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Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

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Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45

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Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
The Chartist

Tracking Oil’s Crash

By
Claire Groden
Claire Groden
and
Matthew Heimer
Matthew Heimer
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By
Claire Groden
Claire Groden
and
Matthew Heimer
Matthew Heimer
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 27, 2016, 1:30 PM ET
A gas flare burns at an oil well site near Sidney, Montana, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
A gas flare burns at an oil well site near Sidney, Montana, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergPhotogrpah by Daniel Acker — Bloomberg via Getty Images

If we could see disasters coming, they wouldn’t become disasters. Oil’s price is down 71% since June of 2014, and while some factors that triggered the tumble seemed obvious at the time, others hit our blind side. Most investors assumed that China’s slowdown would hurt oil. But most also believed that Saudi Arabia and U.S. producers would put a floor under prices by cutting production; that didn’t happen, in part because the Americans needed to keep cash flowing to service hefty debts.

BRI.02.01.16-chart_chartist
Shawn Driscoll, natural-resources portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, told Fortune in November that oil could go to $30 this year. He says the low 20s now look realistic, and adds, “I don’t think 2016 will be the ultimate low” for oil.

For more on crude oil’s price, watch this Fortune video:

A version of this article appears in the February 1, 2016 issue of Fortune with the headline “Tracking Oil’s Collapse.”

About the Authors
By Claire Groden
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Matthew Heimer
By Matthew HeimerExecutive Editor, Features
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Matt Heimer oversees Fortune's longform storytelling in digital and print and is the editorial coordinator of Fortune magazine. He is also a co-chair of the Fortune Global Forum and the lead editor of Fortune's annual Change the World list.

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