‹ Settlement
Oil and Gas. A barrel is a price and a plan.
Front
The NetworksGL-00108
Oil and Gas
A barrel is a price and a plan
The system that finds, moves, refines, and prices fossil energy.
GeekLibraryMechanism
Back
GL-00108Mechanism
Crude oil is not one product. A refinery splits it into petrol, diesel, jet fuel, bitumen, and the feedstock for plastics and fertiliser. It cannot pick those outputs freely, because the chemistry of the crude sets the ratios. That is how a diesel shortage and a petrol glut happen in the same week.
- India imports over 85% of the crude it uses. The import bill moves on two numbers at once: the barrel price and the rupee.
- Oil prices reflect expectations, not today's barrels. Traders price the supply they think will exist months from now, so news moves the price before anything physical does.
SourceDowney, Oil 101 (2009)
Yergin, The Prize (1991)
Yergin, The Prize (1991)
Keep exploring
Because you read Oil and Gas.
The NetworksGL-00114
The Last Mile
The shortest leg costs the most
The final stretch to your door, and why it dominates the bill.
GeekLibraryIdea
The NetworksGL-00106
The Grid
The machine that cannot store its product
The network that makes electricity and spends it in the same second.
GeekLibraryMechanism
The NetworksGL-00111
Settlement
The payment ends long after the receipt
The back-office step where money actually changes hands.
GeekLibraryMechanism