 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. # r: g" o- J# s5 I
$ r6 P* r* T3 c
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 $99.29 set Nov. 20. Oil prices ended 2007 by gaining nearly 60 percent for the year, the largest jump this decade.
|: I3 R" U" ~9 Q) S
; ?/ Y9 v9 L$ Z, {"This market is really gonna fly," Ira Eckstein, president of Area International Trading Corp, said from the NYMEX floor. * Z/ |7 E# P5 A# t( f
. _# O4 O$ u: n' @# _/ ]8 `! R
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.
! ?9 ]* Q/ w+ a5 K! `$ p- r6 {
! l) l5 l5 | e% N [6 c1 OAt 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. |
|