, Columnist
Lost in Texas’s Snowstorm, What Can Kill This Oil Surge?
Things could get very ugly, very fast if output-cut fatigue grips the OPEC+ alliance.
Power failure.
Photographer: Cooper Neill/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The snowstorm that slammed Texas and neighboring states last week is just the latest in a series of factors that have sent oil prices soaring. It risks burying visibility of the one thing that might undo the rally — a huge reservoir of idle production capacity.
Oil prices began to move lower on Friday, but they are still close to their highest level in over a year, since well before the pandemic trashed global demand. A bull run took Brent from around $37.50 a barrel at the end of October to nearly $62.50 in the space of 15 weeks, a rise of 4% per week. Then the freak snowstorm added another couple of bucks.