Global oil market

As global commodities, oil and petroleum products (including gasoline and diesel) are subject to the price swings in free markets and can be dramatically influenced by perceptions about future supply and demand.

• Per the U.S. Department of Energy, global demand for liquid fuels declined to approximately 83.7 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2009 — from an average of 85.5 million barrels per day in 2008. ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry — yet we produce only about three percent of the world's oil and less than two percent of the world's energy.
  
• Per the U.S. Department of Energy, crude oil prices (WTI) averaged about $43 a barrel from January to March 2009, over 55 percent lower than the full-year 2008 average price of nearly $100 per barrel.