Economy Remains Strong Despite Rising Fuel Costs

December 8, 1999 10:44 AM, EST

NEW YORK — The price of crude oil has more than doubled this year to $27 a barrel, but the rise has not cooled off the hot U.S. economy, which is headed toward record growth.

	Average Oil Prices
	Year	Price*
	1981	$64.69
	1983	$45.67
	1985	$39.16
	1987	$24.81
	1989	$22.92
	1991	$21.85
	1993	$17.88
	1995	$18.13
	1997	$19.00
	1999	$17.35
	* in 1999 dollars
	Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

For trucking and other industries keeping a close watch on the upswing, oil cost would have to reach about $65 a barrel before equaling its inflation-adjusted peak in 1981, when the United States was headed toward a recession, according to a study by the Department of Energy.

The nation is in its ninth year of economic expansion as computers and other technologies increase productivity while businesses use less fuel. Oil accounts for a smaller part of the nation’s economy — less than half of what it did in 1981.

Oil prices passed $26 at the New York Mercantile Exchange after Saudi Arabia and other exporters cut global output by 7%. However, the increases did not worry Dave Costello, the DOE economist in charge of the Short-Term Energy Outlook report.

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