Oil at $100 to sharpen pain for US consumers

Oil’s rise above $100 a barrel will probably sharpen the trends the US has witnessed during the commodity’s climb, ranging from high petrol and home heating prices to difficult operating conditions for industry, according to analysts.

“$100 crude is really an exclamation point behind the trends we have seen the last year or two,” said James Burkhard, managing director of the oil and gas group at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.


Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $100.10 on Tuesday, the second time the price has exceeded $100.

Mr Burkhard said global demand for distillates, the portion of crude from which heating oil is drawn, was so high that it was “a pillar of support” for $100 oil – and that was unlikely to change soon. The US government has projected that household natural gas expenditures this winter will rise 7 per cent over last winter.

Financial Times