Strangely, given the profound nature of the situation, the prices of gold and oil — and how they translate into gasoline prices at the pump — give a market-based insight into how deeply disturbed the world is.
Changes in oil prices convey valuable information about the availability of a crucially important resource and can inspire energy-conserving innovation and rerouting of substitutes. On March 8, crude oil was fetching $128 a barrel on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, up from $92.80 since Feb. 23. Obviously, world petroleum markets were more disturbed by the invasion than were gold markets. On March 15, the early morning price was $92.33, slightly below the Feb.
From 1990 through 2015, this measurement cycled at around 15 barrels of oil per ounce of gold. Things changed after 2015 when a major innovation in U.S. fracking entered the picture. From there, oil got cheaper and the fluctuation is around 20 barrels for an ounce of gold. But on March 8, the ratio came back down to 16.1 — well below the 20.6 that could have been purchased on Feb. 23.
But sadly for U.S. consumers, on March 15, the average U.S. price of gasoline still stood at a lofty $4.31 a gallon. Gas prices are driven by more than just the price of crude. Other factors include refining capacity, transportation, and spring revisions in the formula required by EPA for major urban regions.