Post Carbon Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg was interviewed on the causes and effects of plummeting oil prices.

From the interview:

It’s mostly supply and demand, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that oil prices have been very high for the past several years, and that has destroyed a lot of demand, both in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. People have learned to use a lot less oil than they otherwise would have and now economies are softening, particularly in Europe, Japan and China. Economic growth is really slowing down, and when that happens, of course, oil demand declines. Meanwhile, we have increased supply coming from the U.S., from the shale patch, from light, tight oil from the Bakken field in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford fields in South Texas.