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Doubtful. Under basic economic theory, as demand goes down, so does price. The petroleum production that shuts down first will tend to be the most expensive production, causing a drop in the average cost, and price (we should see a similar effect in upstream products like crude).

The main way this effect breaks down is if the market shrinks so much that we loose the economy of scale; but it seams unlikely demand will fall far enough for that to occur.



That was not his point. When you extract oil, you don't really get a single product but multiple ones (heavy oils, lubricants, etc.)

Before you might be selling lubricants cheaply, because after refinement you had lots of lubricants as a by-product. If you need less car fuel, this changes the cost equation and lubricants (and other byproducts) might become more expensive even if car fuel becomes cheaper.




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