Oil Prices Defy Gravity

Is there a fair price for oil?

It doesn’t seem that way. Over the past year, the price of crude oil has nearly doubled even though oil inventories are ample, there has been no disruption in supplies, and petroleum demand in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer, has leveled off in recent weeks as the economy has slowed.

“There may be [a fair price] but it would be difficult to get consumers and producers to ever agree on it,” said Guy F. Caruso, administrator of the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Ideally, if there was a more competitive market, we might find out. But it’s not the world we’re living in today.”

Washington Post