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Price records, violence and dollar weakness (the usual mix)
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
oil and energy trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1744-7992
pISSN - 0950-1045
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7992.2008.330406.x
Subject(s) - liberian dollar , bullion , cash , brent crude , fluid ounce (us) , u.s. dollar index , economics , futures contract , monetary economics , finance , geography , currency , us dollar , archaeology , physics , thermodynamics
This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration & Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'. Oil prices went to new record levels in mid‐March as traders contemplated the usual mix of violence in Iraq and Nigeria along with a falling US dollar, allied in this instance with a rise in the gold price above $1,000 an ounce and the paradoxical combination of fears of a world recession and high demand for oil products. The result was WTI front‐month futures at an intra‐day high of $111.80/bbl on 17th March, following a record $110.30/bbl in the cash market for prompt barrels set four days earlier. The 13th of March also saw Dated North Sea at a record $108.93/bbl, with prompt Brent some $2/bbl above this level. OPEC's price‐basket also rose above $100/bbl for the first time. Many product prices also moved into record territory, including an intra‐day high of $3.22/gall for Nymex spot heating oil on 14th March. The increases proved too much in the end and crude markets were back below $100/bbl by the end of the month.