Don’t mistake higher oil prices for a licence to pump

Price drop: Passenger aircraft seen on the tarmac at Dublin airport. Jet fuel demand is still down by about two-thirds from five-year average levels for the time of year. — AFP

FOR the first time in weeks the oil news isn’t all bad. Output cuts are starting to make big inroads into supply, and demand is beginning to recover, ever so slightly, as something more like normal life resumes in parts of the world.

But there’s a double risk on the horizon: Just as lifting lockdowns too soon could bring a second spike in virus infections and deaths, loosening the hard-fought restraint in oil production too soon risks a second oil-price collapse.