Crude Oil Prices Soar To New Record High

The price of crude oil has today reached a new high point, breaking the landmark $81 mark for the first time in history to reflect ongoing supply shortages in the wake of increasing demand from the global economy.

The news comes on the announcement that US crude stock piles are running fatally low, at their weakest level for over eight months. Meanwhile, demand from emerging economies like India and China is remaining strong, which many analysts have feared could continue to push the price of crude up on commodity exchanges.

The price of crude oil is of tremendous economic significance, having a bearing on fuel costs, energy costs and many manufacturing processes. It is though that should prices continue to get any higher over the coming weeks, businesses could be significantly hit by the impact of higher operating costs.

OPEC, the oil cartel responsible for 40% of the world’s oil exports has announced that it will up capacity to 500,000 extra barrels a day in order to realign prices and help stave off the rising demand, as of the beginning of November this year.

The news was initially welcomed by experts as a step towards introducing some form of stability into oil and energy markets, which saw trading on the Dow Jones boosted as a result.

However many analysts now fear that the supply hike will be insufficient to satisfy the current levels of demand whilst helping to restore national crude oil stock piles, as eastern economies continue to demand more crude oil for fuel and manufacturing industries.

Predictions are currently suggesting that the price of oil, per barrel, could soar even further to new records of around $85 barrel before the supply situation gets any more favourable, leading to fears that energy could come at a premium during the winter months.

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