SINGAPORE: Crude oil prices rocketed to all-time highs Friday on a record-low dollar, tensions in the Middle East and worries over energy supply shortages in advance of the Northern Hemisphere's winter.
U.S. crude for December jumped to a peak of $92.22 a barrel, up $1.76 from Thursday's close and about 50 percent from the start of the year. The price pared gains in afternoon trading Friday to $90.78, up 32 cents
But U.S. crude is still below the inflation-adjusted high of $101.70 hit in April 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution.
London Brent crude also hit a fresh all-time high Friday of $89.30.
Rising global crude oil demand, especially from the top consumers, the United States and China, has driven oil's current rally, helped by a weakening dollar and investment flows from pension and hedge funds into commodities and oil.
Fears of a supply crunch have also helped the surge. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has signaled it is unlikely to increase supply further, and political tensions in the Middle East have increased investors' worries that some output could be disrupted.
Asked Friday whether U.S. sanctions on Iran would result in higher oil prices, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "Oil prices are a concern across the board, we have very tight supply and we have growing demand, and not just from our country." She cited the growing economy in China.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/26/business/oil.php
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