Oil hits record $US100 a barrel

From correspondents in New York
February 20, 2008 07:11am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

THE price of oil in New York has spiked to a record $US100.10 a barrel in the wake of supply concerns.
The price for a barrel of light, sweet crude, eclipsed the record set in January of $US100.09 a barrel.
The market rallied amid speculation that OPEC, which supplies about 40 per cent of the world's oil, would cut output at its March 5 meeting in Vienna, analysts said.
Another factor was the ongoing row between Venezuela and ExxonMobil over nationalised assets of the US giant.
"Oil futures surged higher amid technical buying underpinned by the ongoing saga between Venezuela and Exxon and on speculation surrounding OPEC's next move when they meet in March," said Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar.
"There is clear evidence that speculators are coming back in to the oil market."
Iran has declined to rule out that OPEC would cut production next month.
"Over the last week we have seen numerous suggestions from OPEC members that they will either keep output steady or cut during the next meeting," said Sucden's Mr Khamar.
"However, at current prices OPEC my find it difficult to justify a cut in production."
Earlier this month, OPEC left its official daily output ceiling at 29.67 million barrels of oil.
The last time the New York benchmark contract hit the previous record of $US100.09 was on January 3, amid worries about tight supplies and US currency weakness.
OPEC had frozen its oil output levels in December, resisting calls for an increase to help cool sky-high prices that threaten to dampen global economic growth.