“Sharp Drop in Crude Oil Price Causes Affairs”: Idemitsu’s Tsukioka

摘要

Takashi Tsukioka, President of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. said, “Sharp drop in the crude oil price causes political and/or economic affairs, so we should be well prepared for it,” in his speech for a gathering held in the evening of December 16. In the speech, he further said that the collapse of Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991 were triggered by the sharp crude oil price drop in 1985 - 1986, when the crude oil price fell from US$30/bbl in November 1985 to less than US$20/bbl in January 1986 and finally hit US$9.5/bbl in July 1986.