NEW YORK: Oil prices jumped $5 to a record high above $147 a barrel yesterday amid growing worries of threats to supplies from Iran and Nigeria and a strike by Brazilian oil workers next week.
The strong early gains were trimmed later in the day, however, as dealers focused on US economic turmoil that has already triggered a significant slowdown in oil consumption in the world’s biggest energy user.
US crude rose $3.25 to $144.90 a barrel by 1827 GMT, after climbing as high as $147.27 earlier in the day. It rose $5.60 on Thursday in a late burst of buying activity. London Brent crude was up $2.41 at $144.44 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Qatar Oil Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah said yesterday that he saw no demand for the additional crude that Saudi Arabia has pledged over the past few months to pump.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, has promised to step up production to its highest rate in three decades in an effort to tame oil prices, which have surged nearly 50 percent this year.
“Even though Saudi Arabia increased production we are seeing that the demand is not there,” the Qatar oil minister told Reuters during an interview at a shipyard on the South Korean coast of Geoje Island , where he attended the launch of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, the Q-Max Mozah.