“…Oil prices are determined by demand and supply levels, but also they are affected by sources of natural volatility including business cycles, speculative activities, and political influences (Oberndorfer, 2009;Hamilton, 2014;Robe and Wallen, 2016). These factors have major implications for strategic decisions taken by investors, hedgers, speculators and governments, who need to be aware of phases of higher volatility, where greater levels of risk and uncertainty are exhibited in the market, thus conditioning their decision making processes (Sadorsky, 2006;Salisu and Fasanya, 2013;Zhang and Wang, 2013;Morales and Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 2014;Evgenidis, 2018). Crude oil prices have encountered extreme volatility over the past decades due to numerous factors, such as wars and political instability, economic and financial slowdowns, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters.…”