The price of Brent North Sea crude oil reached an all-time high of US$69.59 yesterday on concern that the US might launch a military strike against Iran, despite US comments playing this down, dealers said.
The price of Brent crude for next month then slipped slightly to show a rise of US$0.70 to US$69.45 per barrel in electronic trading.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, was showing a gain of US$0.54 to US$69.28 per barrel.
Earlier it reached a peak of US$69.41 per barrel -- the highest level since Sept. 1 last year.
On Monday, London oil prices had breached the previous record US$68.89 reached on Aug. 30, last year, hit as Hurricane Katrina had battered energy installations in the US Gulf Coast. The same day, New York crude reached a record peak of US$70.85 per barrel.
Dealers said yesterday that the market was ignoring efforts by the administration of US President George W. Bush to dismiss as "wild speculation" reports over the weekend that Washington was studying options for military strikes against Iran's uranium facilities.
"Obviously some market participants are reacting to it and so this morning the market continues to be bullish about it," said Victor Shum, an analyst in Singapore with global energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
During the weekend, the Washington Post and the New Yorker magazine had reported that the White House was examining military options against Tehran, which insists that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes.
Washington and its allies believe Iran is secretly trying to build a nuclear bomb, but the US administration went out of its way to play down the reports.
The US wants to settle the crisis through diplomacy, Bush had said.
"The doctrine of prevention is to work together to prevent the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon," Bush said Monday.
Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer with an output of 4.0 million barrels per day, has insisted that it will not back down over its controversial nuclear program. Traders fear that the escalating crisis could severely disrupt the Islamic republic's crude exports.
Adjusted for inflation, world oil prices remain below levels reached in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution when prices surged to upwards of US$80 a barrel in today's money.
French bank Societe Generale said crude prices would hit US$70 a barrel.
"After almost five months of a volatile but trendless market, it seems the barrel has ... re-entered into a bullish trend which should lead it up to US$70," the bank said in a report received in Singapore yesterday.
"The bullish bias remains intact," it said.
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