What are the biggest factors in oil prices?

Today before school gas where I live was $1.35, after school it was $1.59. I have to write a couple articles for journalism and thought it would be a good article. So I was wondering what the major factors in prices are.What are the biggest factors in oil prices?
Short run supply and long run demand.





Yes, production does have something to do with it. These types of quick price changes have to do with supply. Let's say there's a new discovery of oil in China, a huge discovery. Then, although demand for oil's not gonna go up or down that much (its highly inelastic at the moment and thus is only going to change in the long run when ppl start getting new cars or drastically changing life habits), supply has changed a lot.





Sometimes this supply is expected supply. Even if they're not gonna begin drilling in this supposed China oilfield for 5 more years, the price of oil will still go down. This is because of traders' speculation. Traders buy oil futures, options, and more complicated derivatives that we don't need to get into here. If traders think that the future price will change, they are gonna try to profit off of that. They can they fill the gap between the future oil price and the current oil price with arbitration (if there is money to be made beyond the interest rate, they're going to trade until the present value and future value are equal). This is just like any other investment.





Prices are also a function of the gas stations in your area. they tend to vary from city to city, not only due to transport costs (obviously, cheaper in places closer to ports or oil fields) but also due to competition among local sellers.





The OPEC cartel can influence oil supply, and thus price. Some countries actually store oil to influence price.What are the biggest factors in oil prices?
supply and demand





the ease of drilling for oil and refining it varys the price.





transportation difficulty does too.





also, the more the demand for oil is, the higher the price will be.





that's because in order to keep up with the demand, you have to drill and refine more, and faster.
You mean gas price. Right? Cost of gas is subject to price of crude oil, exchange rate (oil is sold in USD), manufacturing cost, federal taxes, local taxes, retail cost, profit for the owner of the pump.


I hope I did not forget anything.
supply and demand! global slowdown, less demand = lower price!