floor price
原油価格が，低下し続けているという記事です。世界の経済成長が鈍化したことを背景として，原油の価格が下落しました。経済の停滞は生産需要の低下を意味し，生産のために必要なエネルギーの需要減少を意味します。
記事の中で気になった単語は"floor price"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると"floor"に「（賃金・価格などの）最低限度（額）底値」などという意味がありました。"floor"の語源は「平らな」です。底値になるとこれ以上価格が下がらないので，平行線をたとるか増加するかのどちらかですね。（Ume）
Oil prices see further declines
Kuwait's oil minister, Ali al-Omair, was quoted by state news agency KUNA as saying over the weekend that a price of $76-$77 a barrel might be the floor price.
That is what it costs to produce a barrel of oil in Russia and the US, so any lower could mean producers mothballing production or running at a loss.
There have been two significant changes in the oil market recently.
At the start of this month, Saudi Arabia said it would cut its selling price for oil in a move to protect its market share, something that was described as a "structural change" as Saudi Arabia had never explicitly competed on price.
