Oil markets are a complex global system of producing, distributing, trading, and pricing petroleum products used to make diesel, jet fuel, solvents, and more.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
From drilling to driving, crude oil is processed in refineries and transformed into everyday products like fuel, plastics, lubricants, and cosmetics. The US currently uses about 20 million of those barrels per day.
Oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz—responsible for roughly 20% of the world's oil supply—plummeted from 20 million barrels a day to "a trickle" during the initial weeks of the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States.
This explainer shows oil’s rollercoaster: OPEC-led embargoes in the 1970s, shale surges in the 2000s, and the US flip to becoming a net oil exporter in 2020.
Technically speaking, crude oil is unrefined petroleum. This article dives into the different ways it’s categorized (by density, sulfur content, and origin), and how the combinations of these types of oil are used.
Widespread strikes in Iran’s oil sector during the 1978-79 revolution slashed production and triggered panic buying, flooding oil markets with fear.
In fact, the US has been exporting more oil and petroleum products than it imports since August 2021. Petroleum and petroleum product exports totaled about 10.7 million barrels per day, whereas imports totaled about 7.9 million barrels per day.
Oil dependence began with the rise of oil as a commodity, followed by an era of geopolitical competition for the resource after World War II. The domestic fracking boom, which started around 2006, was driven by a desire to reduce the nation's dependence on international adversaries for energy.
The US has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that it taps into, releasing barrels into the economy, during times of emergency (think: major storms and wars) to try to stabilize markets.
This guide explains how investing in oil works with in-depth explanations of each of the forces that control oil’s price. Oil is unique as a commodity in part because of OPEC’s role in regulating its price.
The video from the Economist highlights how energy supply disruptions can be weaponized—just as in 1973, today’s gas cutoffs (Russia throttling supplies to Europe after their invasion of Ukraine) reveal the ongoing importance of strategic energy resilience.
The United States is home to more than 33 million businesses, the vast majority of which are small businesses, with millions being created (and others closing shop) every year. These businesses often rely on loans, provide the goods and services that keep the economy flowing, and sometimes even grow large enough to enter public markets or provide private investment opportunities. Explore key topics central to business and finance, from the role of the Federal Reserve to how initial public offerings work, how millions of American students finance higher education, and more.