now about $100-a-barrel oil. The price of an OPEC barrel just passed $90 last week. That’s the highest price since the price of a barrel nosedived in 2008 and passed $90 on the way down to rock bottom, $33.36, on Christmas Eve 2008. It’s been recovering ever since then. It is worth mentioning that the price of a barrel passed $84 last April before settling back into the mid-70s for many months. It’s also worth looking at the monthly averages (below), which show a steady rise in October, November and December.