Saudi Arabia Must Shoulder Blame for Soaring Oil Prices
From Economic Times
Spot Brent prices are at their highest level since October and almost $16 (16%) above Saudi Arabia’s theoretical target of around $100 per barrel. “Current high oil prices are a major challenge for the global economic recovery,” the International Energy Agency’s chief economist Fatih Birol warned last week.
Prices are within a couple of dollars of the level that last summer prompted officials in Washington, London and Paris to worry about the negative impact on their economies and make preparations to release crude and refined products from emergency stockpiles. The global economy appears more robust than it was six or twelve months ago, though the recovery remains uneven. US presidential and congressional elections are safely past. The pressure on policymakers to be seen to do something about the rising cost of gasoline and diesel is now much less.
