Oil prices continue climb above $70

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

The price of oil has continued to climb, with Alaska North Slope crude reaching $71.04 per barrel on April 17. The price climbed steadily between June 2017 and late January of this year, before tumbling somewhat in early February. It has since climbed again to the highest level seen since late 2014, a time when the price was in free fall from giddy heights well above $100.

Analysts are primarily attributing the buoyant price to the effort by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to limit oil production, combined with political tensions in the Middle East, following missile attacks on Syria. Plummeting oil production in Venezuela has particularly underwritten the OPEC production quota, according to Bloomberg. The Financial Times has also suggested that the possibility of the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran by the United States has put upward pressure on the oil price.

The quantity of crude oil stored as stock also impacts the oil price - excessive stocks have been considered a major factor in the low prices of recent years. According to the Energy Information Administration, crude oil stocks in the United States have dropped by more that 10 percent over the last 12 months.

Activity in the U.S. oil industry continues to surge. According to Baker Hughes, the U.S. oil rig count reached 815 on April 13, the highest level since March 2015.

- ALAN BAILEY