By RUSSELL GOLD, NEIL KING JR. and ANN DAVIS
January 2, 2008 5:05 p.m.
Economists, Wall Street commodity traders and even seasoned energy executives were caught flatfooted by oil’s dizzying rise. Looking back, several factors came together at the same time to help oil shoot up roughly tenfold in less than a decade and briefly touch $100 today. Those factors are likely to stick around, perhaps pushing prices up further.
Western oil companies, though flush with cash, are finding fewer places to explore and drill for oil. Demand in China and the developing world has surged far more than people anticipated a decade ago and is driving oil markets.