Why do oil prices go down when the world economy crashes?

When the economy goes down, people and businesses have less money, so there is less demand.

Since OPEC is creating the same amount of oil, they have to reduce price, otherwise they could lose even money by keep the price the same.

This is probably short term though. There's talk in OPEC about stopping some oil refineries, creating less oil. Also, China is producing lots of vehicles, so world demand will continue on.

THIS IS REALLY BASIC, and misses out other factors.

Because demand for oil is lower. Specifically, it is a question of demand and supply, the market's opinion of the demand-and-supply, and the OPEC's crazy decisions.

During mid-July, oil went up to $140 + on account of the market's reading that demand worldwide was too high, and the OPEC was not about to increase production -- hence, prices skyrocketed.

Almost 25 - 30% of the world's oil demand is from the USA.

Then, in a panic reaction,. consumers in the USA and elsewhere, worried about inflation and the deterioration of their financial situation, cut back on their gas consumption.

This the market recognized as a sustainable development, only sometime in October. Prices started sliding heavily through the $90 range, and finally, the OPEC also succumbed to the pressure and announced a cut in production, leading the market to believe that they had been right, after all. Now oil is trading at around $65 per barrel.

So, the price of oil is an interplay of what the oil trading market believes will be the demand and supply in the near future.

the other answers are right but not really breaking it down for you. When the economy fell, consumers found it hard to pay for gas due to lacking on other bills or lack of jobs(over population etc). We(consumers) left the oil companies overstocked with oil that we couldn't afford to buy. So they now have oil barrels sitting away. To get rid of the backed up barrels, they lower the price per barrel, which gives the gas companies room to lower their prices. My opinion, they will go back up once the oil companies break even, usually in the summer when everyone wants to go on vacations.

they go down so more people will be comfortable with buying oil. with more people purchasing the economy rises again. also, the election is near (aka tomorrow) so the govt. also lowers the gas prices to make the economy look better before the election, this way it looks like the govt is taking control of its oil crisis and the other problems through out america

Economies are crashing. Countries don't afford higher oil prices. So higher the price lesser the demand.

Oil prices are influence by trade, just like anything else is.

Plus, OPEC isn't stupid. They want to sell their oil, they know they won't sell at 120 a barrel, so they lower the price.

Supply and demand. The supply is the same yet people are buying less fuel. Therefore, to sell more fuel they lower the price.

The laws of supply and demand...pure and simple.

because rich countries buy less oil

because the share price goes down