Through this thread and others, it has been claimed that the price of oil is affected by lower demand in the US due to higher mileage cars, increased oil production in the US and by Saudi Arabia increasing their output. No one brought up one of the main drivers of the price of oil - speculation on the commodities futures market. The price of oil has fallen from the low $90's to mid $60's in two months. The global economy is slowing down slightly, not enough to account for an almost 1/3 drop in oil prices. Increased production and/or the expectation of an increase in production over the last two months is not enough to cause the price to drop as much as it has.
Increased oil production has been credited for ALL of the increase in employment in the US which of course is price driven. Conservatives keep talking about the false recovery with the fed and other finance stimulus. Now the energy sector will feel the effects of inflated oil prices due to speculation. Overall economy will benefit from lower gas prices and energy prices.