Oil Prices Hit 6 1/2 Year Lows

Revelation 6:5,6 NCV When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse, and its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard something that sounded like a voice coming from the middle of the four living creatures. The voice said, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, and do not damage the olive oil and wine!"

Oil prices opened today by falling 6 percent to a 6 1/2 year low as markets worried about a Chinese-led global economic slowdown.

The markets were already steadily falling due to a season of plentiful oil supply.  However, one oil market analyst said the common forces of supply and demand are not causing the problems within the oil market prices.

“Today’s falls are not about oil market fundamentals. It’s all about China,” Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. “The fear is of a hard landing and that things get out of the control of the Chinese authorities.”

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell below $39 a barrel early Monday, a level that had not been reached since 2009.  The market had closed on Friday at $40.29.  In June 2014, oil was hovering around $100 a barrel.

The prices could fall significantly further if the Iranian nuclear deal between the Obama Administration and Iran is approved. The lifting of restrictions because of the deal would have Iranian oil flooding into the world market supply.  Iranian officials said they would be aiming to raise production.

“We will be raising our oil production at any cost and we have no other alternative,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. “If Iran’s oil production hike is not done promptly, we will be losing our market share permanently.”

The company that tracks gasoline prices for AAA reports that gas prices at the pump for Americans will likely fall below $2 after averaging around $3.40 a year ago.

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