Sale Activities
Traders from the oil markets
There are many companies involved in the process of obtaining crude petroleum, refining it, and selling to consumers. Some of the main drilling companies are Exxon, BP, Chevron and Halliburton. Although, some of these companies, such as Halliburton, do not refine their own crude petroleum and must sell it to a refining company. Companies such as Exxon, BP, and Chevron own their own refining locations and gas stations. These companies do, however, still sell their oil to other gas station companies.
With the sale of products such as gasoline, there are many factors that play into the price paid at the pump. One of the biggest factors being the supply. Groups such as OPEC can stock pile the crude oil supply in order to raise prices of gasoline fuel. The group can do this to increase their profit or even as a result of political actions. Another large influence in the price of gasoline is the fact that it is traded on the financial market. Investors bet on what prices of gasoline will be in the future and it can cause companies to stockpile their oil and wait until the later when prices are expected to be higher. All of these factors, as well as government control, greatly influence the sale of petroleum products.
The top producers of petroleum make quite a bit of money. The following is a graph of the top 10 oil-producing countries, with Russia, Saudi Arabia, & the US at the top, and how many barrels of oil they have generated over the years:
Top 10 Oil-Producing Companies
Critical Investigation: How and Why
The sale of petroleum is a massive market. The entire commodity chain leads to selling it. The industry is the most lucrative in the world, valued at over $1.73 trillion USD. One of the big issues today is the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) attempting to exert control over the Middle East. This is a massive social and humanitarian crisis that is linked to the sale of crude oil. The sale of crude oil is generating nearly $2.5 million USD for ISIS each day–a mind-boggling amount that they use to wage war against anyone that stands in their path. ISIS is responsible for 93,000 deaths in just 2014 in Syria & Iraq. They control over 6 oil fields and use the Erbil refinery to create their products for profit. Oil is incredibly lucrative, and ISIS quickly caught onto this to fund their operations. Ideally, this would somehow be stopped, but it has not been brought to the media forefront, nor is there a good way to stop it other than ground military intervention.
Militants outside an oil refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad.