Oil #2: The Price Of Oil : Planet Money Second of five episodes. Oil is priced down to the penny, and the price changes every day. Who sets that price?

Oil #2: The Price Of Oil

Oil #2: The Price Of Oil

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In the first episode of our oil series, we bought oil — and we paid $40 a barrel.

A few weeks earlier, the price of that same oil would have been about 25 percent more. A few weeks from now, it might be 25 percent lower. Oil is just that volatile. But why?

Today, we try to figure out who really sets the price of oil? We go from an oil well in Kansas to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. We even manage to talk to an actual oil speculator.

Find the rest of the five part series here. And some photos here.


Music: "Garage Soul" and "Further Down The Road." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.