Understanding Price Elasticity of Supply I understand that the price elasticity of supply is just the percentage change in quantity supplied for a percentage increase in price of an item. However, when I look on Wikipedia, I am struggling to understand why the Supply Elasticity for Oil would be more than 1, which is contrast to what is mentioned in Investopedia. However, I feel like Investopedia is right on this one, in that suppliers of oil will not be able to significantly change supply for an increase in oil price.
To elaborate on 123's comment, crude oil is extracted from the ground and can be manufactured/refined into a variety of produces (vehicle fuel/plastics/kerosene/etc.) If the price of kerosene increases, then it is natural for produces to want to substitute from producing plastic to producing more kerosene. Even if the supply of oil (of all varieties) is inelastic, the supply of individual oil-based products need not be.