Oil prices touched a record high of US$125 per barrel and was set for the biggest weekly gain in more than a year amid mounting concerns over supply disruptions ahead of the summer driving season in the US. Crude oil for June delivery climbed as high as US$125.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.
The contract was last quoted at US$125.17 at 1:32 p.m. London time. Oil is up 7.6% this week, the biggest weekly gain since March 23, 2007. Oil prices have doubled from the same period a year ago.
The US government reported on May 7 that distillate fuel inventories and refinery operations fell last week. US distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel, declined 107,000 barrels to 105.7mn against forecasts for an 800,000-barrel rise, the Energy Department reported.
Refineries in the US operated at 85% last week, down from 89% the year before, the data showed. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs forecast that prices could hit US$200 a barrel in the next two years. The Wall Street major had famously and correctly predicted three years ago that oil would break through US$100.