Oil Keeps Flowing Despite Unrest, but High Prices Jangle Nerves Worldwide

Since September 2008, prices have risen about 30 percent since September, reaching their highest level. In regards to the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, has helped drive oil prices up to more than $102 a barrel for an important benchmark crude, Brent. Brent is a global benchmark crude oil that is produced in the North Sea and traded in London. It is typically the benchmark that is used to set the price for most of the oil from the Middle East. However, there have been no disruptions with production or supply according to the article. According to the article, the increased price of energy is a “burden that can be a detriment to the global economic recovery,”

While Egypt and Tunisia have little oil, Libya is one of Africa’s largest holders of crude oil reserves, Algeria and Iran are major suppliers and Bahrain and Yemen both border Saudi Arabia on the peninsula that produces most of the world’s oil. Together, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Iran represent about 10 percent of global oil production. It is said that, the oil markets are famously skittish, especially with the possibility of disruptions in the Middle East and North Africa, which account for some 35 percent of the world’s oil production and a greater percentage of the world’s known reserves. Yet, those who track oil prices are especially worried about the renewed turmoil in Iran and the possibility of unrest spreading from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, which could have a major impact on oil’s price and its availability.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/20oil.html?_r=1&ref=world

By Delaina Flagg