Friday, May 9th, 2008

Oil near new highs above $124

Kavit Sharma 09 May 2008 | : Business News - Global

Crude oil traded near new all-time highs above 124 dollars on Friday after the OPEC cartel insisted the market is well-supplied and being driven by speculators.

New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 61 cents to 124.30 dollars a barrel in Asian trade after closing at a record 123.69 dollars on Thursday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. In after-hours deals, the New York futures contract soared to an all-time high of 124.57 dollars.

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said on Thursday that there was no shortage of crude oil, brushing aside US calls for higher output to dampen runaway prices.