Crude Oil Futures and How They're Used in the World Economy
To many, crude oil futures are a concept: market data that serves as an input to what most of us are familiar with -- gasoline. Others believe that crude oil futures are only used by speculators to bet on the price of oil.
These beliefs could not be further from the truth. Oil producers, service companies, and transportation companies use crude oil futures to function. Futures trades help oil producers lock in prices for the future. Crude oil futures were invented to provide certainty -- the assurance necessary to invest in future production.
Data source: CME Group and ICE . Data as of 9/6/2017. Chart by author.
Source: Fool.com
