Determination of Causality in Prices of Crude Oil

Authors

  • Salman Sarwat Barret Hodgson University, Karachi
  • Muhammad Kashif SZABIST Karachi
  • Muhammad Aqil SZABIST Karachi
  • Farhan Ahmed NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi

Abstract

Price determination through demand and supply forces is the most efficient pricing mechanism. But, these forces should be real rather than artificial. Speculative trade creates artificial market forces, which bounds to disturb real economy. It is argued that the demand and supply forces are primarily driven by speculation rather than fundamentals in the presence of commodity derivatives. The aim of this study is to empirically test this argument through causality analyses. Crude oil and USA has been selected as a typical case. Daily spot prices of west texas intermediate crude oil and future prices from New York Mercantile Exchange from January 2nd, 1986 to March 6th, 2017 has been analyzed. Granger causality test and vector error correction model are applied to find out the causal relationship between spot and futures prices. Results show that causality runs from runs from crude oil futures to spot prices, crude oil is just one of the numerous commodities, which are being speculatively traded through derivatives.Keywords: Causality Analysis, Crude Oil Pricing, Futures, Spot Prices, Vector Error Correction ModelJEL Classifications: D40, D49, E44, F01DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.7724

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Salman Sarwat, Barret Hodgson University, Karachi

Management Sciences

Muhammad Kashif, SZABIST Karachi

Management Sciences

Muhammad Aqil, SZABIST Karachi

Management Sciences

Farhan Ahmed, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi

Economics & Management Sciences

Downloads

Published

2019-06-01

How to Cite

Sarwat, S., Kashif, M., Aqil, M., & Ahmed, F. (2019). Determination of Causality in Prices of Crude Oil. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 9(4), 298–304. Retrieved from https://econjournals.com./index.php/ijeep/article/view/7724

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 4 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously , that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, without the written consent of the Publisher. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.