 鲜花( 168)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices kicked off the first trading day of 2008 by hitting a new high of $100 a barrel Wednesday on violence in oil-rich Nigeria, the prospect of more interest rate cuts, a halt in Mexican imports and the expectation of yet another drop in U.S. crude supplies.
# I1 s' D# L) o1 m- X4 x3 N2 P$ G9 Y# w" {/ `2 h% d: K4 S) j& F! Y
U.S. crude for February delivery jumped $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before slipping to $99.42. The previous trading record was $99.29 set Nov. 20. Oil prices ended 2007 by gaining nearly 60 percent for the year, the largest jump this decade.. K. O: \/ @* ^$ t; z% z3 X5 @# o4 q
* Z# a( E& Y9 u3 G. {"This market is really gonna fly," Ira Eckstein, president of Area International Trading Corp, said from the NYMEX floor.
E5 O2 [) x$ x0 @7 [% K# g) o" W3 ?1 u5 @ m
In Nigeria, bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center the oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel, The Associated Press reported. Four policemen, three civilians and six attackers were killed. The Niger Delta Vigilante Movement claimed responsibility for the attack.5 F8 }- }* t: R$ F, {3 P% x _
2 ^; f7 m4 e& Y4 r( I% S o/ |At 2.1 million barrels per day, Nigeria was the world's eighth-largest oil exporter in 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. |
|