Monday, March 16, 2009

History Oil Price - WTI

Many of the bunker adjustment factors charged by steamship lines have been changed to supposedly be based on a formula adjusted to the price of bunker fuel.

I realize bunker fuel price is not the same as the oil price, just as gasoline does not always go up or down the same as oil. However, let's face it, bunker fuel does come from oil.

I just happened upon an interesting site, giving the history of the spot oil price of
West Texas Intermediate (spot price in Cushing, Oklahoma, USA).

The WTI today is trading around 47.38

I had to go back 4 years to find a price even close to that low.
Here are the prices in February from 2005.

Feb. 2005 47.97
Feb. 2006 61.63
Feb. 2007 59.26
Feb. 2008 95.35
Feb. 2009 39.16

Were carriers charging bunker adjustment surcharges in 2006? I don't think so.

If they were, let me know.

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