Initiatives

OIL UPDATE

By BILL BRADLEY —

Oil is now essentially flat in the aftermath of OPEC’s failure to raise production quotas, a move engineered by Iran and Venezuela, who seem bent on making trouble for American’s economic recovery even as high oil prices promise to squelch recovery in developing nations.

Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $99 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This is up about $65 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.