|
|
En 1998, avec la chute abrupte des prix, le monde a connu une surabondance de pétrole brut. Les prix alors enregistrés n'avaient jamais été aussi bas depuis 1986. L'Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (OPEP), dont les membres produisent quotidiennement quelque 40 % de tout le pétrole dans le monde, a réagi à cette situation en réduisant énormément sa production au début de 1999, poussant ainsi avec fermeté les stocks vers le bas.
|
|
|
The price of crude oil is most commonly quoted in $US per barrel since the U.S. is the world's largest market for crude oil. Traditionally, the U.S. has been Canada's main export market and, usually, Canadian crude oil is priced relative to the crude oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI), at Cushing, Oklahoma. Figure 1 shows that WTI crude oil prices have been extremely volatile in recent years. In 1998, oil prices fell sharply as the world was experiencing a glut of crude oil. Prices fell to levels not seen since 1986. In response, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), comprised of nations that are responsible for about 40 percent of global daily oil production, reduced production drastically in early 1999, forcing inventories down sharply. As a result, prices were much higher by late 1999. Beginning in 2002, a huge increase in worldwide demand, particularly in China, combined with a series of geopolitical events that had an effect on global oil supplies, contributed to a rapid rise in crude oil prices.
|
