RECENT ENERGY PRICE DEVELOPMENTS

摘要

Benchmark WTI Gushing peaked at over 42 dollars in early June, fuelled by uncertainty over OPEC's meeting in Beirut and continued security concerns in the Middle East. The spike proved temporary and prices resumed their raid-May decline. This was triggered by weaker jet fuel, gasoline, and diesel prices in Europe and the United States as refineries came back from maintenance. Increased OPEC output pushed prices lower in the first half of June and helped to lower average prices to 38 for the month, percent.6 percent below May levels. Brent and WTI futures at one point fell close to 16 percent from the spike that followed attacks on oil workers in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the month (peak-to-trough losses of 6.74 dollars and 6.20 dollars respectively).