Oil up 52%, can gasoline be far behind?


Crude oil has risen 52% from its December 19th low of $33 a barrel to $50. Can gasoline prices be far behind?

What's behind the move? Supply is down. For example, Kuwait and Qatar indicated they will implement the supply cuts that OPEC announced last month. A dispute between Russia and Ukraine reduced natural gas shipments to Europe -- it must be cold there. And Iran is calling for a suspension of crude exports to Israel's allies as the conflict between the Israeli army and Hamas hits its 11th day.

Will demand fall further as prices rise? That seems to be the only hope for a reversal in the price of oil. But so far there seems to be a bit of a delay between the rising price of crude and the price of gasoline. So if you're paying $1.66 now it looks like $2 won't be too far away. Maybe it's not too late to look into buying energy stocks.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

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