Today’s chart provides some long-term perspective on the price of a barrel of crude oil with a long-term chart of inflation-adjusted West Texas Intermediate Crude. Today’s chart illustrates that most oil price spikes coincided with Middle East crises and often preceded or coincided with a US recession. The logic behind this is that a Middle East crisis can potentially disrupt an already tight oil supply and thereby drive crude oil prices higher. Also, rising oil / energy prices can, among other things, increase costs within the global economy’s supply / distribution chain and thereby contribute to inflation which can in turn encourage governments to halt or reduce any plans to stimulate the economy. As a result of the escalating crisis in Syria along with fears that the crisis could spread to other nations, crude oil prices have begun to spike.

Source: Chart of the Day.