Fossil fuel costs to grow

THE WORLD still has plenty of oil. What humanity is running out of is cheap oil.

That fact


There will, however, always be fluctuations. The latest, rapid rise in oil prices, up from less than $90 US a barrel in early February to more than $100 US a barrel last week, is a perfect example. What drove the increase? Paradoxically, some of the same fears that temporarily drove prices down.

With data showing the U.S. economy slowing down and, many fear, perhaps even sliding into a recession, U.S. demand for oil was dropping. Hence the retreat of oil prices, from flirting with $100 US a barrel in early January to about $88 earlier this month. Since then, however, investors have begun bidding oil futures up again