Middle East Economic Survey

VOL. XLIX

No 5

30-January-2006

OIL PRICES

Spare Capacity And Oil Price DynamicsBy Bassam Fattouh

Dr Fattouh is a Reader in Finance and Management in the Department of Financial and Management Studies, SOAS, University of London. This article is based on the authors presentation at The Commodities Investors Forum, Geneva, Switzerland, 16 November 2005.

1. Introduction

The oil price hikes in 2005 revealed an oil market that has lost a great deal of its flexibility and...