WORLD CRUDE OIL PRICES

World Crude Oil Prices (weekly data, not seasonally adjusted)

The world price of crude oil is the most important factor influencing domestic motor fuel prices, since oil imports make up more than half of the U.S. oil supply. Motor fuel prices, in turn, directly affect the cost of transportation. Increases in transportation costs caused by higher world crude oil prices are pure additional costs in the sense that U.S. citizens do not generally benefit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Crude Oil Watch, as of December, 2001, available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/crude_watch/current/pdf/crude.pdf