Oil prices spurt as tensions in Saudi-Syria, US-Russia relations rise
13 Apr 2018
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While global oil prices stabilised on Friday, they continue to pose worries for governments and consumers around the world, with fears that they could touch the $80 a barrel mark in about a year.
Oil prices flared on Wednesday to a six-year high of $73 a barrel, especially after tensions rose between the US and Russia over the Syrian crisis. American President Donald Trump has warned of military action in Syria after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted missiles fired over its capital.
While oil prices have gone up by about eight per cent in 2018, they have seen a stiff increase of 30 per cent over the past 15 months. According to OPEC, the surplus in oil stock is falling rapidly and it plans to expand the supply-cutting agreement with its member and allies well into 2019.
OPEC’s latest report reveals that oil stocks in the developed world fell by 17.4 million barrels in February to 2.854 billion barrels. OPEC’s secretary-general Mohammad Barkindo told an international news agency in New Delhi that the global oil glut had shrunk by nine-tenths since the beginning of 2017.
“We have seen an accelerated shrinkage of stocks in storage from unparalleled highs of about 400 million barrels to about 43 million above the five-year average,” he revealed.
Interestingly, the rising price of oil is bringing together India and China, who are eager to protect their interests as consumer nations. ‘
Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there is a lot of scope for cooperation between major consumers.
Sanjiv Singh, the chairman of Indian Oil Corporation and Wang Yilin, chairman, China National Petroleum Corporation will be exploring joint sourcing of crude oil, added the minister.
China and India are the world’s second and third-largest energy consumers.
