[COPO]

The CNN article does a nice job of summarizing the main issues driving oil prices right now. The US shale oil producers flooded the market and OPEC just did not CUT their production to keep prices up as it would only hurt them and just encouraged even more shale oil production. This is simple supply and demand dynamics and while demand is still pretty good, there is way too much supply.

The good news is overall it will be a net positive for the US and most of Europe, but certainly bad news for the Middle East and Russia, however, that also brings further instability to an already volatile part of the world.

Now where are all the people who always complain about big oil companies and a market conspiracy that is keeping prices high and ripping off the consumer?