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The big drop

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 191–192 (2015)Cite this article

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The price of oil has tumbled in the past few months. But is it necessarily bad news for the renewables sector? Anna Petherick investigates.

On the face of it, Saudi Arabia has made an irrational decision to lower the price of its main export. Hence most of the speculation about the logic behind the decision cites jostling for market share with the United States. The US used to be hungry for Middle Eastern oil, but in recent years this has changed — primarily due to a boom in fracking at home. Shortly before Saudi Arabia's announcement, export figures to the US posted notable month-on-month declines, and the monthly amount of oil originating in subterranean Saudi Arabia and travelling to be burnt in the US was at its lowest levels since 1988 (except from one month during the nadir of the recession in 2009)1. Although a few analysts have conspiratorial ideas involving relations with Russia in mind, many view Saudi Arabia's aim as driving the oil price so low that its US competitors go out of business.

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Figure 1: The price of oil takes a tumble in 2014.
Figure 2: Crude oil imports to the United States by country of origin.

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  1. Anna Petherick is a freelance news writer based in Oxford, UK,

    Anna Petherick

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  1. Anna Petherick
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Correspondence to Anna Petherick.

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Petherick, A. The big drop. Nature Clim Change 5, 191–192 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2543

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