Brent Crude:
Oil prices are at their highest levels since 2014 — Brent crude hit $88.3 per barrel, up 27% since December 1, when it was trading at $69.5.
- The spike has been driven primarily by fears of supply side disruptions.
- The attack by Yemen’s Houthis on fuel trucks in Abu Dhabi, in which three people including two Indians were killed, and the tensions between Russia, the world’s second-largest oil producer, and Ukraine have raised concerns.
- The outage on an Iraq-Turkey pipeline heightened worries.
- There is also concern over the growing imbalance between demand and supply — the former did not see the moderation that was initially expected as the Omicron wave began.
- Further, the key oil producing countries have kept supply on a gradually increasing schedule in spite of the sharp increase in global crude prices.
Brent Crude:
- Brent Crude may refer to any or all of the components of the Brent Complex, a physically and financially traded oil market based around the North Sea of Northwest Europe.
- Colloquially, Brent Crude usually refers to the price of the ICE Brent Crude Oil futures contract or the contract itself.
