Oil Prices Spike Amid Turmoil in Egypt

The Takeaway

Oil prices have been floating around $90 a barrel for weeks, but now, the turmoil in Egypt has pushed the price up. Crude oil jumped close to 4% on Friday and then 3.2% yesterday to settle at $92.19 a barrel. However, the output of crude hasn’t changed in the region, so what exactly explains the sharp rise in prices?

Louise Story, Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times explainsthe mechanisms behind such a rise: is it just fear? Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland helps contextualize the change in oil prices.

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