What's going on?

The price of oil hit a three-year high earlier this week, as the tap of dusky earth-juice starts to run dry.

What does this mean?

There are a couple of reasons the supply of oil is so low: governments and companies haven�t been investing enough in production, while worldwide demand has been going through the roof. But it all came to a head on Monday when the price of a barrel of oil � which has already risen 50% this year � hit $80. And while the slippery elixir is still cheaper as a fuel than natural gas, that could cause problems of its own: rising gas prices might encourage energy producers to make the switch to oil, pushing demand even higher � so much so that Goldman Sachs reckons its price will hit $90 a barrel by the end of the year.

Why should I care?

For markets: OPEC+ might step in.
OPEC+ � the group of major oil-producing countries and their allies � has already been upping production by 400,000 barrels a day in an effort to boost supply. But since that doesn�t seem to have been enough to keep prices down either, it�s meeting next week to decide whether to start pumping out even more. BP and Shell can�t be too happy to hear that: a supply surge might put an end to the rally in their stock prices, which have climbed almost 15% in the last month.

The bigger picture: Coal is hot stuff again.
Europe�s electricity producers are taking a different approach: they�re switching from natural gas to coal. Greener energy isn�t an option, after all, since low wind speeds in the region have left them wanting. That doesn�t bode well for Europe meeting its emission goals, nor is it a good look if it wants to pitch a more ambitious climate deal to other world leaders later this year.