Forget renewable energy, for the moment oil companies are more focused on plentiful energy. The OPEC countries aren’t the only ones who want to keep oil prices from falling. While we know cheap oil prices are a welcome sign for consumers, the oil companies say that if prices fall like they did this past December (to $34/barrel), it could ruin the hot streak they’ve been on so far this year.

According to the New York Times, over 200 new oil discoveries have been made in dozens of countries so far this year. During the first half of the year alone, the new finds equaled about 10 billion barrels of oil, says IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. If oil companies continue at this pace until year’s end, they will have discovered more oil then they have in nearly a decade.

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Oil is regarded as a volatile commodity because its cost has the ability to fluctuate greatly within a short period of time. Last July prices soared to record highs of over $141 a barrel, only to fall off to nearly $30 a barrel last December. After oil prices reached their peak, a massive pull off in consumer demand caused prices to fall. The experts say that with consumer demand still low, the price of oil could stand to drop even further below its current price at near $60 a barrel. One analyst has even predicted oil to touch down briefly at $20 a barrel:

Philip Verleger, a business professor at the University of Calgary and visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics told CNBC’s July 8 “The Kudlow Report” how the cost of oil might drop. Verleger explained why the current price of oil – at $60 a barrel, off its $72 highs, is still way too expensive for the market and why it could come tumbling down to $20.

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After oil prices retreated drastically from their historic highs last July, certain members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are modifying their “fair” price expectations in accordance to the global recession:

[Qatar's oil minister Abdullah bin Hamad] Al-Attiyah, whose country is one of the 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he was “trying to be more pragmatic” about prices and that $50 is and “OK price for 2009″ given the current economic climate.

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There’s nothing like a global recession to help bring down oil prices:

World oil demand is contracting faster than expected, increasing pressure on prices, OPEC said on Friday ahead of a key meeting this weekend of the group.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said global demand will fall by 1.01 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2009 to average 84.61 million bpd. Its previous forecast was for demand to contract by 580,000 bpd.

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) concluded their 151st (Extraordinary) Meeting of the OPEC Conference today by cutting their daily output by 4.2 million barrels from September levels. Today’s announcement did little to bring oil prices anywhere near the range Saudi Arabia’s oil minister had hoped for at the beginning of the month. After the meeting, as of 11:40 a.m. EST, oil futures dropped by 7.4%, or $3.27, to $40.35 a barrel.

The over-$100 decline in oil prices since July forced OPEC to call two additional meetings in order to develop a production strategy that would return the price of crude back to a “fair” price. We reported at the beginning of the month that “Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said $75 a barrel was a sufficient and fair target for oil prices that would keep global oil projects and production on time and efficient.”

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Not only are oil prices dropping to historic lows, they remain one of the only portions of our economy putting money back in consumers’ pockets. Oil futures closed the week down $2.85, or 6.5%, to $40.81 — the largest weekly decline recorded since 1991. Crude-oil futures finished the day down to levels not seen since December 2004. A strengthening dollar as well as November’s unemployment report were the main proponents that continued to spiral prices:

“The fall in employment was brutal,” said James Williams, an energy economist at research firm WTRG Economics. “Folks without jobs drive less, and those in fear of losing their jobs are minimizing expenditures.”

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Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said $75 a barrel was a sufficient and fair target for oil prices that would keep global oil projects and production on time and efficient. This was the first time the world’s largest exporter of oil has announced a “fair price” for crude. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is scheduled to meet again December 17 in Algeria, where many experts expect the countries to trim global production by between 1-1.5 million barrels a day. OPEC cut 1.5 million barrels a day from global production in late October that went into effect November 1.

While OPEC expects cheap oil prices to help curb weak consumption slightly through the end of the year, they only expect increased consumption in 2009 predominantly in the Middle East, Asia, and China. “OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries are expected to experience a decline in oil demand which is likely to pull total world oil demand growth down by more than 0.5 mb/d in 2009…”

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries took less than two hours to agree to cut 1.5 million barrels of oil a day from global markets. The cut, which represents 1.7% of the world’s oil demand, was made in order to rein in oil prices that finished today at $64.15, down 11% for the week.

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While consumers celebrate cheap gas prices, OPEC is panicking. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has rescheduled their “Extraordinary Meeting” three weeks early to deal with the 50% drop in oil prices since July. Oil prices rose to over $68 a barrel today after dipping as low as $66.12 yesterday afternoon.

“We should also remember that low prices will, without any doubt, result in the cancellation of many upstream and downstream projects, and this will lead to future long-term supply problems,” said OPEC Secretary General HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri in a speech delivered at the 3rd International Energy Week in Moscow this week.

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Oil prices dropped below $76 a barrel to $75.62 on Wednesday, hinging on fears that the shaky economy will continue to contribute to weak consumer demand:

Beyond fears that demand would slow, expectations that the latest snapshot of U.S. crude supplies would show additional builds also weighed on markets.

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