The Potential Impact of Electric Vehicles on the Oil Industry Question A Crude price differentials refer to the differences which are seen in the prices of the different types of crude oil (Oosterman, 2013, para. 2). Sweet crude, such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), tends to be favored over sour crude as it has a higher yield, requires less refining to meet sulfur content standards, and has fewer environmental issues (Oosterman, 2013, para. 4). Therefore, the sweet crude tends to have a higher price compared to other types of crude. If a technological breakthrough occurs, making electric vehicles popular and cheap to purchase resulting in 50% of consumers switching to electric vehicles this will have a significant impact on the demand for the gasoline, which would see a decline of 50% (assuming that all consumers use the approximately the same level of fuel). If there is a decline in the demand for the gasoline, this will result in a demand for the oil used to make the gasoline, as shown in figure 1 below. If the supply remains the same but the demand decreases the price will decrease (Nellis and Parker, p119). Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1; Decrease in demand INCLUDEPICTURE "../../../../AppData/Local/Temp/scl3.PNG" * MERGEFORMAT (Adapted from Nellis and Parker, 2006, p27) However, this is the overall position of the oil, as there are some oils that are in a greater demand than others, it is likely that the price equilibrium will move at a different rate, as
The price of gas is never a steady price with it changing ever so often relying on other factors. Once again the nation is a reliant force that needs to learn how to be dependent from other countries. Even though there are already some electric vehicles on the road, not everyone has ridden in one. Some customer wants and needs need to be satisfied with the way electric cars are manufactured because “greener and more efficient alone will not ensure a bright future.” Companies will always have to go with what the customer like because if the customer does not like it they will not buy it, and for companies to make money or even for the electric car to start becoming popular the people need to approve it. Another factor of switching is the involvement of the government and how the portray electric vehicles. The government can take action and impose a couple of acts or laws saying that the nation needs to reduce on the amount of pollution or use of oil to “level the playing field” between the two types of cars. If the electric cars need to be impressive to the people and the government so they can become a prosperous in the economy (Sperling). This is a long process that could take years for electric cars to take over the roads and better the future of the
“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address (Institute for Energy Research 1). While this may sound promising, the practicality and merit in achieving this goal remains unclear. Auto manufacturers have been working on plans for electric cars for years, especially the three largest companies in the US: Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford. These companies have been hoping that the development of electric cars would create a sort of lifestyle change for consumers, both weaning the U.S. off of its dependence on foreign oil and breathing life into the market for auto sales at the same time. Electric cars are often sold as zero emissions, but technically that is only true once they are charged and in terms of their tailpipe emissions. After all, they have to get their energy from somewhere and, more often than not, the electricity used for charging is supplied by traditional coal fired power plants. The real question then is whether the source and amount of energy required to build and supply an electric car with power is actually cleaner and more economical than a traditional combustion automobile. As it turns out, the answer is both unexpected and fairly complicated. In order to assess whether the use of
Another cause for the decline in oil prices is caused by an increase in consumers purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles, such as hybrid or electric vehicles. In many countries today, especially in North America, there has been an increased demand for fuel efficient vehicles. This is evident in TV commercials which are advertising more and more vehicles that get 40 to 50 miles per gallon, and by the ever increasing commercials for electric vehicles. Consumers are tired of paying outrageous prices for oil and are demanding more for their money. As this demand continues to grow, the demand for oil will decrease.
In 2016, the crude oil price movement prices were unpredictable. The OPEC reference basket dropped 10 percent to $43.22 per pound. The ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI both went down by 8.4 percent with ICE Brent at $47.08 per pound and NYMEX WTI at $45.76 per pound. This showed that there were uncertainties in the petroleum market. The future prices were predicted for 2017 that it would move higher. The World’s economic growth predictions was the same at 2.9% for 2016 but increased to 3.1% for 2017. Because of the 3rd quarter of 2016 in Japan and US, the OCED growth went from 1.6% to 1.7%. The demand for oil growth in 2016 has been increasing slightly to 1.24 mb/d. In 2017, the demand will be predicted with a decrease to 1.15 mb/d. OECD will
Electric cars impose a serious risk on the oil and gas industry. The extent by which this market succeeds reciprocally defines the extent by which the oil and gas industry deteriorates. As with all forms of technology, there comes a point in time where one form of technology no longer appears to be useful in comparison with an applicable alternative. The current inhibitors of electric car adoption are the price of batteries and vehicle performance. With that being said, battery prices dropped over 30% just last year and are expected to continue dropping. Projections estimate that 35% of cars will have a plug by 20401. However, even in the next few years, companies such as Tesla, Chevrolet, and Nissan plan to offer electric cars on the market at an affordable price. The question then becomes: when the oil and gas market will be displaced by the electric market? If both markets produce a vehicle of similar price and quality, then it is reasonable to assume that a customer will choose the option that is more eco-friendly. The moral issue still remains: should the vehicles of tomorrow be fueled by gasoline or are viable options readily available and acceptable?
The supply and demand are the main driving forces within this market, it can cause a change instantaneously overnight, and these cost issues are immediate to the consumer. There could be a fire in one of the local refineries causing product shut down, this can create a panic at the pump as well. There are many reasons why this product is so volatile, it cost too much money to refine and thereby is restricted in the method of refining. Supply means that there is a large supply available for product usage, pricing goes down, too much product, if the Demand is exact opposite occurs and there is short supply and the pricing is extremely quick to be changed at the pump. The markets can be also affected; they can be changed no matter how far the original production occurs, economics are disturbed, countries global markets respond to higher cost factors to operate business development causing inflation to jump to higher records slowing down global progress.
This is because giving up gasoline altogether is much harder. Public transportation or Hybrid vehicles can be substitutes for vehicles powered by gasoline, but it would take time for people to make this transition as majority of vehicle owners are dependent on gasoline. Therefore, an increase in the price of gas would not greatly decrease purchase.
The retailer's price increase to the final consumer is between 4 and 8 cents a gallon, meaning that there is little option for the consumer to shop on price. Further, consolidation has been active in oil as in other industries. A different brand name does not signify that the gasoline is being sold by
The demand of gasoline has increased steadily over the last twenty years. In 1981 the U.S. averaged 6.5 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. By comparison, in 2004 the U.S. averaged 9.2 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. For most of this time period, gas prices stayed relatively the same. This is because the U.S. refineries increased their production to meet the demand and maintain the equilibrium price. Also during this same time period worldwide demand for crude oil increased 27%. Crude oil producers also increased their production to meet the demand keeping prices the same.
The United States consumes more than 25% of the world’s petroleum products which is a large percentage, considering only 3% of the world’s oil reserves are produced by the United States. Given the demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, understanding why Crude oil prices have skyrocketed in recent years, is not hard. According to the article “Ending America’s Oil Addiction,” the surge in crude oil prices can be reduced in large part to the simple concepts of supply and demand. (Cooper, 2008)
Who Killed the Electric Car directed by Chris Paine and A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash directed by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack are similar documentary films in several aspects including their target audiences and viewpoints. Both documentaries choose to approach their messages differently concerning their use(s) of pathos, logos, and ethos. Who Killed the Electric Car relies much more on the use of pathos to relay its argument, while A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash depends more on its use of logos and ethos. Overall, the argument presented by A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash is more effective in its presentation and persuasion through its more effective use of
One of the industries hardest hit by the fuel cost increase is the trucking industry. Truckers depend on diesel fuel as their lifeblood, without it the rigs and our economy would come to a screeching halt. There is no single affect of high fuel costs on every driver and company; rather there are many varying degrees to which they are all affected. To large companies, it is more of an inconvenience than a problem because they do such a large amount of business that the slight change in the price of diesel is almost negligible in comparison to their revenues. For smaller businesses it is a whole different ballgame. These companies are constantly fighting and working their figures to get business because it is survival of the fittest. Whoever has the lowest rate per pallet or by the truckload is usually the one who gets the contract and with this additional expense for fuel it makes it very difficult to cut a good
Energy efficient alternatives to oil, such as solar power and hybrid cars, have grown in popularity over the recent years. When gas prices were at an all time high, people began purchasing hybrid cars to cut gas costs. For example, from 2010 to 2014, sales in electric cars increased by almost 120,000 cars a year. As demand for electric cars rose, demand for oil decreased. Moreover, decreased consumption of oil in other parts of the world had led to less demand. Recent economic problems in China, one of the largest importers of crude oil, and developing parts of the worlds have led to an overall global drop in demand for oil. When a situation occurs where there is an excess amount in the quantity of a product compared to the amount of product that is needed, the price of the item drops. Similarly, as less oil is demanded throughout the world and a record number of oil is being produced, the price of oil is driven
In the first article, Electric Vehicles vs Gasoline Vehicles: A Cost and Emissions Comparison, the cost and GHG emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), electric vehicles (EVs), and standard gasoline cars were compared. All the numbers used in the research were based on averages in the Midwestern region of the United States, and was published June 2nd, 2011 at 10:53 a.m. Its goal was to measure how much better, or worse, any type of electric car is compared to your standard gas car. It also compared how much it costs you to drive per mile. The source believes hybrid vehicles actually hurt the environment more than it preserves. To calculate the cost per mile, they took the average power used for PHEVs per 100 miles, 35 Kwh, and multiplied that by the average cost per Kwh in residential regions, $0.11. Then, it takes into account the cost to get a charging station at your home. This really drives up the cost of electric vehicles because it cost $50 to $90 for a subscription every month. After that, the emissions per mile was calculated for all three cars by calculating the average. The regional average for hybrid cars ' 35 Kwh per 100 miles. It also took into account the regions power plant GHG emissions from natural gas and coal.
The US consumed 142 billion gallons of gasoline in 2007 and the tax applied on it is 18. 4 cents on one gallon. All around the US, there are around 162,000 retail gasoline outlets. With the price of crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel, it is no wonder that concern is growing about the gas prices being so high. After all, modern economies are kept moving by this lifeblood. For instance, in the United States alone personal vehicles consume more than 140 billion gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline per year.However, there are several factors that contribute to the gas prices being so high. Given below are a few of them. Increasing Demand for Oil One of the main catalysts for the incessant rise in gas prices has been one of the most