Iran concerns push oil to record high
Iran concerns push oil to record high
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Tuesday, 18, Apr 2006 11:55
Mounting concern over Iran's decision to press ahead with its nuclear programme has pushed oil prices to a record high on both sides of the Atlantic.
Light, sweet crude prices soared to $70.86 a barrel in New York, beating the previous $70.85 high in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last August.
In London, Brent crude prices also rose to a record $71.93 a barrel on the back of continued supply concerns regarding the middle-eastern state.
Last week, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the world's fourth-largest oil producer had successfully completed its first uranium enrichment fuel programme.
Tehran claims its nuclear programme is solely designed to boost domestic energy supplies, but the US and EU have repeatedly warned that Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons.
And media speculation in the US has heightened fears of an imminent conflict with Iran, with respected investigative journalist Seymour Hirsch claiming in an article in the New Yorker magazine earlier this month that the White House was currently drawing up plans to attack the Islamic Republic.
Concerns over Nigerian supplies have also contributed to the record oil prices, with a number of recent high-profile kidnappings of foreign oil workers constraining output in Africa's largest oil producer.
Nigerian oil output has fallen by almost 25 per cent so far this year as a result of co-ordinated rebel attacks.