Stocks & Commodities V. 30:9 (57): Futures For You by Carley Garner

Futures For You by Carley Garner

A “CRUDE” LOOK BACK AT OIL FUTURES

I know it’s a little early, but I’d like to congratulate Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities for its 30th anniversary! Without a doubt, successfully operating a print publication for this span of time has taken hard work, dedication, and the ability to adapt to various business and economic environments.

In honor of the occasion, we thought it would be fun to take a look at how the crude oil market has evolved over the previous three decades. In this month’s column, we’ll focus on price changes and tendencies; after all, before we can attempt to predict where prices might go, we must understand where they have been. Stay tuned for the October issue in which we will discuss the logistics of trading, technology and, most important, what we know about these topics to improve your odds of trading success. When S&C was opening its doors for business in the autumn of 1982, the price of a barrel of crude oil was about $32. Although this sounds cheap to us now, this was considered an excessive price that was brought about by two significant events in Iraq in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Iranian revolution is estimated to have decreased production by two to 2.5 million barrels of oil per day between June 1979 and November 1979. Shortly after, the Iran/Iraq War led to further production cuts and helped force crude oil prices from $14 per barrel in 1978 to the low $30s in the early 1980s.