Crude oil prices on Friday breached $92 a barrel to hit a fresh all-time high, driven by low inventories ahead of the winter peak season, fresh geopolitical tension between the US and Iran and the weakness of the US dollar reports the Financial Times.
Nymex December West Texas Intermediate jumped in London morning trade by $1.76 to an intraday record of $92.22, after rising $3.36 to $90.46 on Thursday. The oil price is up almost 50 per cent since January.
The dollar fell to $1.4336 against the euro, just shy of the record low of $1.4349 struck earlier in the week. Its weakness together with fears of a oil-induced higher inflation helped to boost spot gold to a fresh 28-year high of $775.30 an ounce.
Washington on Thursday announced new sanctions against Iran, the second largest oil producers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), targeting the international arm of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and the country’s largest bank.
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, and Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, called for other countries and international financial institutions to follow suit. “These actions will help to protect the international financial system from the illicit activities of the Iranian government,” Ms Rice said.
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