“Two years ago I might have said that $70 or $75 a barrel would be some kind of a tipping point. Now I’m not so sure anymore,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a private forecasting firm.
Light sweet crude for August delivery settled at a new high of $76.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, then continued climbing in after-hours electronic trading, when volumes are significantly lower, to $78.35. The rally came as fighting between Israel and Lebanon intensified, explosions hit Nigerian oil installations and a diplomatic standoff dragged on between the West and Iran over its nuclear program.
The previous Nymex settlement record of $75.19 was set July 5. The previous intraday record of $75.78 was posted two days later.Adjusted for inflation, oil prices would need to rise to about $90 a barrel to exceed the highs set a quarter century ago when supplies tightened in the aftermath of a revolution in Iran and a war between Iraq and Iran.
. . .
In Nigeria, government officials said twin explosions hit oil installations belonging to an Italian oil company in the volatile southeastern delta region. Elsewhere, militants attacked a group of 11 boats carrying supplies to Chevron’s offshore oil fields Wednesday, killing four navy sailors who were escorting the convoy, Brig. Gen. Alfred Ilogho said Thursday.
“The oil price has become a register of geopolitical tensions and fears,” said Daniel Yergin, who heads Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Yergin said petroleum supply-demand fundamentals are improving, with global oil inventories and spare oil-production capacity rising, but clearly not enough to offset the geopolitical unrest.
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