The factors behind the increase in the price of oil

“…cliques of powerful capitalists are pushing the world towards a forthcoming war over the control of energy and its security. Only a state with an alternative ideology to capitalism will be able to resists this onslaught.”

Today global crude oil prices are hovering around US$70 a barrel, compared with merely about US$20 in 2002. Earlier on April 21 and 24 the price of a barrel of oil reached $75.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since the contracts began trading in 1983. So what are the reasons for oil prices?

The causes contributing to the rise of oil prices can be chiefly divided into two categories, namely apparent and underlying causes. The apparent reasons can be summarised as follows:-

Global demand for oil

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) the world