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Mumbai:
Crude prices surged $1.62 at $88.72 after a brief test of $89 after a slide in
US oil stocks renewed fears of an energy crunch during the northern winter. Brent
crude also hit an all-time high at $86.28. London
Brent was up $1.59 at $85.96 a barrel at 0907 GMT, having hit a record $86.28.
US crude is back within striking distance of the $90.07 peak it reached last Friday.
US crude prices
were up $1.62 at $88.72 after a brief test of $89following news that crude stocks
in the world''s top oil consumer fell 5.3 million barrels last week, instead of
an expected increase of 800,000 barrelsOil
prices overcame concerns that a US housing slump may limit demand following news
of assaults by Turkish troops on Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq. Even
so, the US is pumping 50,000 barrels a day of some of the world''s most desirable
crude into salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. The
US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which now holds 694 million barrels, is enough
to replace 69 days of US crude imports. Critics of the Energy Department argue
the administration could ease concerns over lofty prices simply by not pumping
additional oil into the reserve and putting the extra barrels on the market instead.
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