Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The good news is that Britain’s politicians and media are finally giving energy the attention it deserves. The bad is that the frenzied political back-and-forth of the last few weeks utterly fails to grasp the intractability of rising energy costs.
A midweek update. New York oil prices, continuing a modest recovery after their mid-month 10% decline, advanced another 3% this week. NYMEX prices rose Monday, were flat Tuesday, then on Wednesday closed up $2—the largest advance this year—at $91.43. The move up was sparked by a weekly government report showing that oil stockpiles rose less than anticipated while gasoline demand unexpectedly jumped by over 4% to a six-month high. Still, US crude oil in storage isn’t far off its recent 23-year high, thanks to rising domestic production and sluggish economic signals.
