Oil prices climbed sharply on Thursday morning, with global benchmark Brent crude trading at $107.81 per barrel at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, up $1.96 from the previous day and roughly $34 higher than a year ago, according to market data compiled by analyst Joseph Hostetler (via Fortune). The latest oil price surge puts Brent back into territory that households, businesses and central banks had hoped was firmly in the past.
The news came after a volatile year in energy markets that has repeatedly wrong-footed forecasters. Just twelve months ago, Brent crude was priced at $73.90 per barrel. One month ago, it was even lower at $71.24. That means the benchmark has risen about 46 per cent over the year and more than 51 per cent in the past month alone, a rapid escalation that points less to a neat economic story and more to markets grappling with overlapping anxieties about supply, growth and geopolitics.
