Oil markets prepare for lofty prices and restrained supply

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. On March 6th 2020 Saudi Arabia and Russia on a deal to restrain production. A price war ensued, with the two giants unleashing millions of barrels of crude just as covid-19 prompted lockdowns and demand dried up. Now Saudi Arabia and other producers are curbing output as demand rises. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, briefly climbed above $70 a barrel on March 8th for the first time since May 2019. It dipped a little thereafter, to $68 on March 10th.The surge comes amid a broader from copper to corn, as Chinese imports rise and supply remains constrained. But has been particularly vertiginous. In April last year the price of Brent dipped below $20 a barrel and one American futures contract briefly became less than worthless. Since late October, however, Brent’s value has risen by nearly 100%. By the third quarter, analysts at Goldman Sachs, a bank, reckon it could reach $80.