The winners and losers of $100 oil | FT Alphaville

The winners and losers of $100 oil | FT Alphaville:

Since the 1990s, oil prices have spiked above $100 per barrel only a handful of times. Once in the beginning of 2008, and for a longer stretch between 2011 and 2014, with a short reversal in 2012. In the past seven weeks, the price of Brent crude has risen 18 per cent on supply concerns triggered by looming US sanctions on Iran, the collapse of Venezuela's economy and bottlenecks building in the US shale industry. It now sits near a four-year high of $85 a barrel, prompting bets that triple-digit prices could soon be around the corner.

Emerging markets across Asia tend to suffer the most when oil surges. Advanced economies are not immune, and for the largest oil importers, consumption tends to fall. Unsurprisingly, higher prices are good for producing countries like Norway, Canada and Brazil. What is surprising, however, is that in the last year or so, despite the rally, these countries have eked out lower gains than in the past.