Huge speculative buying, sky-high global demand and continued refinery outages in the United States, have spiked oil prices to historic peaks of US$66. However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has singled out low spare production capacity in OPEc as a major factor behind soaring prices. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, hit a record US$66 per barrel, rising almost US$3.70 in less than a week. Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September soared to a new record high of US$65.66 dollars per barrel.
Crude futures are about 42% higher than a year ago in New York, while Brent crude is up by 50% percent over the same period. However, adjusted for inflation, they remain below levels reached in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution when prices surged over US$80 a barrel in today's money.
12-Aug-05 
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