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We didn't think it was going to be easy, but in fact, a Google search on "crude oil prices history" turned up a very promising first result. We went to the Oil Price History and Analysis page on the web site of WTRG Economics, a consultancy that "provides analysis, planning, forecast and data services for the energy and petrochemical industries." While scrolling down the page looking for leads, we noticed a graph titled Crude Oil Prices 1867-1998. We clicked on this thumbnail image to enlarge it in order to study the price fluctuations at a more readable scale. Apparently, U.S. crude prices adjusted for
inflation have averaged $18.63 since 1867, with a median price of $14.91. These figures are inflation-adjusted for 1996 dollars. It appears as though the price of crude dropped from over $20 in 1899 to a few dollars under $15 in the early years of the century. We were hoping we could find additional information to corroborate these facts, but the remaining search results didn't help. We remembered visiting a cool site some months back that offered statistics in order to compare and contrast life in 1900 with life at the end of the 20th century. We didn't remember anything more specific about the site -- and wondered if we'd be able to find it. We typed 1900 vs. 2000 into Yahoo!'s search box. Lo and behold, there it was, Time 100: 1900 vs. Now! Unfortunately, the statistic we found compared crude oil production rather than price-- we learned that in 1900 the world produced 150 million barrels of crude as compared to 24 billion barrels in 1998. We discovered a couple of other related resources we'd like to share: a fascinating account of John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company, focused on the history of the oil business from 1863-1911; the full text of Ida Tarbell's 1904 classic The History of the Standard Oil Company; and this handy metric-- a barrel of oil contains 42 gallons.
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