The Sky’s the Limit

Not long ago, the notion of the price of crude oil hitting $60 a barrel would have caused apoplexy. But after two years of steadily rising prices, the fact that oil trading in New York came within 30 cents of touching the $60 mark, setting a new record in the process, passed with barely a murmur.

There are various contributory reasons for the sudden spurt in prices earlier this week, such as a threatened strike in Norway. But the underlying message is that higher oil prices are here to stay – and may rise to $100 a barrel, according to some forecasts. Even the normally bullish Lee Raymond, chief executive of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest listed oil company, warned “it would take a few years to sort out where it’ll all end”. The US energy secretary also worries it will take many years for the sharp increases in demand, caused by growth in developing countries, to pass. Sadly, that is the optimistic scenario.
The Guardian