Oil surged back above $56 a barrel today as Goldman Sachs bank, the biggest trader of energy derivatives, said prices could surge all the way above $100.
The report reinforced gains driven by a fall in US gasoline stocks and an easing dollar which drew in fresh buying from investment funds.
U.S. light crude jumped $2.11, or 3.9%, to a high of $56.10 a barrel, within $1.50 of a $57.60 record high struck on March 17.
Benchmark Brent futures leapt $2.76 to $54.85, catching up with Wednesday's late recovery on the New York market, which this week closes an hour later than the London exchange.
Oil prices have climbed around 25% this year as signals that rapid demand growth in emerging economies China and India will strain world supply.
Goldman Sachs bank said in a research report today that oil prices could rise as high as $105 a barrel.
"We believe oil markets may have entered the early stages of what we have referred to as a "super spike" period -- a multi-year trading band of oil prices high enough to meaningfully reduce energy consumption and recreate a spare capacity cushion only after which will lower energy prices return," Goldman's analysts wrote.
Goldman's Global Investment Research note also raised the bank's 2005 and 2006 NYMEX crude price forecasts to $50 and $55 respectively, from $41 and $40.
