Mounting Pressures on Oil Prices

摘要

There is no longer any need today for an embargo,a war or a major political crisis in one or other of the leading oil-exporting countries for oil prices to move sharply upwards.For that to happen,it is enough from now on for a statistic to appear about a decline in the supply of gasoline in the United States or a report about ethnic unrest in Nigeria,as happened last week,when oil prices bounded by 4.20/b,or 5.8%,in the space of five days and Brent rose to a new high of 76.65/b for August contracts.Since the end of 2006 oil prices have regained more than 15/barrel,and it is more than likely that they will continue to move upwards in the coming weeks.