Supply Threats Push Oil Prices to Record High

Crude oil prices have hit record highs of US$123 a barrel in New York on supply threats in Nigeria and Iraq.

While strikes affecting ExxonMobil's output in Nigeria are now over, fresh militant attacks have cut exports from Africa's biggest oil producer.

About 164,000 barrels a day of production are currently off line in Nigeria, Shell told Bloomberg, while the company has lost a total of 156,000 bpd of output in the first quarter.

The build up of Turkish troops on Turkey's border with Iraq is also increasing consumption and pushing up prices, the news agency says.

Supply shortfalls could send oil prices to between US$150 and US$200 a barrel over the next few years according to some analyst predictions.

By staff writer