Oil prices have recovered by 50pc in the last two months, capping a storming reversal of fortunes and raising hopes the world’s worst price rout is finally over. Brent crude hit $41.73 last week as speculation grew over an imminent supply freeze led by giant producer Saudi Arabia after months of diplomatic talks. Oil had collapsed to a 12- year low of $27.50 per barrel on January 20, when bearish sentiment gripped the world’s over-supplied markets. But market dynamics have shifted after Saudi Arabia and Russia last month struck a tentative agreement to freeze supply at its current record levels. Falling production from US shale producers, a weaker dollar and dwindling investment in the sector, has also stoked hopes of a nascent rebalancing for the world’s saturated oil markets. Mounting economic pressure on exporter nations has also hastened the need for oil giants, led by Saudi Arabia, to finally step back from the pumps, following a 20-month price rout.
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