Mexican Media Brands
Oil Prices Jump to 3-Year High
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, briefly brushed $75 on Tuesday—its highest level since November 2014—over worries that new U.S. sanctions against Iran would trim petroleum output.
#economics
Share
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, briefly brushed $75 on Tuesday—its highest level since November 2014—over worries that new U.S. sanctions against Iran would trim petroleum output.
President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon the multi-nation nuclear treaty with Iran and re-impose economic sanctions on the country. Iran is OPEC’s third-largest oil producer.
Oil prices have been slowly rising since the end of 2016. That’s when two dozen oil producers, led by the 14-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to trim their combined daily output of crude by 2% or 1.8 million barrels per day.
The cuts, since extended through 2018, are intended to drain down an oil glut caused by a surge in the U.S. production of oil from shale. The oversupply had driven down per-barrel prices for Brent crude from $144 in mid-2014 to less than $30 in early January 2016.
Brent prices had already rebounded to nearly $57 per barrel by the time the OPEC-led production cuts began last year. Oil futures ended last year at nearly $67 per barrel and climbed to $70 at the end of last month.
RELATED CONTENT
-
GM, Ford Evaluate Possible Economic Slump
General Motors and Ford say they have bolstered their cash reserves in case the trade war between the U.S. and China triggers a global recession.
-
Ford’s $42 Billion Cash Cow
F-Series pickups generate about 30% of the carmaker’s revenue. The tally is about twice as much as what McDonald’s pulls in.
-
On Global EV Sales, Lean and the Supply Chain & Dealing With Snow
The distribution of EVs and potential implications, why lean still matters even with supply chain issues, where there are the most industrial robots, a potential coming shortage that isn’t a microprocessor, mapping tech and obscured signs, and a look at the future