Is oil turning into a luxury?
Fuel protests are flaring up around the planet as oil prices continue to rise relentlessly. The barrel of crude oil which broke the $100 record in January 2008 could reach the $200 mark before the end of the summer, some analysts say.
Oil's record jump to $139 a barrel in the first week of June 2008 defies any single explanation.
Oil-buying countries say oil producers need to open the tap. OPEC countries deny it is a problem of adjustment between supply and demand and blame speculation.
Meanwhile, oil consumers are feeling the pinch everywhere. Public anger at governments' inability to stabilize prices is growing in Asia as in Europe.
Unfolding against a background of diminishing oil resources and rising climate change challenges, the crisis shows the limits of oil-dependent economies.
'If oil prices keep rising, what do we do?"
The continuing rise of oil prices is a testing time for EU members, caught between popular demands for cheap fuel and binding EU commitments. But honouring the latter should pay off in the long term.
Surging fuel costs loom over Paris wholesale market
At the Rungis international market outside Paris, wholesalers hit by escalating transport costs are caught in a stranglehold between the woes plaguing suppliers and those affecting their customers.
"It would be wrong to protect customers"
Jean-Pierre Favennec, economist at the French Oil Institute, talks to FRANCE 24 about the oil price hike that has sparked protests across Europe and discusses the remedies put forward by European governments.
Why are oil prices skyrocketing?
Currently over 130 dollars a barrel, oil prices keep climbing. The oil producing countries (OPEC) affirm that their production is stable - the real cause of the price hike, they say, is financial speculation.
Pour aller plus loin
- 07/07/2008 : Economic crisis looms over G8 summit
- 27/06/2008 : OPEC head sees oil hitting $150-170 this summer
- 27/06/2008 : Oil hits $142, world stocks plunge
- 10/06/2008 : Truckers block Spanish-French border
- 10/06/2008 : S Korea offers $10.2 bln package to ease oil burden
- 09/06/2008 : Asian stocks slump on oil price, US jobless surge
- 07/06/2008 : No oil crisis, says US energy secretary
- 06/06/2008 : Oil jumps to $138 a barrel
- 05/06/2008 : Oil: no immediate solution for a lasting problem
- 05/06/2008 : Nigeria to expel Shell from its oil fields
- 04/06/2008 : US facing 'severe oil-price shock', says Fed boss
- 02/06/2008 : Euro ministers disagree with French oil tax proposal
- 28/05/2008 : Mounting oil prices spark protests across Europe
- 27/05/2008 : Sarkozy urges suspension of European VAT on oil
- 21/05/2008 : Oil tops 130 US dollars per barrel
- 23/04/2008 : Airline safety at issue as oil price nears $120
- 21/04/2008 : OPEC has no plans to increase oil output
- 16/04/2008 : EU looks to tap on Iraqi oil and gas
- 26/03/2008 : Oil production to start in 2011, says Cambodian energy official
- 12/03/2008 : Oil prices break historic record
- 09/05/2008 : Crude oil strikes record high price
- 05/05/2008 : US oil prices peak over 120 dollars
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