The 'Real' Price of Crude Oil

Abstract

This note traces the course of the price of crude oil back to 1880 and attempts to assess the changes in its purchasing value by deflating it by the export prices of manufactured goods. The purchasing power of the posted price of crude oil declined through the 1960s, even without allowance for significant discounts, and then trebled in 1974. The sixfold nominal rise of the oil price from 1972 to 1977 compares with a 150 per cent increase in the prices of other primary products, and a rise of about 75 per cent in the price level of manufactured goods in world trade.