Title: Why Crude Oil Prices Fall: 5 Lessons from the Past
Headings: Why the Price of Crude Oil Dropped in 2015
Why the Price of Crude Oil Dropped in 2015
The Strong US Dollar
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Global Production
The Economy
The Iran Nuclear Deal

Content: Meanwhile, supply and demand are driven by a number of factors: Changes in the US dollar
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)
Production and inventory supplies
The global economy
Deals and treaties
Notably, 2015 offers an interesting example of how the five factors can conspire to send prices lower. At that time, the price of crude oil fell to less than half in less than a year, reaching lows that people had not seen since the last global recession. Many oil executives believed it would be years before oil returned to $100 per barrel. As of mid-2019, it looked as if they were right and some of the circumstances surrounding the 2015 drop continue to plague the commodity. The Strong US Dollar
The strong U.S. dollar was the main driver for the price decline of crude oil in 2015. In fact, the dollar was at a 12-year high against the euro, leading to appreciation in the U.S. dollar index and a reduction in oil prices. That put the market under a lot of pressure because commodity prices are usually in dollars and fall when the U.S. dollar is strong. For example, the surge in the dollar in the second half of 2014 caused a sharp fall in leading commodity indexes. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Another leading factor in the sharp price drop of crude oil in 2015 is that OPEC, a cartel of oil producers, was unwilling to stabilize or otherwise "prop up" oil markets.