Is the oil price recovering?
It is indeed up by nearly 40% from its low in March. But this is mostly for short-term reasons, such as worries about upheavals in the Middle East. Demand in China, now the world’s second-largest consumer and biggest importer of crude, is up. Americans are buying more gasoline as people respond to low prices by driving more miles in bigger cars. Crude inventories there have fallen for the third week running (albeit from extraordinarily high levels). American oil output is down slightly too. But this price rally is unlikely to be sustained.
