It seems that oil was poured on troubled financial waters, at least as far as the base oil markets prices were concerned as prices stabilised over the last couple of weeks of April at around $50 a barrel.
However, the price prompted OPEC's Secretary General to state the price was too low to invest in production and called on non-OPEC members to cut output.
It now seems that the latest threat to prices may come in animal form. Fears of a swine ‘flu pandemic are setting nerves on edge in the markets.
But, both the Mexican government and national oil producer Pemex were quick with reassurances that production would not be affected.
Good news, particularly in the light of the previous weeks figures which showed Pemex's Q1 production down 7.8% from the previous year and the Cantarell field off 34%.
The overall state of the oil industry was reflected in the Q1 figures from the major oil producers (see In The Mix with all of them showing significant reductions in profit.