An employee of a new petrol station cleans fuel pumps in preparation of the upcoming opening of its branch in Manila April 16, 2008. Crude oil futures rose nearly 2 U.S. dollars a barrel on Friday to close at a new record high of 116.69 dollars a barrel on news about pipeline sabotage in Nigeria.   (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    NEW YORK, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Crude futures topped 120 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time Monday on supply concerns. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rocketed to 120.36 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hitting a new intraday record.

    Geopolitical uncertainty raises supply concerns

    "Oil prices climbed to a record once again today amid concerns as to what the impact of the most recent geopolitical events are going to have on already tight supplies," Wall Street Strategies' senior research analyst Conley Turner told Xinhua. "It is usually the same cast of characters who appears to be taking turns at driving up prices in recent months."

    Prices surged 3.80 dollars Friday amid fears Turkey's attack could destabilize oil production in the Middle East. Turkish troops bombed Kurdistan Workers' Party hideouts along the Iraq-Iran border last week in response to the rebels issued overt threats to go after American interests for assisting the Turks in this regard.

    Nigeria, never too far from the spotlight, also made its requisite contribution to the price increase when rebels there attacked an oil facility in the southern part of that country, said Turner.

    Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Saturday that attackers hit a flow station belonging to Shell's joint venture in southern Nigeria and that some oil production had been shut down.

OPEC oil and energy ministers pose during a photo session before the closing session of the 146th OPEC Conference in Abu Dhabi Dec. 5, 2007. OPEC on Wednesday decided against an increase in exports, rebuffing consumer country calls for more crude to rein in $90-a-barrel oil. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    Supply of crude from Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, has remained cut since February 2006 due to militant attacks on the country's oil industry.

    Also, the fact that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that his country was not going to not bend to international pressure and give up its nuclear program served a catalyst for higher prices, added the analyst.     

    Weak dollar, strong demand

    The fall in the value of the dollar against other major currencies has helped drive buying across commodities as investors view dollar assets as relatively cheap. Investors have been using oil as a hedge against the weaker dollar.

    Oil ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which provides more than a third of the world's oil, have noted that although prices are rising to record nominal levels, inflation and the dollar have softened the impact.

    Since its meetings in December, the cartel has agreed to leave output unchanged, saying there is enough crude in the market.

A resident looks at the price of gasoline as she fuels up his car at a gas station in Miami's South Beach, Florida April 23, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

 

    Despite an economic slowdown in the United States, demand from emerging markets is still strong enough to drive prices higher.

    Earlier last month, the U.S. Energy Department raised its full-year forecast for U.S. light crude to more than 100 dollars a barrel.

    The agency expects the benchmark West Texas Intermediate contract would average 101 dollars per barrel this year, much higher than its earlier predicted prices of 94 dollars.

    The world oil market would remain tight this year as production increases from both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries will likely fall short of projections, said the department.

    "Today's move is most likely going to have an impact gas prices in the near future as it tends to follow prices in the futures market though with a lag," Turner pointed out.

    "It is not unreasonable to assume that gas prices could climb higher over the next month. One way for consumers to mitigate the impact of the continued rise in oil and gas prices is to buy good quality oil stocks," he said.

    "The era of higher energy prices is definitely here," added Turner.

OPEC chief: oil prices would go higher

    BEIJING, April 21 -- OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah el al-Badri said Sunday oil prices would likely go higher and that the group was ready to raise production if the price pressure was due to a shortage of supply -- something he doubted.

    "Oil prices, there is a common understanding that has nothing to do with supply and demand," al-Badri said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Rome.Full Story

Weak dollar not sole reason for high oil prices

    VIENNA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- OPEC's average daily oil prices have set records 16 times since the beginning of this year and soared to 106.65 U.S. dollars per barrel (dpb) Wednesday, the Vienna-based cartel said Thursday.

    Oil prices have surged higher since 2007 and regularly hit new peaks, so that price breaking is no longer news but a "routine" matter.

    International oil market analysts attribute the high prices mainly to the large amount of speculation in the commodity market, inspired by the weak dollar.  Full story

OPEC to maintain world oil demand forecast

    VIENNA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- World oil demand this year is forecast to grow by 1.2 million barrels daily to an average of 87 million barrels per day, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Tuesday.

    The forecast maintains OPEC's estimation last month, despite soaring global oil prices. Full Story 

Peru confirms over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves

    LIMA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Petro-Tech Peruana oil company on Wednesday confirmed reserves of 1.132 billion barrels of high quality oil off the coasts of the Peruvian provinces of Piura and Lambayaque.

    Exploration chief of the Argentine capital Petro-Tech Peruana oil enterprise, Enrique Gonzalez, said that the San Miguel oil well alone, in Piura, has 323 million barrels of oil. Full Story

Dollar mixed against major currencies

    New York, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The dollar was lower against the pound but higher against the euro and other major currencies on Thursday.

    Weak economic data has put fresh pressures on the dollar. The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 17,000 last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Full Story