Crude oil prices continued to surprise on Tuesday, with the U.S. benchmark adding another 4 percent to $44.60 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate is now up 65 percent since hitting 13-year lows below $27 a barrel February 11. It’s a performance only bettered by the globe’s second most traded bulk commodity – iron ore. But like analysts of the steelmaking raw material, many in the industry have been surprised by the extent of the rally, consistently calling the oil price lower. The blame for the cloudy outlook for crude is mostly being laid at the door of Saudi-Arabia. After the collapse of the Doha talks to freeze production and amid a spat with the U.S. over terrorism , the world’s top producer has threatened a scorched earth policy when it comes to maintaining and growing its market share. But there is an alternative view out there that argues that […]