Alexis passes along the news:
The Financial Times is reporting that half or more of Libya's oil production has been shut down due to the unrest in the country. That's one reason the price of a barrel of Brent crude broke $110, a two-and-a-half year peak.
In recent times, Libya has exported the vast majority of the 1.6 million barrels of oil a day it produces, according to an International Energy Agency report. ... To give you some perspective, U.S. oil consumption is over 20,000,000 barrels a day. Given Libya's relatively small contribution to the global oil supply, the turmoil in the energy and stock markets resulting from Libyan unrest lets you know how little slack there is in the oil market.
Chart via another Alexis post.
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