Black gold

Oil price up, oil price down: Price control in the markets is not as easy at it might seem to be by applying the rule of offer and demand - which does not need further explanation here. It isn't neither in the oil business and at OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). And more: There are oil fields not under control of economic organizations widely recognized and not trading legally, but pumping up too. ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, named ISIS or Daech also) still controls oil fields, smuggling the black gold to the turkish international oil port of Ceyhan e.g., on its way it is sold and "legalized", with the help of middlemen, of course, according to several press articles. Everybody in those regions needs to earn money somehow. This oil surely is not registered in official output controls. According to businessinsider.com the italian mafia joined the business ("Italian police are investigating oil smuggling links between the mafia and ISIS", 2017). In the region of Deir Ezzor, Syria, where ISIS controls several oil fields (Financial Times, "Inside Isis Inc: The journey of a barrel of oil", 2016 ), output was 40 000 barrels a day, which is in Jordan e.g. enough to plan an oil project (jordantimes.com, "Planned oil shale project to produce up to 40,000 barrels per day", 2014). 40 000 barrels might not make an oil price, but it is never best not to control market mechanisms. Oil prices might increase in the long term, despite of US plans to pump up more.