed countries who were spending huge chunks of their budget on importing oil have also been huge beneficiaries of this drop. But on the other hand the oil producing countries of the Middle East and other areas whose economies mainly depend on their capacity to sell oil have been the biggest losers (along with their citizens). And also the big oil companies whose revenues and income made them at the height of their oil price boom bigger than some big industrialized countries (not to mentioned smaller countries) are feeling the pinch with their share price dropping, investors hurting and oil workers getting laid off. As in every situation there are losers and winners and I am glad that I am on the winning side being a consumers saving money at the pump.

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