Summer of 2008 All over Again?
June 5, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
Most drivers probably breathed a sigh of relief when oil prices finally came down from the astronomical levels they reached during the summer of 2008, but analysts are starting to issue predictions that we could be seeing sky-high oil prices again. Oil prices are up to around $70 a barrel, signaling the potential for a situation very similar to 2008’s oil price rise.
If oil prices are going to reach the levels they reached last year, they still have a ways to go. Oil grew to $125 a barrel last summer, forcing consumers to try and save gasoline. This time, the rise in oil prices is much steeper than last year’s: while prices at this point last year were up 33 percent from the beginning of 2008, this year they are up 50 percent.
According to Ann-Louise Hittle with the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, “what we are seeing here is a replay.” Analysts have pointed out a variety of similarities between last year’s price spike and this one, but the fact that this time the world is in the midst of a deep recession has everyone wondering how this one will turn out.
Image: Flickr
