, Columnist
The World Economy Can Get By Surprisingly Well With $129 Crude
We can ride out this turmoil, but only if policy makers sit back and wait for the market to rebalance.
People have taken fright.
Photographer: Bing Guan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Markets have a short memory.
It’s hardly surprising that when the price of Brent crude jumps 39% over the course of a month, people take fright. Russia usually sits ahead of Saudi Arabia these days as the world’s biggest oil producer after the U.S. The position of its exports on global markets looks highly uncertain, since sanctions that were designed to exempt energy trade appear to be spooking other parts of the supply chain — from shipping to finance to maintenance — that are essential to keeping the petroleum flowing.