Oil prices moving back to $100

Some say the rise reflects long-term oil supply worries, despite the impact of recession on global demand.

SHOOT: Told you.

clipped from www.ft.com Long-dated oil prices have risen to within a whisker of $100 a barrel, in a sign that investors are expecting high prices to return after the recession. The furthest forward oil contract traded on exchanges – the December 2017 futures – rose last week to $99.97 a barrel for the Brent benchmark and to $99.43 for the West Texas Intermediate, the highest since last October. The prices have risen by 10 per cent in the past month. “The entire crude forward curve has moved up,” said Michael Wittner, oil strategist at Société Générale. “We assume that investor flows have pushed up long-dated prices.” Hussein Allidina, head of commodities research at Morgan Stanley, added: “The deluge of global liquidity has contributed to lifting oil prices – along with other risky assets – since February.” Long-dated oil prices are now almost $20 a barrel higher than two years ago, even though spot prices are much lower than then. Spot prices oil ended last week at $77.65.