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"Stable oil price not an option"

If you want to know how much higher Brent crude could go in the present run, point your browser at data published daily on the website of the IntercontinentalExchange.

The figures published for the close of business on Friday, as highlighted by Louise Cooper, of BGC Partners, point to huge buying of call options; in other words, a bet that prices will rise.

As at the close last Friday, with one lot equivalent to 1,000 barrels, the $175 April call, conveying the right to buy at $175 a barrel, was 28,200 lots. The $160 call had open interest of 14,700 lots and the $150 call 12,010 lots. Those are big positions. It is a similar story on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where investors have raised their net "long" position in crude; in other words, betting that the price will rise, to levels not seen since May last year.

Admittedly, some of the buying reflects a willingness on the part of investors to take on more risk, because of developments such as the growing likelihood of a Greek bailout. But it also reflects a conviction that crude prices will go higher in coming months because of the embargo on Iranian oil and a drop in supplies from Yemen, South Sudan and Syria. (Ian King, Business Editor UK Times)