The global oil price is trading at its highest price in more than four years, and it seems that a number of additional price spikes are on the way, as instability and conflict affect several major oil producers. What has happened? The global oil market has tightened, allowing geopolitical risks to carry a super-sized impact. Many of these risks are exceptional — such as a potential conflict between Iran and Israel — in their capacity to threaten oil supplies. Now that the U.S. is the world’s top oil producer, however, higher oil prices would have a mixed impact on the U.S. economy. Understanding the global oil price is a lot simpler than it may appear. Like all prices, the oil price reflects supply and demand. On the demand side, with the uptick in the global economy, demand for oil is increasing and poised to continue to […]