World oil market chronology from 2003
[11] Likewise, major oil-dependent countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Russia, Venezuela and Nigeria have benefited economically from surging oil prices during the 2000s.
[15] However, oil company CEO Matthew Simmons emphasizes the peaking and decline of oil-exporting in Mexico, Indonesia and the United Kingdom is the reason for the price gouging.
Simmons cites the use of enhanced oil recovery techniques in large fields such as Mexico's Cantarell,[16] which maintained production for a few years until it eventually declined.
[23] After news of North Korea's successful nuclear test on October 9, 2006, oil prices rose past $60 a barrel, but fell back the next day.
[26] Oil fell back later in the week to $97.91 at the close of trading on Friday, January 4, in part due to a weak jobs report that showed unemployment had risen.
[27] On March 5, 2008, OPEC accused the United States of economic "mismanagement" that was pushing oil prices to record highs, rebuffing calls to boost output and laying blame at the George W. Bush administration.
According to the oil minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, the world markets were saturated[citation needed] and a Saudi promise of increased production would not lower prices.
[citation needed] On July 3, "the Brent North Sea crude contract for August delivery rose to $US145.01 a barrel" in Asian trade.
[37][38] On July 15, 2008, a bubble-bursting sell-off began after remarks by President Bush the previous day that the ban on oil drilling would be lifted.
[citation needed] The price increases in December were based on global demand and the Arctic blasts affecting North America and Europe.
On June 15 the Energy Information Association said oil consumption was down 3.5% from a year earlier, but wholesale gasoline demand was up for the first time in several weeks.
[64] During October, the price of oil rose 22%, the fastest pace since February, as worries over the U.S. economy decreased, leading to predictions of $4 by early 2012.
This came one day after Iran's oil ministry announced an end to sales to British and French companies; though this would have little actual impact on supplies, fears resulted in higher prices.
[80] On February 25, with European stock markets doing well, Benchmark crude for April rose above $94 after a significant drop the previous week due to news the Federal Reserve might end its stimulus efforts, making the dollar stronger.
[85] On November 13, Brent reached $107.12 and was $13.24 higher than West Texas Intermediate, the largest difference since April, due to trouble in Libya and sanctions against Iran.
In spite of huge global oversupply, on 27 November 2014 in Vienna, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi blocked the appeals from the poorer OPEC member states, such as Venezuela, Iran and Algeria, for production cuts.
Economic problems in Europe and Asia, high gas mileage, a strong dollar, higher U.S. production and no action by OPEC have been credited.
[99] The publication of the monthly review by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reported that oil production in the United States had peaked and would start to decline in the third quarter thereby easing the global glut of crude.
[119] U.S. crude fell to $43.16 on September 1, its lowest level in 3 weeks, after oil had gone up 11% for the month of August with the expectation that OPEC would limit production.
[120] A September 26 OPEC meeting[121] led to a decision to decrease production resulting in the biggest gains in oil prices since April.
[138] With higher U.S. demand and lower inventories, oil finally turned around and reached its highest level in two and a half months on August 9.
[146] With U.S. inventories the lowest in three years, and cold weather decreasing U.S. production, oil reached its highest price since December 2014 in mid-January.
[148] On April 11, with the United States planning a response to the Douma chemical attack in the Syrian Civil War, WTI ended the day at $66.82, with Brent at $72.04, both the highest since December 2014.
Though WTI fell due to higher U.S. crude supplies, Brent reached the highest close since October on April 24 before falling to $74.35 the next day.
[166] Later in the month, Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, said this was proof a presidential tweet could affect world markets.
[177] That same day, OPEC and others said they planned to decrease production cuts in August but FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said it might not be the time for that given the chances of more COVID-19 related lockdowns or problems with the world economy.
[178] Bad news about U.S. unemployment, a strong dollar, lower expected demand, and higher U.S. crude supplies contributed to the second down week for WTI, which fell 6.1 percent to $37.33.
The state-controlled company dropped its key Arab Light crude grade for the next month's shipments to Asia to $4.40 a barrel above the benchmark it uses, from $9.35 in May.
Fear of a recession outweighed concerns over Russia, and by the time OPEC and other nations decided on a small cut in production on September 5, Brent was $96.50 and WTI $89.79.
[211] High demand, supply problems and the Middle East conflict resulted in WTI rising 19 percent for the year as of April 11 when it finished at $85.66.
