What factors affect patterns of production and consumption of oil?

Question

What factors affect patterns of production and consumption of oil?

Answer 1

You can look up key economic indicators on Forbes or Yahoo Finance. Go to CNNMoney.com, that is a good site.

The housing market, the job market, unemployement, the S+P 500, consumer confidence, CPI.  They all affect it.

Answer 2

If there is a "natural disaster", that could adversely affect oil production. Especially if it happens to any gas tap. There was a fire explosion about 6 months ago at one of the oil plants and oil production went down for a day to repair the damage. Prices went up for the day.

If there is a "natural disaster", occuring for example in China which recently had the earthquake, might actually increase demand for gas thereby raising prices for gas. China has been using their emergency services 24/7 and powering generators since the earthquake which has caused an upswing in the demand/price for gas.

America has since stopped stock piling gas in their reserves and that has lowered demand a tiny bit.