Oil prices remained buoyant in the early weeks of 2008, stubbornly refusing to be rocked by US recession fears. On Monday 18 February 2008, both US Light Crude and Brent Crude front-month futures closed above $95 a barrel.
US and UK oil futures
Oil prices have experienced their fair share of ups and downs in the first quarter of 2008. US Light Crude futures grazed the $100 barrier in the first week of January but plunged to $88 a barrel on 22 January, while Brent Crude plummetted to $88 a barrel after peaking above $97 a barrel earlier in the month.
However, production problems and a fractious geopolitical climate, including the crisis between OPEC member Venezuela and oil major Exxon Mobil, ensured that oil prices were once again inching north before the month was over. Venezuela is the fourth-biggest supplier of crude to the US and energy analysts have said that any interruption to shipments could tighten up inventories and push prices higher.
But while the escalating row between Venezuela and Exxon has once again pushed up prices, worries about a slowdown in the US economy, one of the top oil consuming nations in the world, could prevent a return to the record highs of $100 a barrel.
So will prices stabilise in the near future or will they spiral in response to shifting market demands? Whatever your perspective, taking a view on the price of crude oil is easy with IG Index.
We offer bets on US Light and UK Brent Crude Oil, with deal sizes starting at just £1 per point. We make prices when the underlying futures markets are open (we don't quote a price for two hours starting at 11pm), with Controlled Risk bets available in both cases.
More information on our binary markets is available on our Binary Bet Markets page.
The above comments do not constitute investment advice and IG Index accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.
Updated: 18/02/08