Katie Martin

And so there is a price of oil today, but there's a price for what that oil will cost in one month, two months, three months, six months in future

So Malcolm, sometimes we like to call this charts on the radio.

Tell me what a chart of oil futures looks like.

So sort of today's oil price is a line that heads up and to the right.

And the futures curve is a line that heads down and to the right.

Exactly right.

Charts on the radio, people.

And that futures curve is saying...

What's everyone worried about?

The price of this thing is coming down.

We think that the oil price is going to come down.

So you've got the energy people tearing out their hair saying, hell world, hell world, be afraid.

This thing could go to $180 in a straight line.

And you've got this futures curve saying, I think this is going to be fine.

Make that make sense.

Do you mean to tell me that politicians are failing to understand something in financial markets?

Is there an element here where oil producers and oil refiners and people who are actually involved in the oil business are one set of people who are active in the futures market?

And then there's a whole other set of people who are active in the futures market who are speculators and hedge funds.

And are they the people that are helping at least to pull this futures price down lower than you can argue it should be?

So the frazzled energy pointy heads who you speak to, they... That's very mean.