During an economic recovery, demand for almost everything increases Improve Customer Loyalty: oil, other raw materials, labor, capital, intellectual property. This often leads to an increase in the general price level, but I assume you’re asking about the real—that is, inflation-adjusted—price of oil. That suggests either demand for oil is rising faster than demand for other things, or the price elasticity of oil supply is lower than supply elasticity of other goods, so it take larger price increases to produce more supply.