John At The Center

Not surprisingly, oil producers prefer stability to plan their investments. “The worst thing that happens in our industry is volatility,” said G. Steven Farris, chairman and chief executive of Apache Corporation. With prices stabilizing, his company has increased its exploration and development budget by 50 percent, to $6 billion, this year.

via Oil Prices Find Sweet Spot for World Economy – NYTimes.com.

The biggest long-term threat to the new balance is growing consumption in China and other developing countries. But some analysts express hope that such countries can curb their oil demand growth as they build power transmission lines that will enable them to replace inefficient diesel generators with alternative power sources like gas and nuclear.