VOL. XXXI

NO. 21

29-FEBRUARY-1988

LAST WEEK'S MARKET DROP LOOKS LIKE OVERREACTION

Market watchers remain rather mystified about the underlying causes of thebig drop in crude oil prices over the past week, when spot values crashed bynearly $1/B - with the biggest fall of 50-60 cents taking place on Thursday 25February. This left WTI at below $16/B, April Brent at around $15/B, withMarch/dated cargoes 40 cents below that, and Dubai at $14.10-14.20/B.

Given the current spot terms for various OPEC...