Kiplinger Economic Outlooks are written by the staff of our weekly Kiplinger Letter and are unavailable elsewhere. Click here for a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe for the latest trends and forecasts from our highly experienced Kiplinger Letter team.
As of this writing, the Persian Gulf is still not open, and future prospects are still cloudy, with the U.S. and Iran alternating between war and diplomacy. Eventually, the situation will be resolved, but achieving low energy costs will take that much longer. Even after the Gulf reopens for tanker traffic, it will take time for both shipping patterns and inventories to be restored. There is also the possibility of further blowups in the region disrupting prices for an extended period. However, with the West Texas Intermediate crude oil price currently around $90 per barrel, it appears the extreme price spikes some analysts have feared may not come to pass.