HURRICANES hit America’s offshore oil rigs, temporarily closing down about 10 percent of the nation’s oil production. Insurgents hit Iraq’s oil facilities. Rebels led by Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari hit Nigerian oil fields. Terrorists hit foreign oil workers in Saudi Arabia. Putin hits Yukos. All unrelated events, all with the same effect: higher oil prices, proving that the industry’s production, transportation, and processing facilities are stretched to the limit.

With prices now hovering at the psychologically significant level of $50 per barrel, economists have retuned their models, politicians have re-examined their nations’ energy policies, and finance ministers are using the IMF-World Bank meetings that officially start today to examine the implications of $50 oil for inflation, interest rates, and the U.S. balance of payments.