By Professor Alex Russell and Professor Peter Strachan
Predicting oil price movements is as risky as exploring for oil itself. The average price for crude fell 10.3% from the start of 2014 to the date of the Scottish independence referendum on September 18.
It fluctuated over this period – but few, if any, were predicting any major move in either direction in the months to follow.
Yet during the past three months we have seen another 48.4% fall. Geopolitical factors involving OPEC, the US, Russia and Iran, as well as the economic decline of China and the Eurozone, have been touted as contributory causes.
Exploration in the North Sea has continued to plummet due to ever spiralling costs and firms taking a “wait and see” approach to new regulation and taxes, new research has found.
