A slump in oil below $50 a barrel – a level it has held above for most of the past decade – has raised the prospect of a new era of lower prices, although a return to super-cheap oil seems unlikely. Prices below $50 for the two crude oil benchmarks, North Sea Brent (LCOc1) and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) (CLc1), were the norm prior to 2005. Brent averaged just $18.37 a barrel in the 1990s, WTI $19.70 a barrel, and both only broke above $50 for the first time in late 2004.