Soaring Oil Prices Threaten Standard of Living Around the World

(05 July 08 -RV) Oil prices at the end of trading Friday were down by more than $1 a barrel from record levels set a day earlier on hopes that tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program could cut the chances of American or Israeli military action against OPEC's second-largest oil producer.

Prices have risen sharply in recent months owing to a number of factors including output concerns, political uncertainty in producer nations and currency fluctuation.

A Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Bassam Fattouh told us the sustained rise in prices is having an effect on standards of living across the world.