A big item in the news, at home, in fact everywhere it would seem at present. My own experience is of a significant increase in the cost of petrol, meaning my weekly fuel bill has gone up by some 22% over the last 12 months or so.
What's it all down to and will the situation change in the near future? A meeting this week in Saudi Arabia will look to try to find solutions to this problem, but this might be hard to find when there seems to be as many different theories as to the cause of the fuel price increase as there participants in the meeting.
Many observers internationally feel it is the surging demand in China that has lead to the price increase as this demand has outstripped supply. The Saudis themselves blame global speculators, those people who buy and sell oil on the world markets, for bidding up the price. The OPEC group of oil producers blame shortages in refining capacity, meaning that supply is restricted, whilst the UK's prime minister is blaming OPEC for not increasing supply, when he believes the ability to increase supply does exist.
A great case study for us then! What is interesting is that the Saudi's are very concerned by the oil price increase, despite the fact that billions of extra revenues is being earned. Political conflict with the West and a consumer move away from oil (already a talking point due to environmental concerns) towards alternative energy sources are possible outcomes of this situation.
Where will a solution come from? Will it come this week? Many commentators think not....
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