Crude oil prices scaled a new peak near $130 a barrel today amid deepening worries over tight global stockpiles and signals from OPEC that no additional supplies are forthcoming to ease the crunch.
Meanwhile, billionaire investor T Boone Pickens said he expects oil to hit $150 a barrel this year. Investment bank Goldman Sachs has said crude could extend its dramatic rally to $200 a barrel by 2010.
US crude oil futures gained $2.15 to $129.20 a barrel this evening after hitting a high of $129.60 a barrel during the session. London Brent crude rose $2.31 to $127.37 a barrel.
Oil prices have risen sixfold since 2002 amid surging demand in China and other developing economies.
OPEC members have repeatedly rebuffed calls for more supplies from consumer nations hard hit by the inflation in fuel costs, saying the rally is due to rampant speculation and not to any supply shortage.
OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said last week it would boost output by 300,000 barrels a day to make up for production outages in other OPEC nations, but added that a real boost to overall supply from the cartel is not needed.
Energy analysts say an OPEC decision to raise output would help ease the rally which has been fueled by resilient world energy demand even as the US slows.
Tight supplies have come under increasing strain following last week's earthquake in China, the world's second biggest oil consumer behind the US, which disrupted natural gas supplies and increased demand for diesel to be used in electric generators.
A weekly report from the US Energy Information Administration to be released tomorrow is expected to show increases in crude and refined products supplies, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
Meanwhile, investment banks Societe Generale and Credit Suisse raised their oil price forecasts for 2008 today by $14 to $115 a barrel and by $29 to $120 a barrel, respectively. Last week, Goldman Sachs predicted oil prices would average $141 in the second half of this year.
