I would say the prospect of China and India (and elsewhere) growing its economy and energy consumption at a monstrous clip of 12-20% per year had something to do with the oil spike, dontcha think?
>Whether realistic or not, analysts BELIEVED China would increase its power consumption 40% over the next three years, with an exponential INCREASE in growth after that.
China could be consuming more oil and energy than America by 2016. India also.
Is it any wonder oil producers kept upping their prices, even as China and India were buying up every freaking oil company and other company in sight.
China tried to buy Seagate Tech, and it bought IBM's computer division.
It tried to buy Unocal, ?? Exxon, and several other major American energy companies with its POCKET change.
It currently has about 40 million vehicles (compared to America's 160 million) and is (was) expected to quadruple that in several years.
China already has 200 cities bigger than Dallas, TX .. with a billion people thriving to use more oil.
Add India into the mix, and it's easy to see why oil contracts were being snapped up at higher and higher prices ... going out 10-15 years.
I've lost track of the Fortune 500 companies China either bought, or tried to buy.
When oil spiked so high, companies and countries suddenly stopped expanding due to both real and PERCEIVED increases to its short term outlays.
So now that oil prices have collapsed, why isn’t the economy booming?
I know the answer is that housing is still way down and mortgage defaults are still high.
If you think oil was the bogeyman, then why isn’t a return to cheap oil causing a renewal of world economic growth? Why isn’t US consumption soaring again now that people are paying under $3 for gas again?