Introduction

Oil prices have increased by more than 15 percent since the beginning of the year. The average price of WTI increased from 56.53 in 2005 to 65.15 in the first five months of 2006. Contrary to claims by media outlets and politicians in both consuming and producing countries, most of the recent increase in oil prices has little to do with the Iranian nuclear stand off, the fear factor, or speculation. Market fundamentals of decreasing supplies and increasing demand have increased prices to new records. IEA's data indicates that while world oil demand increased by 1 mb/d between the 4th ...