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Oil prices top record: US$44
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/08/04 13:19  Shanghai Daily

  US oil prices hit record highs above US$44 a barrel yesterday after the head of the OPEC producers' cartel said there was little the group could do to cool red-hot markets.

  US light crude struck US$44.24 a barrel, the highest since crude futures were launched on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.

  London's Brent crude followed suit, scoring US$40.45 a barrel, a level not seen since the run-up to the first Gulf War in 1991 when it hit an all-time high of US$40.95.

  "It's just up, up and away. There's no stopping it," said Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Energy, adding some traders believed oil at US$50 a barrel was no longer inconceivable.

  Oil prices have surged by more than one-third since the end of 2003 on worries that accelerating global demand has left supplies tightly stretched with little leeway for disruption.

  OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday the cartel had no spare oil to dampen prices.

  "The oil price is very high, it's crazy. There is no additional supply," Purnomo told reporters in Jakarta.

  "Minister Naimi has said Saudi Arabia can increase production but they cannot do it immediately," he said, referring to Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for Saudi Arabia, the world's No. 1 exporter.

  Saudi Arabia has said it would produce 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, which would be just 1 million bpd below the country's full capacity.

  Purnomo's comments echoed those on Monday of Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil, who said OPEC had done all it could to stop this year's oil price rally.

  "OPEC can do nothing," Khelil sadi to reporters in Algiers.

  The Russian Tax Ministry has begun an investigation into the 2002 accounts of the country's largest oil firm Yukos, the company said on Monday, the latest twist in its battle against bankruptcy.

  Bailiffs have given Yukos one month to pay back taxes. Yukos owes almost US$7 billion in back taxes for 2000 and 2001 and analysts said bills for later years could bring the total towards US$10 billion.

  Yukos, which pumps one fifth of Russian oil, has had its bank accounts and assets frozen, raising fears that its sales may dry up.

  (Reuters)




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