Saudi Arabia Fires a Warning Shot at OPEC Prices fell by over 2/b on 12 February Prices had earlier returned almost to their end-2006 lebel

摘要

The year 2007 has been characterized so far by considerable price volatility on the oil markets.Whereas the light reference crudes,West Texas Intermediate(WTI)and Brent,had ended 2006 at around 60-6l/b in New York and London,they have been on a switchback ride since then.Firstly,there was a sharp drop that took prices down to a low of just under 50/b during trading on 18 January,after which the markets recovered strongly under the impact of the very belated arrival of winter in the northern hemisphere and the decision of President George W.Bush to speed up government purchases of crude with a view to doubling the volume of crude held in the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve(SPR)to 1.5 billion tons over the long term.