[amatya2488]

What are the various reasons for rise in the price of crude oil....

[David Waring]

Hi Amatya2488,

Welcome to the community.

To be honest I don't think anyone knows for sure why oil prices are so high and rising so fast. If I had to point to one thing I would say the reason is because there are so many factors that could be causing high oil prices.

The main factors that are normally sited whenever you read anything about oil are one of, or a combination of, the following:

1. Increased demand from China, India, and other Emerging Markets.
2. Geopolitics (things like the war in Iraq, whats happening in Nigeria, and worries over Iran)
3. Inflationary Monetary Policy
4. Weakness in the US Dollar
5. Speculators piling into long oil trades therefore driving the price artificially higher.
6. Something known as peak oil theory.

I think those are the main factors that people will refer to the most as potential reasons. If you would like an in depth explanation of each of the above factors and their potential affect on oil prices there is a great in depth overview here.

Hope that helps. If there are any other comments or questions on this one please feel free to post them below.

Best Regards,
Dave