Oil Market Basics

		"Oil Market Basics" is a Web-based primer on oil markets from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Text, graphs, and illustrations guide readers through petroleum industry concepts including exploration and production, demand, trade, refining, stocks, pricing, and important trends and patterns in the data. By design, "Oil Market Basics" does not provide the most current energy data, but includes more than 400 links to EIA's petroleum data and many non-EIA sources of related information.
		"Oil Market Basics" is divided into 6 main sections.
		Supply provides an overview of oil exploration and production. Topics in the supply section include: • what oil is and where it comes from; Source: Energy Information Administration. • drilling for oil; • how oil is produced; • global supply by region; • U.S. oil production. Demand examines how oil is used. Petroleum products can be burned to produce energy, or used as a raw material to create petrochemicals and products such as plastics, polyurethane, solvents, and other goods. Topics include: • global oil consumption; • U.S. consumption by sector, product, and region; • how oil consumption is measured. Trade looks at petroleum trade and transportation. In terms of volume, value, and carrying capacity, there is more trade in petroleum -- crude oil and products -- than any other commodity. Topics include: • global patterns of oil trade; • trade volume and value; • tankers and pipelines; • import dependency; • U.S. trade flows. Refining focuses on processes used to manufacture finished petroleum products out of crude oil. Topics in the refining section include: • simple distillation (the core refining process); • downstream processing; • crude oil quality; • U.S. and world refining capacity; • refinery profitability; • industry structure. Stocks are a critical component in the oil supply chain. Commercial stocks are needed to keep the global supply system operating smoothly. Strategic stocks act as a buffer against severe supply interruptions. Topics in this section include: • why stocks are important; • seasonal variations in commercial stocks; • issues relating to inventory costs and profits. Prices presents the basic factors that influence day-to-day pricing of crude oil and peroleum products, and factors that can cause severe market disruptions. This section also describes several different types of transactions that are common in oil markets, and analyzes the sources of seasonal price swings.
		"Oil Market Basics" is available on the EIA Web site at eia.doe.gov. Under "By Fuel," select "Petroleum" and then this title. For general information about energy, contact the National Energy Information Center at 202-586-8800 or infoctr@eia.doe.gov If you are having technical problems with this website, contact the EIA Webmaster at wmaster@eia.doe.gov or call 202-586-8959 Questions about the report's content should be directed to: Laurie Falter, Office of Oil and Gas laurie.falter@eia.doe.gov Phone: (202) 586-1805 URL: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/plugs/plomb04.html File last modified: November 23, 2004