The Heat explores the global drop in oil prices

The Heat

The price of oil has been steadily dropping for months now, and the economic impact is being felt across the globe. The cost for a barrel of oil is down from more than $100 dollars in June to less than $70 per barrel today. What is the reason the major price drop? Economic and political experts from the U.S., Russia and Iran joined The Heat to discuss why.

Economic experts say there is an over-supply on the global market, partly due to soaring levels of oil production, particularly in the U.S. In the last six years, U.S. oil production has increased by about 80 percent. The U.S. now produces nine million barrels of oil per day, and is predicted to increase by another million barrels per day in 2015.

In conflict-ridden countries such as Iraq and Libya, oil output has also increased in recent months. OPEC recently decided to pump at its current production levels, but has now lowered its projection for how much oil it will need to produce in 2015.

As some regions are experiencing an economic slowdown, the demand for oil has decreased with the price. For oil-exporting countries like Russia, Iran, Nigeria and Venezuela, however, the drop in oil revenue has a negative impact.

To further explore this change in the global economy, Leonardo Maugeri and Robert Shapiro joined The Heat. Maugeri is one of the world’s leading experts in oil, gas and energy, and is an associate at the Harvard Kennedy School for Science and International Affairs. Shapiro is the co-founder and chairman of international economic analysis firm Sonecon, and a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s School of Business.

For a Russian perspective, Dmitry Babich joined the show from Moscow. He is a political analyst for Voice of Russia radio. For an Iranian perspective, Mohammad Marandi joined from Tehran. He is a professor of North American Studies at the University of Tehran.