Most of us greet the news that oil has fallen to $50 a barrel with a shrug of our shoulders. It goes up, it goes down; no one dies. We fail to engage because we don’t understand what drives it either way, or how it affects us. As with all commodities, supply and demand plays a big part in its price. It peaked in 2008, but the subsequent global downturn saw it experience one of the sharpest drops in history.
Learn more about why oil prices fluctuate in this infographic by Jones Oil.