Crude oil and gold prices surged to fresh highs on Wednesday amid renewed dollar weakness as investors sought refuge from a second wave of credit turmoil. The closure of several North Sea oil production platforms because of bad weather was underpinning the market, traders said. ConocoPhillips and BP were expected to reduce production in the area ahead of a powerful storm according to a Financial Times report.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped in morning trading in London to $98.17 a barrel, extending the previous day almost $3 rise to $97.07 a barrel. Oil prices have risen about 60 per cent so far this year.
Traders warned it might test the $100-a-barrel level as soon as Wednesday if US crude oil inventories show another weekly decline.
The consensus forecast from a poll of analysts by Reuters suggested US crude stocks declined by 1.6m barrels last week but recent weather related interruptions to production in Mexico have led to greater uncertainty about today’s data release. US crude stocks have registered large and unexpected declines in the two previous data releases.
Read it here: Oil closes in on $100 a barrel level