energy
Oil prices reach highs for several years
Oil prices have tended to rise for eight weeks. Photo: Eric Gay / AP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Oil prices have tended to rise for eight weeks. This week, too, the soaring continues.
Oil prices continued their soaring at the beginning of the trading week. In the morning the prices for crude oil from the North Sea and from the USA each reached highs of several years.
Oil prices have tended to rise for the last eight weeks, driven by investors’ concerns about insufficient supply before the winter months.
In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent cost US $ 85.80. That was 94 cents more than on Friday. At times the price rose to $ 86.04, the highest level in three years.
The price of a barrel of the American WTI variety rose by $ 1.24 to $ 83.52. Earlier this morning, the price climbed to $ 83.73, its highest level since 2014.
While leading industrialized countries are recovering from the economic slump in the Corona crisis, concerns about a supply deficit are increasing on the oil market. Above all, investors are looking at a shortage of natural gas, which has resulted in an increased demand for crude oil to operate power plants. Against this background, experts do not rule out a further rise in oil prices.