An oxymoronic statement to be sure. There simply are no ethics associated with oil prices. None what so ever. The pursuit of oil is capitalism in the purest sense. It is wrought with risk, but also the potential for great reward. Reward that can not be assured by lofty ethics because of the high risk assumed in the pursuit. The oil business is built around supply and demand, and there is no safety net.

Today you will assume a risk of at least $20 to produce a barrel of oil. However, you will be rewarded with the ability to sell that barrel of oil for $100 or more. Not bad. But it wasn't always so. Not long ago oil was so cheap that many oilmen simply capped their wells rather than produce for minimal or no profit. Nobody complained then, gasoline was $0.25 per gallon. Nobody was concerned with the ethics of oilmen going broke over dry holes and operating costs beyond profit.

In terms of real value, oil prices are actually little changed. For example, in the year 2000 gold, the world's true measure of value, was $292 per ounce and oil was just $32 per barrel. That equates to just over nine barrels of oil per ounce of gold. Currently gold is $930 per ounce and oil is just over $100 per barrel. That's still a little more than nine barrels of oil per ounce of gold. But oil isn't valued in gold. It's valued in dollars. Dollars that have lost value and therefore today buy less oil. The problem is not the price of oil; the problem is the value of dollars. What about the ethics of a government that continues to cause devaluation of our dollar.

Oil in the form of gasoline is foremost in our minds since we all claim to need it to survive in our modern world. Virtually nobody alive today can remember when gasoline was not integral to their day to day lives. Oil in its other forms is a must have commodity in our modern world, thou not readily seen. Like it or not, the world needs oil. It wants oil. It will always want and need oil and because of this men will always assume the risk to find it and will expect the unrestricted rewards for delivering it. And because of this, there will continue to be no ethics associated with the price of oil.

Learn more about this author, Jeffery Howland.
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