Petroleum Prices

Oil prices have, somewhat surprisingly, more than doubled since 1/1/16. OPEC and Russia have cut supply by two million bbl/day, random outages and steadily declining Venezuelan production have helped, and geopolitical concerns (Iran) have pushed up prices. The biggest factor, however, is brisk global demand due to faster growth, despite US oil production that will soon hit a record 10 million bbl/day! The globe is no longer awash in oil.