MONDAY OCTOBER 23 2000 Pound 'adds to oil price' BY JAMES MOORE HIGH oil prices can in part be blamed on sterling rather than government tax policies, a new report claims, with the pounds weakness against the dollar responsible for a third of the past years increases. The Royal Bank of Scotlands oil and gas report says the 12.6 per cent fall in the value of the pound against the dollar over the past year has increased sterling-denominated oil prices by 33 per cent. The current sterling price of oil sits at about #21.80  64 per cent higher than in October 1999  while the dollar price of $31.50 is just 43 per cent higher.

Stephen Boyle, head of business economics at RBS, said: Sterlings depreciation is an increasingly important factor in rising oil prices in the UK.

Mr Boyle said that the price of oil was now $4 lower than the early September peak, but there were still concerns over the forthcoming northern hemisphere winter and continuing Middle East instability.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,23353,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 22, 2000