As the U.S. market begins its recovery from the double whammy served up by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, my earlier projections of where crude oil prices are headed have come true. Just a little quicker than anticipated. As I am writing this, WTI (West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark crude rate for futures contracts written in New York) has moved above $50 a barrel for the first time in over five weeks. In fact, it’s up 6.1 percent in barely three days. Meanwhile, Brent (the equivalent and more globally used benchmark set daily in London) is approaching $56. Two months ago, I said WTI would be at $52-$54 and Brent at $55-$57 by the end of September. Currently, WTI is within $2 a barrel of its predicted range and Brent has already reached it. What’s interesting is the fact that this rise is taking place while much of the Gulf […]