Oil plunges as much as 17% as UAE says support output hike | Hacker News Reader

Oil plunges as much as 17% as UAE says support output hike

reuters.com

58 pointsunderscore_ku18 comments

I like that the HN title is (right now): "Oil plunges as much as 17% as UAE says support output hike"

Whereas the real title is: "Oil records worst day since pandemic as UAE calls for output hike"

It really rubs me the wrong way they use the word "worst" because it implies that it's inherently bad. And we all know that it's neither good nor bad but complicated.

It’s not even the ‘worst’ day for oil since the pandemic, oil futures went negative ($-40 a barrel) in 2020.

HN headline is much more accurate

Maybe Reuters changed it but the headline is now

> Oil prices fall most in 2 years as UAE supports output hike

but also, headlines like this get A/B tested. It's possible OP used the headline they saw.

yep, that was the original title

“Worst” probably performs better than alternatives in clickthrough rates.

OPEC should be cashing in on the market. $100 per barrel is well above Saudi Arabia's $~70 or so per barrel needed to sustain their social programs.

OPEC oil ministers know that very high oil prices (120+) is against their interest as it will effect long term demand and accelerate decarbonisation efforts.

What's the most effective price point for them then?

If they knew that, they'd price-fix the oil to be exactly that all the time.

Literally billions upon billions of free money.

I read somewhere that they agreed to cut production for two years in response to the pandemic decimating the oil industry.

Yes, and that agreement is set to 'expire' next month. "Starting in May 2020, the OPEC+ agreement called for a decrease in crude oil output by an initial 9.7 million barrels per day (b/d) that gradually tapers through April 2022, the end of the current agreement period."[0]

[0] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=45236

The money is there for the taking. They just need to supply more barrels.

It's the same as charging 1 customer $1m vs charging a million customers $1.

Neither part of that is true. If you sell French fries which cost you $1, and you sell them for $2, your profit is $1. If you can raise the price to $3 then you’ve doubled your profits. But your customers know that French fries are bad for their health, and so year after year they promise themselves that someday they will quit French fries completely. When you raise the price to $3, that is when they decide they can really quit.

In theory. But tobacco companies have higher profits than ever.

Eventually demand will subside, and prices will go down. Probably during the next recession/depression.