Tuesday oil prices rocketed to the new highs, getting to nearly $114 a barrel, as particular pipeline interruptions and a weak dollar pressured a tight global market
Tuesday oil prices rocketed to the new highs, getting to nearly $114 a barrel, as particular pipeline interruptions and a weak dollar pressured a tight global market.
Crude oil futures surged more than $2, to $113.93 a barrel on the NYMEX. Oil prices have picked up more than 18 percent since the beginning of the year.
Tuesday's price established a record for oil and helped gasoline to get to the new highs. Retail gasoline averaged $3.39 a gallon, according to AAA, the automotive group. That is more than 50 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. Diesel prices have seen even bigger gains. Diesel now averages $4.12 a gallon, according to AAA, $1.18 more than last year.
The immediate driver behind higher oil prices has been a string of interruptions in pipeline operations in Nigeria and the Caspian region, as well as a shutdown of Mexican exporter terminals in the Gulf Coast because of bad weather. While small, these interruptions underlined how reactive the market is to the slightest disruption in supplies.
Despite slowing economic growth worldwide, in particular in the United States, energy prices are showing no signs of slowing. The International Monetary Fund recently disproved its global growth forecast as the financial crises spreads and warned the US economy might shrink.
