Oil prices shoot back up

Oil prices shot up to $45 (€37) a barrel today after the Russian oil giant Yukos said it cannot pay wages and that its output could suffer due to a court ruling that froze some of its assets.

Analysts doubted that the dire picture painted by Yukos would come true, although the company’s comments nevertheless reignited supply fears, coming just one day after government and industry data showed a sharp decline last week in US oil inventories.