Economy and Geopolitics Decide Where Oil Goes Next

NOW that the price of crude oil has crossed the $100-a-barrel threshold, and then retreated slightly, what direction will it take now?

Many experts say it will go up, then down, and then maybe up again. That, anyway, has been the pattern of the last several years of volatile prices.


The arguments for even higher oil prices are well known. The economies of China and India are booming and hungry for energy. Oil fields in Mexico, the United States and several other oil producers are drying up, tightening world supplies. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is using oil as a political weapon. Rebels in Nigeria are creating havoc in some of Africa