The price of history

History will relate that the first person ever to pay $100 a barrel of oil was a US trader named Richard Arens. For this achievement, he will receive a certificate – no doubt soon to be framed and displayed – plus bragging rights. History, on the other hand, is less likely to remember the person on the other side of the trade: the first person ever to sell a barrel of oil for $100. Yet arguably, his was the greater achievement. He offloaded the minimum order of 1000 barrels at almost 60c above t...