This article talks about the recent rise in oil prices including price of US oil and Brent futures price index, although the rise has not been as much as anticipated, the oil industry's recent attempts to push prices up seem to be somewhat successful.
The worrisome question is how long such a price increase can be sustained, despite consensus from many major oil exporting nations.
Given that oil is also a non-renewable resource, there is an additional concern that oil producers are extracting oil much faster than it can be replaced and the ramifications of depletion for such an oil-dependent world economy do not bode well.
Moreover, oil is not just a major consumer good - in the form of gasoline etc, it is also one of the most widely used producer goods with many industries (big and small), largely dependent on it for production. Fluctuations in oil prices tend to affect all these industries - behemoths of production like Boeing and Airbus, and small agricultural producers in all parts of the world.
[source: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN0WU01Y
How likely do you think is OPEC's potential oil freeze? [Provided that non-OPEC countries like Iran and Russia are onboard too] Do you see them being able to pull up oil prices to the point that they want?
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