Emini Futures and Oil Prices
$100 Oil
01/02/08
Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever,
reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil
and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.
Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent
prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations
like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited
speculators to drive prices even higher.
Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of
armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria's oil industry
Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major
hotel. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough
weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to
meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex
spokeswoman, before slipping back to $99.48.
Crude prices, which have flirted with $100 for months, have risen in recent
days on supply concerns exacerbated by Turkish attacks on Kurdish rebels in
northern Iraq and falling domestic inventories. However, post-holiday
trading volumes were about 50 percent of normal Wednesday, meaning the price
move was likely exaggerated by speculative buying.