Oil prices highest in seven years

The price of oil has risen to 81-dollars a barrel, its highest price in seven years.

This, after OPEC and Russia, said it would stick to a gradual increase in oil production, despite big oil consumers like the United States and India asking for a faster increase in supplies after oil prices surged more than 50 percent so far this year.

Oil demand has bounced back quickly, while supply has been disrupted by factors that include hurricanes that have hammered US production, and low levels of investment across the industry during the depths of the pandemic.

The higher oil price is adding to inflationary pressures, which could derail a speedy worldwide recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of oil industry on the South African economy: Avhapfani Tshifularo